How green is "enough"?

You may or may not have guessed reading some of these posts, but we're kinda granola at Chez Parker. We try to buy organic, fair trade, made in the US or made with fair wage and labor standards, we reduce, we reuse, we recycle. We work pretty hard to be eco-friendly. With a baby on the way, there are a few baby items that are easy to go eco-friendly: cloth diapers. Check. Organic soaps. Check. No VOC paint. Check. Non-toxic, eco-friendly latex mattress. Super check. (Excited about that one.) Hand-me-downs and/or gently used baby clothes. Check. Basically, if it comes in organic or fair trade, or if it reduces waste in landfills, we plan on using it for our baby.

Here's where I may fall off the wagon...

Baby wipes. I found an awesome recipe online for DIY wipes. I'm all for it. Make something gentle and know exactly what goes in it?? Yes please! There is a great recipe and tutorial on the Angel Babies website if you are interested. So while I am super stoked about the homemade wipes thing, I am torn about one particular aspect... Disposable or reusable? The tutorial shows a roll of paper towels, but says you can use it on reusable cloth wipes too. I'm all about reusing, but I gotta tell you guys: disposable wipes are super tempting.

It's not the laundry. I'll be washing cloth diapers every two days anyway, so it's not like I'm making more work for myself in that respect. The issue for me is the extra ick factor. Wiping off poop? Fine. Getting to then throw that poop away? Awesome.

I suppose there's also the issue of how often I'l have to make the wipes. If I have a roll of paper towels, presumably that will last a week or two, right? Newborns go through 12 diapers a day, so I'd assume going through 12-24 wipes per day. If I'm using cloth ones, I'd need a supply of like 50 wipes just to get through 2 days before needing to do laundry. Well, I'm exaggerating a bit. That would be a terrible two days... So maybe I'd have to make them more frequently, but maybe not that much more frequently?

Am I trying to be too green? Is there such a thing? Am I just making a lot of unnecessary work for myself that I'll regret when I have a newborn to care for? I want to do the right thing for my baby and for the planet, but when is enough enough? 

So, disposable or reusable? It's the new "paper or plastic?".

Future gymnast.

We've hit the point in the pregnancy where I can feel the baby moving. It's pretty exciting. I've actually been feeling him moving around in there for a few weeks now, but in the last week or so, he's gotten strong enough to make my whole belly move. Like you can see it on the outside kind of moving. It's both awesome and freaky. Like Aliens but with less carnage.

Allen saw one belly move and felt one kick, so our record of uncooperative baby is still standing. But this little guy is active. I don't know how much babies move around in there in general, but I've got to tell you, this one is doing somersaults. It's awesome. I absolutely love feeling his little kicks and punches. It reminds me that someone is actually in there (rather than me just having a beer gut), and it makes me feel like he is growing and getting stronger.

I've been measuring this pregnancy in milestones. First heartbeat on ultrasound, first heartbeat on Doppler, first trimester, 20 week anatomy scan... Now we've hit the movement milestone. The next one is the 28 week milestone. We're right at the cusp between viable inside and viable outside, and 28 weeks kind of marks the turning point. Everything has been going so well with this pregnancy, and while I am incredibly grateful, I've also been kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. That's why I measure time in milestones. It's a short term goal that that's easy to attain and doesn't let me look too far ahead. It's also a much more positive outlook and doesn't let me dwell too much on the what-ifs.

I still can't believe there is a whole person in there. It's so amazing. I wish I were a poet because I just don't have the words to describe how incredible this whole experience has been. It's totally normal and natural - I was built to do this! And yet, so completely wondrous. I am growing a person, you guys! And I can feel him moving around inside! Being pregnant is amazing!!

It must be the belly.

I was parking the car yesterday, on my way to buy some tank tops for me and some pants for Allen. I got out of the car and was getting my purse out when a random woman walking by stopped and said, "You look so cute!"

