We're marvelling at bucket fanjos, peeing while we vom, trying subsistence farming and staying incontinent. Keeping our GX and firmly holding the hands of viroids having a hard time - JSing grads 36!

[pretzelpieces]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the 36th grads thread... celebrating the success of Just Shagging in getting us viroids upduffed!

For those that don't know, a 'viroid' is from the original JSing thread 1, where someone was trying to type ladies (in reference to all the JSing ladies), but their phone decided to call us all viroids instead!

The name stuck and we've been the JSing viroids ever since.

The 35th grads fred is here.

The thread we have graduated from is here in its 51st outing. WARNING: they're all a bit kerazy not to mention randy!

There is also a Just Mumming thread here for once your babies come along, or to keep up with the graduated graduates!

There is also a private facebook group (so it doesn't give the game away in your news feed!)... if you want to join to see photos of new babies etc, just ask in-thread!

Here is the stats list, please update your own spot with any updates.

purple not long at all for you now!!!!!

My sister has offered me her old Lakeland heated airer, which will help with drying. As we're Feb/March baby, prob won't be using cloth till about May, so will have the summer Sunshine whilst we get used to it. Luckily there is space in the "office" to put the airer and we can prop a window open to prevent damp.

I prefer the slimmer fit of the all in ones, so I can use normal clothes on the baby without having to leave space for a giant bum. But then, in the summer, a big Fluffy bum is very cute.

well my PMA came and bit me on the bum as I had some bleeding again last night (this series of events is making it very hard not to believe I am jinxing things as I had just filled in MW referral form! )

would quite like to give up and spend all day in bed, but have too much work and a wedding cake to make in the evenings this week too!!

and sympathy to you totally & tea, I hope you're both ok (under the circumstances)

i would like to use cloth nappies if i ever get me a baby but not sure what dh thinks. my friend is a great advocate of them and reusable wipes, so i know i can get lots of tips from her.

5hell can you go to the EPU?

5hell oh I am sorry. You must be in total limbo again.

Sorry to hear that 5hell, if it is still light though keep up the PMA.

Not finding out the flavour at the scan, unless we accidentally get flashed.

DH got lots of points yesterday for saying that he loved my shape with a bump. I've just come back from a haircut (with fringe) and he has lost all of his points by voicing his opinion that 'In the nicest possible way, it makes your face look quite round' ha ha how rude!!

Sorry you're bleeding again 5hell :( maybe get a gp referral for a scan at Epu?

pud

I doubt we will use cloth nappies. Just an extra stress and we don't have a tumble dryer.

My favourite skinny jeans are getting too tight :( waaah

Do I need to do a wee sample for the 20 week scan? I presume not as I don't see a midwife?

Jelly, get some mat jeans, they are amaze!

pud no. I didn't anyway. Bet your hair looks lovely.

We've stocked up on Aldi nappies as apparently they are as good as pampers and half the price. Also have a fuckton of their wipes too, a pack of water wipes for hospital bag, several types of nappy cream, cotton wool and half the contents of Boots

I've bought diddly squat. Might start buying some small bits after my next mw appointment.

purple what size nappies have u bought

Those Aldi ones are good in the beginning when you need to change the often anyways, but we're finding that that not so good now that DS is bigger. He's dry for longer, but his piddled are massive! And because he sleeps on his front, he's just got this massive bulging swell of loss at the front, with nothing at the back!

But he's about a million miles away from potty training. Wah.

Thanks all for your comments last night. I'm adamant I'm going to have a positive day today. What unfortunately doesn't help is my swamp foof, which makes me convinced my amniotic fluid is leaking (yes, I am mad). I've had swamp foof since I got pg but I had a Brazilian wax on Saturday and I think it's made it even worse as there's no hair to catch it nice image for you all on a Tuesday morning.

5hell sorry that you have more bleeding but it's great that you had a PMA. Maybe go to EPAU for a scan? They should give you one if you have bleeding (I did at 8/9 weeks).

pud good luck for your scan! Another mile stone out the way.

purple "fuckton" - snigger

Yay cloth nappies! sad
and still horny
I basically bought one of everything of the most popular (and less popular) brands to try with the intention of buying more of what worked well for us. I can actually blab on about this for pa-a-ages but I won't because my fingers will get tired.
Most useful observations:

