nine different types

Duncan leaves Canada today for Oz. He'll lose a day in the air so to speak and he'll be back down under on Monday yay. Sometimes Eden has looked over at the computer as if wondering where his Dad is. Awww. He wasn't fabbed with me doing his bath tonight so he'll love to have that male bonding time back soon!

My Mum looked after Eden last night while I went on a girls night out to say good bye to one of our lovely ante natal friends. (Unfortunately Mum's babysitting experience wasn't as peaceful as Georgies...) I admitted to 'the girls' that I own nine different types of cloth nappy. They were a bit incredulous and probably think I'm ridiculous (or addicted to internet shopping). I prefer to call it making the mundane far more interesting. There are various ways to use various products and different things to do and change as baby gets bigger.

And as I've said before, being good to the environment and saving money is also nice (I won't mention the scraping off poo bit).

Here is the list for the record in the order of when purchased:
1) The original cloth nappy from way back with pink stripe on two sides (12)
2) Snazzipants cotton fitted nappy with velcro (my favourites) (6) NZ
with Bumis whisper pant covers (4) Canada
3) Wonderoos pocket nappies (6) USA/China
4) Prefolded nappy flats (12) NZ, with Bumis whisper wrap covers (3) Canada
5) Snazzipants hemp one size fits all fitted nappy with snappy fastening (1) NZ
6) Snazzipants quick dry hemp fitted nappy with velcro (1) NZ
7) Fuzzibunz pocket nappy (1 for now and 1 bigger) USA
8) Stuffable pocket nappy by nature babies (1) UK
9) Happy Heinys pocket nappy with velcro (1) USA

Does it count if I don't actually use no. (1) as actual nappies? Just as very handy cloths to lie the wee boy on whilst changing the other naps? I also use 4 different types of water proof covers for the different snazzipants and prefolds plus a selection of absorbent inserts for the pocket nappies.

I started off with just (2) (3) & (4) but when that wasn't enough to get by on I got (5) and (6) because they'd dry quicker being hemp. I got a couple of Fuzzibunz recently since loads of people I know use them and they were having a post Christmas type sale (I chose Snazzis over fuzzis originally because they were kiwi, worked better and were cheaper). One of my wonderoos had faulty snaps so I sent it back and bought the 'stuffable' on sale to replace it. My friend at the snazzipants.co.nz web site actually replaced it with one of her new imports - the happy heiny - very cool.

Complicated - well yes just like one of my sagas! I do enjoy mixing and matching my nappy paraphenalia but don't ask me if the snazzipants are still my favourite because I need to use my new three quite a lot yet in different experimental ways before I crown snazzis king yet again. If you are out there is cyberspace googling about nappies like I have done, feel free to leave a question or comment! A great website is the NZ Green Party website which has loads of info about cloth nappies.

firsts

What did I tell you? Duncan back in the hot seat briefly.

When I rang our Canadian contact to tell them Duncan was running late, he told me that it had got really cold in Toronto - not just the zero degrees cold, but really cold and he was looking forward to sharing this with Duncan. Beautiful and snowy apparently. I told him that it was a sunny day here and the cicadas were chirping.

Cicadas chirping is so cool. The sound of the kiwi summer and if they are singing their wee song, or scraping their wings or whatever they do, you know it's a nice day. Funny how you forget these things. I had forgotten about cicadas until I heard the first track of Dave Dobbyn's album Duncan gave me for my birthday back in November. How cool is that I thought having another wow nz you rock moment.

Now back to the topic. Firsts. Eden will have a lot of firsts for quite a while and so will we with him. Friday night we had our first date out without Eden and a real live babysitter. Ab Fab to have a friend like Georgie who is so willing to be available for us and superduper qualified for such a job.

We went to Rob's 'Jazz Rugby' Fringe Festival event where his band accompanied the opening game of the super 14 on the big screen with suitable jazz riffs and improvisations. They didn't have to play their sad piece as the Hurricanes won hands down!

Eden slept the entire evening and did not need babysitter to feed him (my 50ml of milk I managed to express was like getting blood out of a stone no less). What a good boy.

Now this blog has missed a whole lot of firsts being recorded already. However, last night was the second time that I have slept in a house without other adult company. The first was a couple of months back when Duncan went up to Auck for the night. I've always gone to stay with others when hubby is away. But now with a child I need to get hard and grow up so I have.

We went together to church this morning (daddy being babysat by air hostesses hopefully) and he was ok, not too noisey this time. He fell asleep literally as the preacher was saying his last sentence- woohyeah- not the best timing. It is different every week, keeps us on our toes.

