Well my SS family.....

[Florezian]

..is expanding
I found out early December, and had my first scan just in time to make the parents Christmass a bit more special.
Its actually pretty great unplanning. Im due the end of July which is right after season (for work) and Ill be finished with this semester in May.

OH and I moved in together about three months ago. (Yes, I think we can all do the math on that one.) Its a small one room place that is perfect for the two of us (and our budget!) but is not child friendly. Its is tiny, and we dont have running water. (We have a semi private bathroom/laundry that is around the corner)

I want to be moved for July, OH would live in our current situation for the next year if I let him. I cant really blame him either, we are only paying $30/week and it is smack dab next to our work. We could install a sink (although neither of us has a clue on that), and make it work but we could also afford to move.

I guess Im just looking for all over advice (or ammunition for my side ;p ). What comforts did you absolutely need after baby? Has anyone had a newborn in small quarters?
I want to cloth diaper (recommendations?) and do everything as naturally & SS as possible. Ive done some research and it seems like when it comes to diaper brands, everyone just has a personal preference. Could I make my own? I have access to a regular sewing machine, but pretty much zero knowledge on how to use it. Wipes seem incredibly easy to make what type of solution should I use?

The pregnancy so far has been great. I did have some problems with feeling faint, but I've been eating a lot more fruit (orange season ) and that has helped tremendously. Are their any foods I should be looking for in particular? I found a local woman with raw goats milk, could I start drinking it while I'm pregnant? Any questions I should ask beforehand?

Thanks guys Feel free to add anything. Advice, recommendations, life experience

 

[hwillm1977]

First of all congratulations on your expanding family!

We had our first in November of 2010... and I'm due again on June 29th, or thereabouts with our second baby.

When we had Aeryn we were living in two rooms of our house due to renos, so we had approximately 300 square feet for two dogs who are almost 100 pounds, one cat, two adults and one newborn.

We all slept in one room (that is 10x11 feet)... we had a double bed, a dresser with a changing pad on it, and a bassinet beside our bed. Aeryn slept there for the first five months until we finally finished her room, it was actually nicer having her right beside me and I plan on having the new baby sleep beside us in our room again... We had a cute play mat/gym thing for her to play with but not enough floor space to set it up, so we just set it up on the bed when she was going to play with it.

I think if you don't have your own washing machine, it would be hard to cloth diaper, or just really inconvienient... we rinse ours and throw them in a plastic pail beside the washing machine... once a day I run a load of diapers through. I bought my diapers on Ebay, and got 12 pocket diapers and 24 liners for about $30, that's less than one Bum Genius diaper costs locally... that's only enough to really last one day so before the second baby gets here we're going to get more. We still use disposables too for when we aren't at home.

I felt faint during my first pregnancy, and it ended up being an iron deficiency... I just ate tons of red meat, beans, spinach salads, etc... the iron pills made me feel too gross, so I changed my diet.

Feel free to PM me if you like... we're due at almost the same time

Heather

 

[sufficientforme]

Congrats!
Honestly in my humble opinion, if the place you are in suits your needs and allows you to save more for your future I would stay as long as you could. Babies are not moving around for the first 8 months or longer anyway.
I would definitely get a sink set up if possible either having it plumbed from the landlord (or be willing to pay for half) getting an instant water heater for a sink cabinet, they are around 125.00 then you could easily sanitize/ bath baby, etc in place.

There are many cloth diaper resources on the internet, if you really want to hand sew them there are patterns but you may be able to buy them just as cheap.
recipe for baby wipes is easy to make in a pinch but I found some big box stores ready made prices were equivalent in price depending on the recipe you use.

Some more people will have to chime in about the raw milk etc, that is not something I do.

 

[ChaneyLakegirl]

You can make diapers really on the cheap from old t-shirts. I did this for my sister. She bought a few diaper covers, but the diapers were next to nothing.

 

[hqueen13]

Congrats!!
I would think the raw milk would be good for you, but I'm no expert. I do know that if you can do as much unprocessed food as possible, alongside food that you know where it comes from (i.e. organic fruits/veggies and meat/dairy from happy animals) then you are going to do well. Natural fat is important, despite what conventional wisdom tries to tell you.

Good luck, I am looking forward to hearing more about your journey!

 

[SSDreamin]

Congratulations!

We lived in a 17' travel trailer for almost the entire first year of DS#1's life, traveling with the Ex's job. Part of that time we shared the space with my BIL too! We got very creative with space, kept the 'baby necessities' to the bare minimum, and thankfully were blissfully ignorant! I remember great times from that period of my life, and have the picture's to prove it

Do you take a prenatal vitamin? Do they do that anymore? I just remember my Dr. preaching Folic Acid! Very important! Can't remember why (that was 29 years ago ) and I'm sure things have changed.

I was always a weirdo with my pregnancies (who am I kidding, I still am a weirdo ) and, instead of cravings, I developed a strong dislike of certain foods. Foods I normally adored. DS#1 it was Chinese food. Could not even stand the smell. DS#1 ended up loving Chinese food more than I did/do, go figure. DS#2 it was pretty much everything. Survived on animal crackers and protein shakes. Of-course, he hates almost everything and is the pickiest eater on the planet!

My advice? Babies will not be scarred for life, despite commercials and naysayers to the contrary, if they don't have the latest and greatest handy-dandy gadget, plaything or outfit. Talk to them - I talked about everything I did (Mama is doing the dishes, see? The dish goes in the soapy water, then I wash it with the cloth. Just like when I give you your bath...blah, blah, blah...on and on. Just remember that adults don't like the blow-by-blow descriptions you may get used to giving ) I also read to the boys, sang to them, hummed. Anything to help the brain cells fire! Instead of the baby mobile or gym (that took up too much space), we went for walks and I pointed out things (we lived mainly in South Texas, so we were able to spend lots of time outdoors). Clothes usually consisted of a diaper. Unless we were going somewhere. South Texas gets hot!

