recycledbaby.co.uk

I think I want a baby sling but I have no idea which one to get. There are so many different types. Do I go for metal frame? Ring? Just cloth? I have no idea which is best. We saw some at the baby show that made you look like a Jedi warrior when you tied them up but I’m not sure I’m ready to wrestle with five metres of cloth to tie my baby in. How do you do that when you are alone in the house with the little one? It looked like fabric origami but the overall effect was cool! That’s a point actually – it will be hot in summer!!

My friend says he just uses a sarong tied across him with the baby on his hip and I’ve seen a few people carrying babies African style with a sarong tied across their back. I’m not sure that’s good for you though. It’s bad enough carrying them on your hip and throwing your back out of alignment without having to lean forward to balance the weight out. There don’t seem to be many cons to having a sling but I guess you just have to try a few and find out what works. I read this  but I still have no idea. They seem to be quite easy to make if you believe some of the crafty type blogs and sites out there, but only if you can get the rings for them. Personally I don’t seem to have time to brush my teeth let alone buy the material and the rings to make a sling. Maybe that will ease up as he grows but for now I’ve got to look to borrow one or buy one second hand and see!

We have a Bumbo – it’s been purchased for less than £15 including postage and it arrived in its genuine Bumbo box. It’s not a Chinese fake, it’s real and it’s brilliant except for the faint smell of cigarettes. I HATE people who lie about their non-smoking home on their eBay sales. OK so it’s only happened this one time but I still hate it. I found out because I picked it up off the floor and sniffed the bottom. I don’t make a habit of sniffing things but my baby’s stuff is important and I picked it up and just had a sniff and there was the cigarette smell. I guess it will disappear in time in my non-smoking home but it does spoil the excitement a little.

Husband did all the things I either can’t be bothered to do or physically can’t do – like picking sales that end at midnight when I am asleep, to place bids on and searching for weird spellings of Bumbo (although that could yield some very strange items!)

I got my boy to model his new thing for you and he looks happy… although he may have been having a pee at the time. It can be hard to tell the difference some times.

Boy in his new chair!

The Bumbo buying has been taken out of my hands. After several abortive attempts to purchase Bumbos from eBay which resulted in me running around swearing like a trooper and taking it out on him indoors, husband has decided he is going to buy it for me (deliberate or cunning, you decide). Trouble is he says he’s not going to pay more than a certain amount for it. We could be waiting until the baby is walking.

Ellis on his birth day

Ellis arrived on July 28^th,one week and a day late, at 5.37pm in a birthing pool. I was not expecting that, but it was actually very nice.  For those of a nervous disposition, what follows is a full and honest report of the birth and there’s a pic of me and him in the birthing pool….. just in case you are squeamish. You have been warned! The hypnobirthing worked like a charm.  I listened to the CDs and did my homework and I used the technique for the membrane sweep I had on the Saturday – just put the relaxation CD on and when I was suitably relaxed let the midwife get on with it. She was very impressed and said she wished everyone was as relaxed as I was.

Then when the surges started at 6.45am a couple of days later I pottered about sorting stuff out and cleaning (what a cliché!) until things got too regular to allow me to do anything else. So I used the hypnobirthing again as it got more painful and it was amazing. I was calm, relaxed and ready for the birth.  I used my mobile phone to type in the times of the surges which helped me keep track of how things were going. At round 1pm things started to get a bit strong and a bit closer together so I called my other half to come home from work. He arrived at 2pm (I was ready to kill him because I couldn’t get the tens machine on) and as the surges were around 3-4 minutes apart we called the hospital. They said come in but don’t rush. We strapped on the tens machine and piled into the car. At the time they were still building the shopping mall in the centre of town so I remember getting stuck in traffic and clinging onto the dashboard growling as men in yellow vests sauntered by. I got to hospital at about 3pm. By the time we got there I was really getting ready to have the baby. I remember being on all fours in the waiting room making deliberately low noises like we practiced in yoga and asking Simon to “Go and find somewhere for me to have this baby”. They took one look at me, booked me into a room and I handed over the birth plan. It turns out I was in transition.

I had an internal exam lying on my back which showed I was 6cm dilated and was the most painful bit of the whole experience! The midwife noticed I had mentioned a water birth if I possible and I was whisked off to the pool. I got in there at around 4pm and it was very welcome, July 28^th was the hottest day of the year. I kept listening to the hypnotic suggestions and my husband was good at giving me lots of positive affirmations. I remember my mind running through all the affirmations on the CD during the surges and I never once felt I couldn’t cope. I didn’t ask for pain relief until I had been in the pool a while. When I did finally ask the midwife said no!  Apparently I was doing fine on my own. She did relent eventually and I had gas and air which is great stuff. Seriously it was fantastic.