By the way I probably haven't said that we have decided to make Central Baptist church our home base (or 'Central' as they call it). More on this another time, I'm off to pick up Grandma from her plane - better check it's not fogged out - can't tell from the view here in hardyplank heaven - we're either in the clouds or above them...

to blog or not to blog

It is interesting to think about why one blogs about certain things. To keep a journal, a record of life, to inform and entertain, to discuss issues, to deliver warm fuzzies, to show off ones own achievements and cuteness of offspring or simply to complain.

On that note, I hereby announce that I hope for a while to not be submitting anymore sagas on this blog unless they are meritous for their joy or entertainment value. I hear the sigh of relief.

What's more, last night when I was calling this "My blog" Duncan got a bit touchy - so you might just hear from him soon. Except that he is on his way to Canada at the moment... Praise God, my Mum is coming to stay to keep me company.

It has been very cool to have a few random people find me on the internet - I will get back to you soon!

What I would really love is to learn how to put photos in here like Duncan used to and to change that blasted header - that was a rush job Duncan did months ago when his interest was declining and it is still the same - they used to change every month. Oh well.

Instead of packing this morning, Duncan made me a Valentines advent calender with a little window to open each day until he returns. What a loverly nutter.

for women only

You are about to get another saga story, this time a health saga. The male species and other non-mums may find this under the TMI (too much information) category. Far from offended, I'll be glad if you don't read it. I won't say that it is good therapy for me to get this out, because like the venue saga - it actually just puts me in a foul mood :)

I remember well our birth educator Natalie getting us to say out loud and loudly: "lactation consultant!" to drum it into our heads that these people exist to help with breastfeeding problems. Now at the time, the message I got was that if you were getting sore or your baby was having trouble feeding then you needed expert help quick smart before your baby starved or you got mastitis, lost your milk etc.

Now Eden was and is a fine feeder - you only need to look at him to see that. Eight weeks into breastfeeding I got a bit sore and I thought I better visit one of these places. I'm not very good when the phone number isn't under my nose and they're only open two days a week and I don't know which two and its all the way to somewhere in Johnsonville and..... plus I thought I was getting better! By the time I was getting the chills it was dawning on me that I might have mastitis - caused by who knows what as Eden was feeding well. I put it down to getting a bit slack with my positioning (you're supposed to vary feeding positions to ensure that all areas get properly drained).

Forty Eight hours later I am in Palmerston North and it is getting worse. A red rash is developing on the sight. So I visit some random doctor there, add Augmentin to the Fluclox and he advises me to stop feeding on that side and to buy an expresser pump. What if I was someone who couldn't afford to just "pop into the pharmacy and buy one"? I thought. I felt sure his advice was not what I had heard previously (my own doc agreed) so carried on feeding and did not buy a pump - even though I have been meaning to forever. When I got home I had to visit doc again and get more meds. So big bucks forked out 3 times for doctor and antibiotics and cremes until my enormous lump/infection went away.

Christmas eve (2 days after finishing meds) saw me back at the doctors in Te Awamutu with a lump under my armpit this time, so a lancing and more antibiotics, oh and we'll fork out for some oral thrush creme just in case the soreness I'm again feeling is that.

Tuesday last week another huge lump appeared in the same breast as before but in a different part. I figure I have been overcompensating draining on that side so I do a "mummy feat" as Megan puts it and feed Eden upside down. (It will hurt your brain to visualise this and where the lump was I was trying to drain - I was lying on the bed at the time if that helps). After three feeds in this position it is back to normal, phew.

Unfortunately it comes back with a vengeance on Thursday and this time I can't get rid of it. Even heavy duty "massaging" until it feels bruised does nothing. So down to the doc's and one month after being off antibiotics, I am on them again. Doc suggests a blood test for iron deficiency. On my way home, I stop at the library (why did it take me so long to get around to joining???!!!) and get out every book they have on breastfeeding (3).The lump quickly disappears the next day and then reappears a couple of days later. From my reading over the weekend I worry that Eden's latch is wrong and that is why I have had problems. I try to get him to open wider and wonder if this is having any effect. I also make up my mind to actually visit a lactation consultant.

I get an appointment for Thursday (yesterday) and of course am left booting myself in the bum that I did not do this in the first instance. Of course it is also FREE at the plunket too. The white spots that I had shown all 3 doctors I had seen and they didn't seem to know what they were were instantly identified as a major part of my problems by this angelic women who is resigning because she is sick of the politics of defending her position. EEEk.

As soon as I showed her the size of the lumps I had had, she said - "Oh, the whole lobe is blocked" Lobe? A bit like a wedge of an orange except much bigger and there are only 3 or four of them in each breast. The white spots were acting as little plugs and creating a plug right at the point of exit so the milk was totally backed up. Not a single blocked milk duct which is the common cause of mastitis. I had wondered as other people and books had described lumps as around pea sized... And as for latching - well a 4 month old is too old to change now anyway...

