I feel like having a new baby means a few DIY items. With Sara, I made some blankets, pillows, nap mat and also pregnancy pillow. Now, with the second one, it’s cloth diapering stuff.

So.. this time I made some newborn sized prefolds and also cloth wipes. With Sara, we started cloth when she was over 4 months old. So we have never diapered a newborn. One size is wayyy too big for tiny newborns.

Newborns poop a lot. Most of the time, they need to be changed every 2 hours. That’s 12 diaper change in 24 hours! Now, we are planning to use disposables for the first week as laundry may seem too much. After that, hopefully, we’ll be all set to do cloth. After much research, here’s how my newborn stash looks like. My stash is built based on a small budget, to launder everyday.

12 Newborn Prefolds  

Prefolds are so much easier to use than flats, and for more bang for the buck, I made them my own, converted from the traditional ‘kain lampin’ flats! So.. I only spent Rm36 for 12 prefolds. Woot woot! I also got a pair of those snappi diaper fastener.

7 Small Sized Prefolds
In case the little one grows out of the newborn size earlier, but still too small for one-size dipes.

5 Flats
As backup in case I run out of diapers. These are only the traditional kain lampin that can also be used as swaddling blankets. 🙂

5 Wipeable Newborn Covers
Prefolds and flats need waterproof covers. I guess I prefer wipeable covers so I can use them twice (maybe thrice) before needing washing. I suppose five would suffice. I bought the Happy Flute covers for just RM19 per pc at SweetLunaShop.

4 Newborn AIO
These AIO’s (All-In-Ones) are for night time use where I don’t think I’m up for some origami in the middle of the night. They work like disposables, no pocket or anything to stuff. I got the THX brand for just RM18 each (on sale from RM26!). A lot of people say they are similar to Lil Joey’s NB AIOs.  Actually, I would get more of them, but this is budget cloth diapering. heheh. :p

3 Bamboo Boosters 
I made them my own using leftovers from the wipes fabric. I just made 3″ x 8″ 2ply bamboo terry in case the baby outgrow the absorbency of the newborn dipes before outgrowing the size. Should I need more, I can just quickly whip out from bamboo fleece I have laying around in my sewing room. Easy peasy.

Cloth Wipes
I heard cloth wipes make GREAT wipes. More so than the disposable ones, that are loaded with unnecessary chemicals. I have no experience with cloth wipes, and I have no idea what kind of wipes I would prefer, so I went with the most popular one which is bamboo terry and flannel. Again, to keep my budget low, I made them myself. They are so easy and quick to make. I made 20 of 8″x8″  flannel + bamboo terry wipes, and 8 of single layer bamboo terry as I heard it’s also good to have thin wipes. In total I have 28 wipes.

Oh.. I just love these wipes. They are so so soft and the bamboo terry feels luxurious! Plus, they look so cute! 😛

So that’s it, newborn stash! Now please excuse me, I need to do some laundry 😉

Last weekend I’ve started the gentle birthing class with AMANI. Our chosen educator is Diana Shuwardi, from Shah Alam. It was only the first 2 sessions, yet I’ve already learned so much, that it made me feel as if I am a first time mom.

We attended antenatal class at the hospital with our first, but this birthing class is so much detailed. Since it is personal class, I had the opportunity to ask questions until I am satisfied with the answer and truly understand the topic.

Birth ‘Training’

Among important things that I’ve learned, is birthing is like a marathon. It’s going to be painful but with rewarding ending. Do you join a marathon and not train for it? Of course not! That will be like booking a torture session for yourself! So, in order to do well in the marathon and be glorious at it, you will have to train for it. And that includes being physically and mentally ready for the marathon. You will need all the stamina, endurance and to endure through labour while still remain calm.

Starting now, my everyday routine will include ‘training’ in preparation of birth.

1. Exercise 3-4 times a week such as yoga or swimming.
2. Daily breathing practice and pregnancy exercise (squatting, the butterfly, pelvis tilt, etc)
3. Balanced nutrition as taught in class.
4. Positive birth affirmations for mental preparation. Practice labour positions.
5. Most importantly, prayers and Qur’an recitations.

Birthing Partner Role

The class is also teaching my husband to learn what are his roles during labour. I was surprised to find out his feelings. He said he felt helpless during labour. To me, during our first labour, I was grateful to have him by myself. Somehow I feel like the class is giving us the opportunity to share and speak up about our opinions during labour since both of us are being educated about it. So it is good that I also get to know about his opinion on a particular matter, it makes me feel that he is more involved. He is getting to his role as an important birhting partner rather than just a husband on companion duty (haha).

Now, having learned his duty, I realized there are so many ways a birthing partner can support and help me to go through labour. We are going to make a photocopy of his roles at different stages of labour and paste them on the walls in the room to so that we can read it everyday.

Birth Plan

What I like about the class, is making the birth plan. I had a birth plan for my first labour but some of it didn’t go quite as planned because my husband didn’t know what it meant. So, by making the birth plan together, he is going to be aware of it, and will be the enforcer and my representative for the times I won’t able to.