Let me back up a bit. The DC metro area is not, like, a super friendly place. JFK is famously credited with saying the DC has "Southern efficiency and Northern charm." This is not to say that everyone is a jerk, but it's not like a town in the South where people say hello to you on the street (even when they don't know you! gasp!). Everyone mostly keeps to themselves, and everyone complains about how ridiculous the tourists are. (Stand on the right, walk on the left! Jeez!!)

Every once in a great while, if you are in DC proper, with a map and looking lost, someone will stop and ask if you need help finding something. But generally speaking, it's head down (or on cell phone or iPod) and no eye contact. I generally employ these tactics myself. It's a big city, and if I'm walking somewhere by myself, I'd prefer to not run the risk of getting trapped by a crazy person. (There are plenty of those, too.)

So when that woman stopped the other day to offer four small words of kindness, I was both surprised and really, really touched. It literally made my day. Now, I think I'm pretty cute in general, if a bit, um, well fed at this stage, but honestly, no one was stopping me before to offer compliments on my appearance. I have noticed that I get more smiles, more offers of assistance, more random kindness, and easier access to bathrooms now that I am preceded everywhere by a baby bump. It's like magic and I love every minute of it.

Maybe that's the secret to a polite and caring society - just pretend everyone you meet is pregnant.

The massive to-do list.

It is chaos around here. Absolute, complete and utter chaos.

Usually we can keep it in check a little, but with me trying to make it through my last rating period at work, Allen taking a promotion and a new work detail, being pregnant, and everything else... Well, the to-do list has gotten out of hand. We've crossed some things off - like getting a new mattress and painting the baby's room - but that has also added new things to the list. Like buying a new bed frame, getting rid of the old mattress, getting rid of the futon and the sewing table, painting the bedroom, rearranging and reorganizing. We also have to buy furniture for the baby's room, hire a birth assistant, find a pediatrician. All in addition to the normal things like laundry and dinner and social obligations. Feeling tired yet? Yeah... Me too.

We're just in that really awkward stage of slowly getting prepared with new stuff and needing to get rid of old stuff, but running out of room because we currently have both the new and old in the house. The second bedroom is closed off with three huge boxes holding the new mattress. I can't even fit in there any more between my belly and the furniture. The easiest solution would be to just donate everything to Goodwill, but our futon was kind of pricey and it seems a shame to not try to recoup some of that.

The good news is that the laundry is almost done, I have a good lead on a birth assistant, and a meeting set up with a highly recommended pediatrician. I also have an appointment with a chiropractor for tomorrow. I'm probably most excited about that. I have a pinched nerve in my pelvis and it's been driving me crazy for about six weeks now. It's only going to get worse as I get further along, so I figured it was time to nip it in the bud.

Sorry this post is so rambley. This is my state of mind lately. I'm trying to focus on one small thing at a time so I don't get overwhelmed with the daunting number of tasks we have ahead of us. Wish me luck!

The first cold.

It's official. I am sick. At first I thought it might be allergies, but no such luck. I have a full on horrific cold. If I ever find the outbreak monkey who gave me this wretched virus I will do them bodily harm.

I called the midwives to ask about cold remedies and got this as an answer:

"If you treat a cold it lasts 7 days. If you do nothing, it lasts a week."

Two days down, five to go. And I plan on whining through each and every one of them. I am miserable! Runny nose, crazy sneezing fits, watering eye - just one, mind you. My left eye. I've been walking around the house looking like Popeye for the last two days. And trying to knit with one eye open and one shut is no fun. It seriously messes with your depth perception. Adding to the fun, apparently pregnant women tend to have more swollen nasal passages so I can look forward to more mucus and sneezing than a not pregnant person. Fabulous.

Someone, please, make it end! I'll be waiting on the couch with tea and tissues.

Pros and cons.

I have heard women say how much they loved being pregnant. I would smile politely but secretly think that they were crazy. I mean, I didn't expect to hate being pregnant (though some do that, too), but who loves being on a restricted diet and activity schedule for almost ten months? No glass of wine with dinner? No pints at the pub? No roller coasters?! Okay, that last one is a bit silly since I don't go on roller coasters frequently enough to matter, but still. It's the principle.

