Mama cloth

            So i just ordered my DivaCup and a few mama cloth items. I do not like using pads so i felt kinda like there was no crunchy option for my aunt flo but then i discovered the DIVACUP. It was like a revelation to me that being crunchy has moved into the 21st century. I ordered my Divacup and some panty liners and a few pads from The crazy elephant. I ordered off of their etsy shop but they also have a facebook  and a blog Their products are adorable and they look super soft and are very reasonably priced. I loved their shop and will definitely be shopping there again. I will be posting reviews for these products as soon as i get them and am able to use them.

           So for anyone who does not know a DivaCup is a soft silicone cup that you insert into the bottom of your vaginal canal that catches menstrual flow, you empty it twice a day and you can use it for as long as you want. It is recommended to replace it every year but if you take care of it, it should last way longer than that. I have read many reviews of women still using the same cup after 5years. The only complaint i have seen is that they do get a little stained [obviously] but if you mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 2 parts water and soak your cup overnight, it will not only remove stains but will also disinfect your cup

            I ordered a pack of 3 regular panty liners to use with my DivaCup. In the reviews I have read everyone has said there is a bit of a learning curve with quite a bit of leakage in the process. These are called the Little peanut panty liners and they come in a set of three. This set is Neapolitan dot but I ordered a bumble bee pattern.

            I ordered four minimal coverage liners because I hate wearing real underwear. . . TMI maybe but whatever haha. I ordered a few different patterns. These do not come in a set but they are only 1.99 for one so it is not a big deal to order a couple of them at once. These are called tear drop thong liners.

I only ordered two actual mama pads because other than giving birth to my daughter I could count on one hand how many times I have used a pad but just in case I ordered one medium short peanut pad and a heavy short peanut pad. They look exactly the same but the heavy pad has a layer of zorb [a super absorbent fabric] in the center of it.

So since my daughter is still in her cloth diapers I plan on having a bucket in my bathroom with a lid that will have 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 2 parts water inside of it for soaking my mama cloth and then I will just be washing my mama cloth along with the diaper laundry. As soon as everything arrives I will post pictures and as soon as I get to use everything i will post my reviews. 

I will be linking with the pistachio project.

 

Cloth diapers Part 1

            Why use cloth diapers, you ask. Allow me to tell you all the factual reasons and then later I will tell you all of the personal reasons why I am in love with cloth diapers.

My daughter Skye, wearing her cloth diaper and her baltic amber teething necklace.

FACTS
- The environment.
            One disposable diaper takes over 500 years to breakdown. The number of disposable diapers in landfills is increasing dramatically every day. There is also a concern for the contents in disposable diapers, did you know that it is illegal to throw away human waste. Over 100 intestinal viruses are dumped into our landfills via disposables diapers and then transported into many of our water sources, contaminating our drinking water. On top of all of this approximately 1 billion trees are destroyed each year to make disposable diapers. Finally don't forget to take into account all of the natural resources and emission gases, used to haul those disposable diapers all over the world.

-Cost
            Disposable diapers can range in cost anywhere from 1500 dollars to 2500 dollars over the course of three years and many children are not totally potty trained by three years. This stats are not including things like traning pants, swim diapers, and wipes by the way. I have spent a total of 200 dollars on all of my cloth diaper necessities and because you only use 1/4 of the amount of detergent you would normally use in a load of laundry, I am only buying detergent about once every three months. Doing diaper laundry twice a week with 1/4 the amount of detergent uses the same amount of water in your home as a child that would be using the toilet. All in all you are looking at a comparison of 2500 plus dollars or 200 dollars total to diaper your baby through toddler years. Don't forget you can also reuse cloth on multiple children so multiply all of these savings by how many kids you would like to have and you can only imagine.

This is a photo of chemical burns caused by Pampers brand diapers

-Skin care
            Would you rather wear paper underwear or soft cotton. . . This is a list of Pampers  Ingredients; wood pulp, absorbent gel material, petrolatum, stearyl alcohol, aloe, polyethylelene and polypropylene [plastics], cellulose tissue, elastic, and perfume. Sodium polyacrylate is in the absorbent gel material [AGM] it is what forms the beads you find inside of an over saturated diaper. This chemical has been linked to rashes, allergic reactions, and decreased sperm count. Cloth diapers are changed more often which decreases the chance of a child developing a rash and they rarely ever cause an allergic reaction and even if they do, all you do is switch to an all natural fiber dipe and poof problem solved.



This is a link to a site that i am in LOVE with it is called toxipedia and this link will take you to a page that explains all of the harmful chemicals that are lurking in your baby's disposable diapers.
http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Diapers

If it was your body, which would you choose to wear. . . 

Add caption

I will be linking with the pistachio project.

Natural Unmedicated Childbirth

            So this is a relatively large subject to cover so I am going to break it down into options and explain them each, in depth. Natural Childbirth is defined as a method of childbirth characterized by the absence of anesthetics, in which the expectant mother is given special breathing and relaxing exercises. Even though there are no medications given to the mother to relieve pain she manages pain with many different techniques. Natural Childbirth is not for everyone but it was something I felt very strongly about. I feel as though going to a hospital to have my daughter stripped me of my right to choose how I labored. There are several options you can choose to have a natural birth experience.
-Certified Nurse Midwife [CNM] in a hospital
            This was the option i tried first, i felt that it fit my want for a natural birth but i still had the security of a hospital setting [what i thought was better at the time]. I started with my first midwife, Dr. Kay at university hospitals. She was wonderful and i would highly recommend her to anyone in the Cleveland area who thinks that this option is for them. Unfortunately, my insurance did not cover UH hospitals so i was forced to switch midwives. I switched to a practice of midwives at the Cleveland clinic and right away i did not feel comfortable. I wanted my own doctor to trust and be comfortable with but that was not an option for me. I was diagnosed with placenta previa and was forced to go to an OB. My placenta previa resolved itself by 25wk. but the midwives refused to care for me because i was considered high risk because of an issue that has now been resolved. I never did get my personal, trusting, caring relationship with my doctor that i wanted. The doctor that delivered my daughter i met only moments before and even though my birth plan was printed out and handed to every member of my birth team they promptly informed me that they were going to start my IV and get me ready for my epidural because i was not allowed to get out of bed. I feel as though hospitals are set up as a business and they just want to get you in and out of their rooms as soon as possible.