I was going to quote from the "breastfeeding answer book" about this condition known as 'white spots' but as I read it again it is totally inconclusive. It is clear that the spots cause a lobe to block up but there are no conclusive ideas as to what causes the spots or how to get rid of them. They may have got there due to damaged tissue or thickened milk getting stuck. They might cause mastitis or they might be caused by mastitis - eeek. A blocked lobe is not an infection in itself - just like a blocked milk duct but no one seems to be able to say how you clear the blockage to prevent infection. In my experience, they take anything from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks to drain - with or without drugs.

They say the white spots can clear up by themselves - here's hoping. Sometimes the white 'blebs' comes away a bit in the shower and that's OK, I can encourage that and try to prevent infection. Others suggest eliminating saturated fats from the diet and taking a lecithin supplement - no scientific basis for this. We concluded that I am stuck with them for now and have to just make sure I keep putting cremes on in the hope that they will keep the area moist and therefore less likely to block up.

So, I don't know if I actually had mastitis or not. My hunch is that I only had the beginnings of it as I didn't get nearly as sick as some people. Antibiotics also have anti-inflams in them so that might have helped. I've gone from telling myself off for not rushing down to the doctor to telling myself off for rushing down to the doctor. I have a feeling there would be no telling off if the doc was free like the good old London days. So what will I do next time I get a huge hard 'lobe' blockage? - I have no idea.

I found out yesterday that there are only 4 lactation consultants in the whole of Wellington. "It's a women's problem and therefore it's invisible" my angel said. "they think it's all supposed to happen naturally - like birth - hmmf" (See Megan's blog re: maternity care). Hmmf indeed. You'd think they'd be quite a number of Mums in the capital city and we have 4 people for those who need more attention than their midwife can give - and in Wellington that's not much anyway as they are a dying breed and GPs have little insentive to get involved.

We in the West demand to have the facilties to be well. It is good to want for better. I was reflecting last night after a visit from our cool missionary mates Leath and Rosie that we often forget that even the small percentage of what we have is a luxury compared to most peoples of the world.

what about the picnic?

One of my readers (thanks Mum) pointed out that people will be wondering what happened about the ante natal get together!

Approaching Saturday the weather forecast looked bad but got progressively better. A beautiful morning meant that we set off to the Dell with no doubt at all and it was a lovely picnic.

As I said in a recent blog that I cringe a bit when I hear about others who have a much harder time than me with the baby/parenting thing. I feel so undeservedly blessed. Anyway, it was fab to see one of our group turn up to the picnic that we thought had dropped out. Her little girl was born early and they have had a real struggle so it was wonderful to have them there looking so happy and sharing stories.

We tried to take a photo of all the babies together but as soon as one baby wasn't too keen, they all progressively started to squeak (it didn't help that Eden was being a little bully and hitting his two neighbours in the head with his arms!) He is really quite the heavy in the group...!

waitangi day

As I listened to my beloved National Radio this morning, it was thoroughly warming to hear that the celebrations at Waitangi yesterday were perhaps the most peaceful and positive for a very long time. Forty five thousand people, a mix of ethnicities enjoyed celebrating their togetherness. Some were suggesting that treaty issues are getting more public ventilation now that we have high profile Maori party personalities in parliament.

We decided to get into it locally as well and went down to the multicultural concert at Frank Kitz park on the Welly waterfront. It had a very down home feel. I don't know if it was my London perspective or just the complete 'eh bro' style of the MC that was fueling this feeling - a mixture I guess. The food and craft stalls surrounding the concert were clearly small family businesses and fundraisers for Maori community groups - lots of sausage sizzles.

I decided on hangi and stood in a queue. To my delight, the young wahine serving me was once a pupil I had taught the drums to and is now in her second year of training as a secondary PE teacher. How cool is that? She was very keen to cuddle Eden. Unfortunately they were out of hangi so I joined another queue and got doner kebabs instead. (Duncan would add here that from his perspective I spent more time figuring out what to buy than actually watching the concert!)

I remember when I was convalesing with viral meningitis 18 months ago and was soaking up Nick and Hayley's Nature's Best DVD. I wept real tears as I watched the music vid for a Herbs song that had pictures of NZ and marae. I had been following the back lash from Don Brash's famously almost red neck 'Orewa speech' and was feeling concern for my beloved country keenly. Helen Clark may be annoying but we're doing OK.

This is not the beginning of me being a political blogger. No way. Not me. But I do love my country and get passionate about things occasionally. Haere ra.

freedom

I'd just like to say that I aim to do more 'tid bit' blogging in the near future so that it is a tad better for all of us.