So, when I got pregnant, I was excited, obviously, but I realized that I would immediately have to cut out coffee and alcohol, and if I could make to the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, I probably couldn't go on any of the rides. What I didn't expect is that I love it.

I love being pregnant. I love that I am the vessel, I love that I am growing a person (!), I love choosing a meal knowing that my baby is going to get a taste of whatever I eat, and hopefully, will love some of the same things I love. (Though he may be mad at me about how much garlic I eat...) What I love most of all is feeling him move. Feeling that little squirm in my belly that lets me know he's happy and kickin'. And recently, though it's a little creepy in an Alien (the movie) sort of way, I love watching my belly move from the outside. It makes me proud that I am nourishing him and he is getting stronger every day.

I even love the smell of Allen's coffee in the morning, knowing I can't (shouldn't) have any. And I love the smell of the beer he has occasionally. I also love getting a decaf latte occasionally. It feels like such a treat now. Maybe I'm learning to appreciate simple pleasures that I took for granted before I got pregnant? Who knows. But I love it, anyway.

Having said all that, there are a few things I could do without. The first is the pinched nerve in my right hip. It is agony and has been for about six straight weeks now. And the midwives tell me it won't go away - it will only get worse as I progress. I hobble out of bed every morning, and stairs? No fun. Especially since I have to climb and descend them 15 million times a day to pee. The second is the near constant stitch in my left rib cage. It is driving me insane. Sitting on the birthing ball helps with that, somewhat, but I would pay real money to make that go away. I know it can be one of the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, but my blood pressure is fantastic and I don't have other symptoms. I think it's just sitting for long periods with crappy posture.

As I get farther along, I'm getting bigger and more waddley. I love my belly and love showing it off in maternity clothes, but getting out of bed is getting more difficult. Particularly when I have to wrestle with a body pillow, covers and cats who do not want to give up their warm spots. All in all, I'm pretty surprised though. I never expected to love this, so it feels like another amazing gift. The first was getting pregnant, the second was loving (almost) every minute of it. (Except maybe the hip thing. That I could do without. I think it might be time for a chiropractor...)

The good and the... less good.

We had our first appointment with the midwives. It was everything we expected. They also have student midwives who intern at the practice, which is fine. We are fine with having a student sit in on our visits. Except... Except the student right now is our Bradley Method instructor.

Sigh.

While she was taking down my history, she took the opportunity to lace into me yet again about being vegan. This time suggesting that my life-long, runs-in-my-family, started-around-the-onset-of-puberty, I-know-my-triggers-are-sugar-chocolate-and-red-wine migraines are due to the fact that I don't eat animal protein. For eff's sake! I explained that I got migraines when I did eat animal protein - milk, eggs, cheese - but she dismissed that as not "real" animal protein. Look lady. Animal protein is animal protein - milk, eggs, chicken, beef... It's all "animal protein", The midwife finally had to cut her off. 1. Because it was clear that I was getting pissed. 2. Because they have a whole visit designed to evaluate your diet and this wasn't it. And 3. I am clearly not malnourished, nor is my baby. In fact, this same student was concerned that I was measuring too large for how far along I was. Oh, until she realized that I was actually 24 weeks and not 22. And measuring 24-25 cm at 24 weeks and 3 days pregnant is perfect. Needless to say, this "student" is not invited back to any of my exams. Luckily, she's only there until December, but still. We. Are. Done.

Whether you agree with my diet or not, continually badgering me about it is only going to piss me off and make me defensive. And I take great umbrage at people who think they are diet experts because they follow the latest diet trend. (Ahem, paleo...) I am vegan, but I would never suggest that it's the only correct diet. I wouldn't even suggest that most people should be vegan! So it greatly offends me to be questioned over and over again about something I have done a ton of research on. It also feels like she's criticizing my parenting before I've even gotten started! She seems to be suggesting, less subtly each time, that I am in some way harming my unborn child. Let me be the first to tell you, I would have gone back to eating diary a long time ago if it was best for my baby. Or if my brand of veganism was in any way harmful. And since my old OB/GYN signed off on my diet, I think the Bradley instructor can go fu... Take a flying leap.