-Midwife at a homebirth
              The biggest difference between giving birth to your baby at home instead of in a hospital setting is that, at home you're in charge and everyone supports you. There are obvious advantages to having your baby at home; you'll feel secure in your own familiar surroundings and you can have as much privacy as you want. Your partner, older siblings, family, and friends can all be involved as much as you want in your labor experience. You will have a major say in your labor and you will be able to easily avoid the routine medical interventions that can often do more harm than good. You'll be able to see one midwife throughout your prenatal care and labor experience and there is no danger of being separated from your partner or your baby after labor. Bonding and breastfeeding are encouraged to happen spontaneously after birth. This is the option i will be choosing for all of my birth experiences. Also, I don't know about you but have you ever heard a mother say that she doesn't want control over her body and her baby during birth. . . A hospital setting will not give you any of this.

-CNM at a birthing center.
            A lot of people say that this option can be the best of both worlds. Personally it scares me because of my previous experience with giving birth in a medical facility. But this option will give you a lot more control over your birth plan than a normal hospital setting but with the added benefit of have a high tech medical facility at your fingertips in case of an emergency. Another benefit to this is that there will be no mess in your house to clean up and also you MAY be able to get insurance to cover this.

With all of these options you can choose to hire a doula to help support you through labor.

             A doula is an experienced woman who offers emotional, physical, and informational help or support during and after the birth of your baby. Some doulas are willing to live in for a few weeks after the birth of your baby. A doula is trained and experienced in childbirth and baby care, but is not medically qualified. The doulas purpose is to make sure that women have a safe, memorable, and empowering birth experience.

I will be linking with the pistachio project.

Pregnancy and Birth

            When I found out that I was pregnant, I was dead set on going to a certified nurse midwife [CNM] and having a natural birth. To my disappointment my first ultrasound revealed that i had a condition called placenta previa. Placenta previa is a condition in which the placenta covers the cervix, this can cause massive blood loss and maternal and fetal death if the mother is allowed to deliver naturally. The only safe way to deliver, with this condition, is by a scheduled c-section. I was heartbroken and terrified. Needless to say i was forced to go to an OB. As my pregnancy continued the placenta previa resolved itself so i was yet again set on my natural birth plan. I wanted no pitocin, no pain meds, and i wanted to be able to get up and move around during labor.
             After 42 weeks of pregnancy I finally went into labor. My contractions started waking me up at 3AM but i had experience false labor so many times that i wasnt convinced that i was actually in labor. At 9AM our family went to the zoo. I walked around at the zoo until about 2pm, Christian told me that we had to leave. I was still not convinced that i was in labor. We got into the car and he asked me if we were going to the hospital and i said no they are just going to send me home again, so we went to his brothers house. At 5pm Christians brother informed me that weather i like it or not i was in labor and i was not allowed to have a baby on his couch. Off we went to the hospital, i was horrified. The last place in the world i wanted to go to have my baby was a hospital.

              We arrived at the hospital and they immediatly admitted me. I changed into a gown and they forced me to lay in bed. Laying down caused my babys head to push down on my sciatic cause searing pain shooting down my right leg. I had said i wanted a heplock but not an IV but they told me i didnt have an option. I asked if i could stand up and they said no that it would mess with the moniters. Everytime i would try to move the moniters would slip and alarms would go off. I was forced to lay on my back and perfectly still. This not only made the same pain, that i was able to walk around the zoo in and play with my 9 month old niece, unbearable but also research has proven that laying flat on your back is the WORST position to labor and give birth in. I was finally in so much pain that i was forced to get an epidural and my daughter was born several hours later

             Skylar Elizabeth Marsh, 7lbs. 6oz. 21inches long, born at one forty two AM. Do not get me wrong my birth experience with my daughter will always be one of the happiest days of my life but i truly wish that i had not been pushed along the birth assembly line of a hospital. My desire was to EXPERIENCE my birth. Not ignore what was going on. After my medicated hospital birth experience and the regret i feel for it this was what led me to look into my home birth option

I will be linking with the pistachio project.

Intro

             Hi all, my name is Bekah. I was born and raised in Elyria, Ohio. My mother raised me and my two older brothers. My home was less than environmentally concerned. Crunchiness and the health of mother earth was on no ones priority list. At age sixteen I met the love of my life, Christian, and moved out to bo-hunk-nowhere. I was amazed at how quickly I fell in love with living in the country. There is just something about the quiet, the land, the clear starry nights, and clean air. I became invested in ways that i can help to save this beautiful world that we all share

             At seventeen Christian and I found out that we were going to have a baby. Little did i know but this was the beginning of huge changes in my life and my way of thinking. I began to research not only environmentally responsible parenting decisions but also the health benefits of living crunchy. I hope that you will join me in this new adventure into natural living and natural parenting. This blog will not only contain my personal experiences, but also the research i collect about all the ins and outs of living CRUNCHY.