You know what? I've never felt so free in all my adult life. I cringe when I hear people bemoan the way life changes when you have a baby etc etc. For me it is all one very long school holiday except instead of doing school stuff I do Eden stuff which is much more pleasant. Even my yukkiest task of scraping the poo off his nappies is pretty equal in value to the adrenalin rush of managing a year 9 core music class - plus it is all over a lot quicker.

Last night we finally ordered a Medela Harmony breastpump online from Winkalotts so that I can have even more freedom. I had been putting this off for whatever reason. But there are events coming up that either Eden or I would not cope with together so Daddy or a babysitter can give him some Mummy milk in a bottle.

The only thing I bemoan is my health. Another trip to the Doctor today for suspected mastitis. Now you don't put that in your budget do you.

venue saga

Synopsis: My turn to organise an ante natal group get together. I feel it is good therapy to get this off my chest.

Step 1: After our last Ante Natal catch up. I announce that our living area is far too small for such a group of 20+ people and babies, so lets have a picnic at the playground across the road and if anyone needs the loo etc they can pop over to our place. No. Duncan pointed out that there wasn't much shade, not very flat and not very attractive.

Step 2: Anniversary Weekend. OK. A more attractive picnic could occur at the Botanical gardens and if the weather turned gross we could go into the Begonia House cafe. Duncan came with me to have a look. No. The cafe is way too small. I realize I could have set a date without a venue and give details later. I send an email to the group as such for Saturday the 4th Feb with a time of 10:30am as I figure we would want to nab a picnic spot early.

Step 3: Tuesday. Right then. We need a really big cafe near a really great picnic spot. How about down on the waterfront. Frank Kitz park and the Queens wharf event centre mall food court. I go walking in the rain (in desperation) with the buggy and it turns out things have changed since I last lived in Wellington ten years ago. Mall and food court no longer exist. But I do find a large and good looking Loaded Hog pub and get all excited. On the way back to the car I spy a sign for the BNZ food court and waste a huge amount of time trying without success to find the ramp entry on Williston Street as indicated in a couple of signs. I go home wet and very annoyed and ring the BNZ centre leaving a message on their answerphone questioning their wheel chair access.

Step 4: Wednesday. Duncan suggests that Macs Brewery is bigger than the Loaded Hog so I go and have a look. It is blowing a gale but Eden coped and Macs looks good but is not as big as the Loaded Hog. On the way back I drive with distain past the BNZ centre again to have a look. No parks and it is almost flash flood conditions by this stage so I decline to do anything else and go home. At home and answerphone message from the BNZ says that the wheelchair access is clearly marked on Willis Street. Hmmmf they should change their signs on the other streets! I ring the Loaded Hog and they enlighten me with the fact that it is the Rugby sevens weekend and it would not be a good idea to try and fit in a swag of people anywhere in the city for Saturday brunch. EEEK.

Step 5: Thursday. I lose my physical fervor at this point and spend a night thinking. I come up with the idea to use a room at the new community centre in Karori. I look up on the net and pop them an email. They say yes that would be fine and to 'pop in' to see them tomorrow.

Step 6: Friday. After ringing the Karori community centre to find out what would be a good time and not getting an answer, I walk with my buggy 45 minutes there only to find a sign that says its hours are 9:30 to 2pm and it is now 4pm! Thankfully I half did this for the excercise and sunshine. When I get home, the lady has left a message to say that she will be there until 6pm?! I frown and stay put.

Step 7: Monday. After a busy weekend I head down to the Karori community centre. I find there was another door I could have tried on the Friday. Hmmmf. Suddenly they realise that things are not fine as first indicated but that there is Thai Chi (spelling?) on a Saturday morning but they will see if they can get them to change to the hall. I like the soft looking chairs and the lifts in the building. On the way back to the car I pop into the recreation centre and ask about their room. It doesn't have as much personality, they're not keen on food, it is a better carpeted area but only available after 12 oclock. I then drove to Khandallah community centre and looked at their lounge. It would be fine but there was no nearby picnic venue as far as I could see. I also have a quick squiz at St Ninians church on the way home and like their lounge but forget to ring them.

Step 8: Tuesday. Woke up with dead arms after carrying Eden around all those places yesterday. We went to the zoo with some Mums and bubs and I had to fess up to my self induced saga. At home later I ring St Ninians after deciding their venue is the best.

Step 9: Wednesday. After a chat with Lynley at St Ninians church we are sorted. Yay! So I finally write my email with the good weather (Botanical Gardens picnic) and my bad weather plans. With my luck it will be a scorcher on Saturday and all this will have been wasted effort - well I'm praying that that will be the case!