 

[ORChick]

Congratulations!

I have no practical advice for you, as I never had kids ... but here is a little story about goat's milk and pregnancy.

When my grandmother was pregnant for the second time she moved to southern California to live with her MIL. At the time - 1916 - Los Angeles was a more civilized spot than where she and grandfather lived, and the first baby had not survived so they wanted up to date medical help if needed for the second one. MIL's neighbour kept goats, and brought milk over every day, to "keep her strength up". But (he would say, with a wink) "you know, goat's milk makes twins!" When the baby arrived everything was fine - a nice, healthy baby boy. And then, some minutes later, and to everybody's surprise, even the doctor's, came another healthy baby boy! No ultrasounds back then, and truly, nobody had suspected twins - except maybe the goat keeping neighbour!

I would think that, so long as you know that the dairy follows good sanitary practices, raw goat milk would be fine for you. After all, expectant mothers were drinking milk for quite awhile before pasteurization came along.

 

[moolie]

Congratulations!

We had our first when we lived in a very small (tiny) apartment, and really little ones don't take up much space. You'll need somewhere for baby to sleep (with you or in a crib), space for baby clothes (an empty drawer, easily accessible box, or shelf will be fine). We always changed diapers on the floor on a change pad, so don't let anyone talk you into extra "furniture" for baby--their stuff really doesn't take up that much space!

Sounds like your rent is amazing, so I'd stay put until you really "need" more space.

As baby grows you may need space to keep a stroller, we didn't get a stroller till baby could sit, and only got it then because my parents bought it--I loved my snugli and so did my daughter.

If you drive, you can keep the car seat in the car--although sometimes it is convenient to move sleeping baby from car into home still in the car seat so you'll either need to get it back out to the car once baby is awake--or make a spot for it.

Diapers are easy, you can buy the flat ones that you fold and pin, or re-use soft things like old t-shirts or terry towels with diaper pins--just pop on a diaper cover and away you go. If you want to get fancy, there are patterns here: http://www.zany-zebra.com/free-cloth-diaper-patterns.shtml and http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/index.html

"Wipes" aren't necessary, a warm wet washcloth does the trick there, and you can always take one or two with you in a ziploc bag.

What comforts did you absolutely need after baby?

The most important things that I remember were:

Time to heal, to bond with baby, to learn how to nurse, and to get baby to sleep through the night. In small quarters, baby waking at night will wake both of you so make sure this won't cause problems with getting up on time for work the next day because it can go on for months. We were fortunate that our first slept 6 hours at night by 5 weeks, our second slept 20 hours a day and only woke (or was woken) for feedings till she was 4 months old.

Understanding family/relatives--people who offer advice or tell you that what you are doing is wrong at every turn are incredibly depressing and make you doubt yourself so much. I had difficulty nursing my first (for several reasons) and got nothing but grief from my MIL. My Mom actually spent my first month with me as a newborn at my Grandma's house learning how to take care of me because my Dad's work meant he was out of town a lot--she said she couldn't have managed on her own.

A supportive partner is also huge, my hubs was actually the one who would hear baby waking in the middle of the night before I did (because I was just so exhausted) and he would quietly get up and get baby changed and ready for feeding before she started to really get crying. I think that's part of why she was able to sleep through the night so early on, her needs were always met. Not to say that every guy is like this, I'm just incredibly fortunate that mine was.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Congratulations!!!


My experience is probably outdated. I used cloth diapers for all 3 of mine, nursed them to 1 yr old, made baby food from scratch. But my 3 kids were born 1980, 1985 and 1987.

I remember not having baby wipes for the first one.

We also had various living quarters, as their father was active duty Navy. We moved around, lived in base housing once, rentals ..alot. Finally bought a mobile home (14x65) in 1983.

 

[hwillm1977]

We had our first when we lived in a very small (tiny) apartment, and really little ones don't take up much space. You'll need somewhere for baby to sleep (with you or in a crib), space for baby clothes (an empty drawer, easily accessible box, or shelf will be fine). We always changed diapers on the floor on a change pad, so don't let anyone talk you into extra "furniture" for baby--their stuff really doesn't take up that much space!

I totally agree... the only baby furniture we had at first was the bassinet, and a changing pad we put on top of our dresser (I had a c-section so for the first few weeks there was no way I could have changed a baby on the floor). I bought used baby clothes online and they stayed in a large diaper box underneath the bassinet.

What comforts did you absolutely need after baby?

A supportive partner is also huge, my hubs was actually the one who would hear baby waking in the middle of the night before I did (because I was just so exhausted) and he would quietly get up and get baby changed and ready for feeding before she started to really get crying. I think that's part of why she was able to sleep through the night so early on, her needs were always met. Not to say that every guy is like this, I'm just incredibly fortunate that mine was.

This was huge for me too... hubby did the same thing. He took 6 weeks off working to look after me because we don't have any family close, and it was three weeks after the c-section before I was really comfortable doing everything I used to.

It took me so long to get up and ready to nurse that he would already have Aeryn changed and ready to just hand to me. I absolutely could not have done it without his help... Aeryn's needs were always met as fast as possible and she became a quiet, confident baby who very rarely cries now. She knows if she makes her needs known, they will be met... we're teaching her sign language so she can let us know what she wants before she learns to speak clearly.

Babies don't need big fancy rooms, or houses like that to live in. They need hugs, kisses, love and attention... they need to be clean, fed and have a place to sleep. They need to feel secure and safe in their home, no matter what it looks like, or how big it is.