Understanding how to work with your body
Birthing is a natural processs. Your body knows how to give birth and your baby knows how to birthed. It is the mother who is clouded by fear, anxiety and lack of knowledge that’s interfering with the birthing process, that can result in poor progress, fetal distress and so on. So, what should we do?

Keep active, practice the positions to help labour process and relax.

All in all, I am so glad to attend the class. Labour should be a wonderful and joyous experience as it is a celebration to welcome a new baby into the world! It has made me look forward to my labour instead of fearing or being nervous about it. The only thing though, I just need to do all my ‘training’ in such a short time! InshaAllah, as long as I do it with discipline, it will be worth it.

Time has been so hectic, a lot of things has happened and I am just lousy at fitting a time to blog.

Being a working mom, the disadvantage is definitely time. You only have a few hours after work to get your cooking, cleaning and laundry done. On top of that your child needs your attention and Sara being very active, is not the kind of kid that goes to bed easily. So, despite all the bedtime routine, she still needs some work to get her to bed soundly.

Now, I am 29 weeks pregnant (Alhamdulillah). Yep, entering my third trimester now of my second pregnancy. See, how time flies?

I have quite a different pregnancy for this one than my first, Alhamdulillah. If you are wondering, it is another girl. But this this pregnancy is so much easier and smoother. I didn’t have much morning sickness. And emotional wise, quite stable -until entering this 3rd trimester, I have been feeling a little more emotional. Lets save that topic for later shall we?

I have been ignoring the fact that I am pregnant and put off planning the birth a lot later. Then I realized, as I am choosing the hospital that this time around I want to opt for no epidural.

I thought my first labour was wonderful. (my labour entry) I had epidural, I didn’t endure the true pain of childbirth, my daughter came out safely without vacuum or forceps. The nurses were nothing but amazing. However, now looking back, there are a lot of things I would like to improve. Such as, not taking almost an hour to push. I would say the culprit was epidural as I didn’t feel any pain or urge to push, I was pretty much pushing blindly.

Next, perineal tear was horrible. Until now I shudder at thinking about the tear. I ended up with quite significant  tearing since I kept pushing the baby out wrongly.

Now that I have decided to not taking any epidural, I am getting worried about the labour pain. In fact, the fear was giving me nightmares or keeping me awake at night. Yes, it is to be expected. But I am not about to sit around and go through it like going to a marathon without training. I want to be prepared.

Alhamdulillah, out of the blue, I saw a poster on Gentle Birthing seminar on facebook. That’s when I started to read a little on gentle birthing. I am very happy to read wonderful labour stories that are drug-free yet remained smooth. Actually, I think it might be an answer to my prayer.

Having a supportive husband made me feel even luckier. When I asked him to attend the seminar, he immediately suggested to find the gentle birthing classes instead so that we can really learn. That’s when I found out that there are a few gentle birthing method such as Hypnobirth and Amani Birth. I chose Amani as I feel it resonates more to me.

This is the Amani module sent by my chosen educator to me. Originally the class consists of 10 sessions, but I opted for personal coaching and asked for an intensive, compressed sessions into 5 since I’m already in third trimester. I hope I can really benefit from this class  and have the birthing experience I want. It is crucial as it will also affect the postpartum recovery period.

What is Gentle Birthing?

Obviously I am not the best person to explain, but in a nutshell, this is the concept:

Reading the positive birthing experience has inspired me and make me feel more positive towards labour, and now I can’t wait to attend the class! InshaAllah.

I realized I’ve been neglecting my blog, yet again. So sorry guys. I was busy with work in the past, and since last 2 weeks, I’ve been busy with baby projects DIY! Yeaay!

Ever since I started working on baby DIY projects, I’ve been more and more excited about baby’s arrival. It made everything seems more real. I’m at 36 weeks at the moment, and honestly, sewing is a challenge when your tummy is in the way. It was much harder for me to measure, and cut fabrics especially. So that slowed down the progress.

Anyway, baby project #1:

1. DIY baby binder

Made 6 of these. My mum recommended me to make 10, to last between washes. I also made them in slightly varying sizes, only because I don’t know how small or how big my baby will be. It costed me RM1.60 for the ropes for all these. All the fabrics are scrap fabrics I found in my fabric stash. I was surprised to find that much cotton scraps in my stash, and they are all perfect for baby’s skin! It would cost RM5 each to buy at the stores for plain ‘ol white ones. I say, BORING!

I’ll probably make some more when I’m bored. It only takes me about 10 to 15mins to make one. So easy. 🙂

2. Baby travel nap mat.

This is for my baby to take a nap on when we’re visiting or out and about. This is not really a huge necessity. I mean whenever I’m travelling, I can just find a regular comforter and fold them for the baby but hey, I’m a stylish mama, I want my baby to look and feel stylish too! HAHA.

The straps keep all the components together; two pillows, a mat, and a blanket.

I added batting onto the blanket for extra comfort. I also made my own nap mat. The chevron and doll house fabrics are both Robert Kaufman’s fabrics. The pink pin polka dot fabric is English cotton from Jakel.