Our little man just after he arrived

Things progressed pretty quickly after that and I don’t really remember much. I was asked if I wanted to feel the sack as my waters had not broken and I distinctly remember saying “No, why would I want to feel that?” Then they broke and his head was there and then Ellis was in the water, with the midwife scrabbling around trying to catch him. He was a slippery little fellow! He weighed 8lb 14oz and had all the requisite fingers and toes

I was the one in a state – I had a second degree tear that the midwife couldn’t find the end of so I had to go into theatre and have an epidural so they could fix me. Again I used the hypnobirthing to stay calm and relax. Ellis stayed with his daddy and got rid of all the meconium onto daddy’s arms and front – a situation that left daddy looking like James Herriot after a particularly intrusive bovine incident and forced a paternal clothes change. It seemed fair at the time.  All in all it was a good birth, all over in 10 hours or so and nothing I couldn’t cope with – I wish everyone’s could be like that. I have to say thanks to Nerissa for the lessons in pregnancy yoga with low birth noises and Maria for the hypnobirthing lessons. Both made it a wonderful, less scary and easier thing than I ever imagined.

And now it begins……

We’ve got a big decision to make now. The pram! There are so many different options and mostly I have to be able to get our pram into my banana yellow Mini. This limits things somewhat. There are very few prams you can get into a Mini. It’s such a huge decision because we also have to decide on a car seat for the baby as well and you have to get a car seat that’s compatible with the pram set. Who knew it was so complicated? Plus I’m told they won’t let you leave the hospital unless you have a proper car seat! My other half is into design and engineering so I’m pretty much leaving the selection to him. I’ll get him to present me with a load of options and see if we can get one second hand. Oh except we can’t get a second hand car seat because you can’t use second hand car seats! I don’t understand this at all. Babies only use the first one for a year or so. If a car seat has not been in an accident and is still in good condition, why on earth shouldn’t it be reused for another child? They cost over a hundred pounds and use all sorts of petrochemicals and plastics which aren’t good for the planet. It makes sense to reuse them. No-one is saying we should put kids in danger. I wouldn’t consider using a seat that had been in an accident, but I would consider using one that had been used before.

Oh you have to see these baby trousers made from old jumpers….. they are the cutest! I am so going to make these.

April 2008

I’ve got a cot! I was complaining about how bad I am at eBay on the radio the other day and suddenly the text was alive with people offering me their old cots. It’s amazing how many people have got baby stuff lying around years after their kids have grown up. Anyway – my cot has come from a Mercia listener, Michelle in Nuneaton. She texted to say she had one lying around and I’ve been round and picked it up.

She was so sweet about it. You could see it was a really emotional thing for her to give up. When she offered me the cot she said she had texted almost straight away and then had a conversation with herself asking if she was really alright with giving the cot away. She figured that, as she hadn’t really even thought before texting, she must be ready. She said she had finally come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t going to have anymore children. Now that is the story of someone who has arrived at a big moment in their life, a place of personal understanding. It was a really big deal for her to be able to come to terms with not having more kids. That’s a hill of grief to climb. Initially I felt bad because I had put her in the position of having to deal with these things but then I realized, she had already dealt with them, she just hadn’t realized it.  

The cot and all her son’s baby stuff had been carefully packed into the loft where it had stayed for many years. Her son was now a teenager who was rapidly becoming a tennis ace, playing at county level, and the chances of him having a little brother or sister were slim. Mostly because she had no time to spare after ferrying her son around to all his tennis practice and matches! When I went round to pick up my prize she looked happy and proud of her son and her work so far. She had every right to be happy and proud. He seemed like a lovely kid who was doing really well at something he really enjoyed. What parent could ask for more?

The cot itself is perfect. Wooden with the rotating balls at each end and in really good condition. A new one would set me back well over £100 so I’m saying I’ve got a result. I love that I get to share in other people’s stories and add new chapter to the story of this object. It’s given something a new life and given me a privileged insight into someone elses family. This recycled baby business is fun.

Our baby's brand new second hand cot

This was how it all started in March 2008

Right it’s Green Month on Mercia and we’ve all been doing our bit to be greener. Lord knows we’ve recycled enough paper to make a mountain of loo roll and all the lights have been switched off when we leave. We’ve been asking you to commit to a greener lifestyle and now it’s my turn. I’ve decided that my contribution is going to be a recycled baby. I’m not going to get a used baby from the used baby stall like Madonna and Angelina. No. I’m going to make a promise to try and use as much recycled and reused stuff as I can as the baby grows up. Yes this is my recycled baby project and as you can’t just hand a baby back at the end of the month, I’m in it for the long haul. Will it last? I’ll let you know.