Bamboo and bamboo/charcoal inserts hold more wee than microfibre inserts. Retrospectively I would only invest in these, although for the first few months it really isn't an issue. It only becomes important when they are a bit older.
Microfibre dries a lot faster than bamboo if that's a worry for you. You can put both in the dryer though, but if you are only planning to airdry and you have limited funds to start off with and need to wash nappies daily, I'd probably choose microfibre over bamboo.
Velcro tabs are great when babies are small but once they start sitting and crawling and curling inward and trying to pull their feet into their mouths and so forth the nappies often fold a bit inward (imagine your trousers folding over a bit at the top) and the velcro strips can irritate and redden the skin. We had to put all our velcro ones away and buy some more popper ones when DC was around 6months old. :( We started using them again once older and walking although once fingers are working properly and the baby isn't wearing trousers or leggings, they are able to remove the velcro more easily, so now I only use velcro when a layer of clothes goes over the nappy. which is sad because they are so pretty! If you plan on buying once and once only, I'd go the safe route and opt for poppers instead. No one ever mentioned this velcro tab chafing thing to me but once I started to talking to other cloth parents I realised it is quite common. Why the fuck don't they tell other people this? sadomasochists
Totsbots (I saw someone mentioning them upFred) come up small. They haven't lasted through to the recommended kg limit for us even though DC is fairly lean. If I buy Totsbots again I would invest in size-specific ones rather than in the adjust to size ones. I love their nursery rhymes designs, so it is a great pity that DC can't wear them anymore. Looking forward to getting them out again for the next one! (Which is of course one of the best things about cloth nappies! Reusing for next sibling!)
Bambio Mio swimming nappies are the best we've found. I have to admit we've only tried about three brands of swimming nappy so I am perhaps not best to comment here. Bambio Mio's normal fitted nappies are useful because the insert is attached to the nappy and comes with a little hand pocket so you can just slide it in more simply.
The cheap Chinese adjust to size ones that you get all over Amazon from various retailers these days (e.g. Little Bloom) are actually pretty decent and very, very cheap. They are like £2 or £3 a nappy, plus another £2 for an insert or two. I'd recommend the bamboo inserts and lining, over microfibre ones. I've ended up buying a lot of these cheap Chinese ones and am using good quality bamboo/bamboo+charcoal inserts for daytime. They won't last for night time at all but they are brilliant if you're happy to change baby every 2-3hours. I mostly think the people who complain about their absorbency are people who think you can just leave the nappy on for the same length of time as a disposable.
Double-gusseted nappies are great. I wouldn't go out of my way to only buy those but I do think it helps.
Thin bamboo flushable liners are better at collecting more solid poos than the thicker bamboo flushable liners.
You honestly don't need liners if baby is exclusively breastfed as the poo washes out absolutely fine in the washing machine
The Flip prefolds are great in terms of absorbency. (Saw someone mention them)
By far the best waterproof covers we have found are the double-gusset shells from Rumparooz. Way way way ahead of the any other waterproof shells we've tried. Expensive but worth it.
The Rumparooz hemp and bamboo inserts are also very absorbent. Again expensive but good. FWIW Their fitted nappies are good but not necessarily better than any other brands.
Bumgenius (think someone also mentioned them upFred) become gappy around the top of the legs if you don't have a chubby baby.
DC is a heavy night wetter and it took us a long time, once DC was older, to figure out a foolproof system. Someone upFred also mentioned this. I cannot recommend the Disana woollen covers enough! Slightly longer comment here because few people know about them. Disana also make their own "prefolds" (a sort of cotton nappy weave with strings) which are great for the first few months or so but can't hold enough wee on their own after that. So we use a normal prefold for nighttime, sometimes with the Disana cotton prefold (since we have them anyway) or a plain terrycloth nappy over that, and then the Disana woollen pull-ups. The amazing thing about Disana is that any wee leakage gets absorbed by the inside layer of the wool and doesn't travel through to the outside! So no more wet clothes or sheets. Then you just hang the woollen cover out to dry. It self-cleans itself because of the very high lanolin content (lanolin = soap, so when it gets wet the reaction allows it to automatically "clean" the fabric. The only time when I won't use the woollen covers at night is if DC has a runny tummy. If the cover gets a lot of poo on it, it should be washed with wool detergent, and then you have to re-lanolise it to maintain absorbency and self-cleaning properties. We've had our Disana covers (two will do fine (one drying one wearing), three if you go overboard and can't choose between the lovely colours! They are size-dependent and I've found they come up big FWIW.) for about 8 months and I've not once had to wash them. Expensive but so worth it. You can get them on Amazon easily. The (?)Cambridge Baby Store also sell Disana products (including their fabulous woollen clothes, again expensive but I've never had to wash any of DC's woollen stuff yet!) and their online sizing guidelines are very good! The only reason I don't use the Disana for daytime wear is because I find the fitted ones much easier to take on and off in public places especially if DC is being a pain. If I were to use prefolds out of the house I'd probably use my Disana covers as standard, but we only use prefolds at home. I have a friend who uses Disana permanently on both her kids, so it can be done.
When DC has a runny tummy at night we may sometimes use disposable nappies with a Rumparooz waterproof. Lots of wee plus lots of soupy poo is tough to manage and this system means we don't ever have to change bedding in the middle of the night. Don't be a cloth martyr. If needs be, have the disposables in your cupboard in case.
We use disposables when travelling far distances or when going on holiday. It is a schlep to carry dirty nappies around for 12 hours in the car or on a plane, and to try and figure out if there is a washing machine where you are going. :) I always chuck a few waterproof covers (in particular the Rumparooz for night time) or even the normal fitted nappies without inserts into the suitcase, so that in warm weather DC can still just walk around in a colourful nappy!
A bamboo flushable liner when your DC has a runny tummy is mostly a waste of a bamboo liner. Just throw the whole nappy into the machine.
Minkies are soft and don't impact on absorbency.
Some popular clothes brands don't accommodate cloth nappies well once a child is older than about 18 months. They are slim around the bum and middle because they think everyone wears disposable. very miffed at this belated discovery You will need to be aware of this when e.g. ordering online, and consider ordering a size up so that DC can move easily.
The worst fitted nappies we've tried have been Pop-in from Close Parent (I think). They have an odd rigidity to them and don't wash and dry well. I don't know how to describe it, but they were just u-urgh. Irritating. I've only mentioned some of the brands we've tried here based on what you've all said upfred, and most of the ones we've tried whether or not I've mentioned them here or not, have been "fine". Even if I didn't particularly like one brand, I would still leave it on the shelf and use it if the others are in the wash or I need a spare to go in a bag. But these were just plain awful and I've actually just chucked them at the back of the cupboard. FWIW.
I won't extend this post with thoughts on why cloth nappies are great, since you presumably all already know! Nor on washing ideas because the internet is full of them.
Additional tip: until your baby starts solids I would consider saving money on wipes. I cut up some old cotton tshirts into little squares and used the overlocker to neaten up the edges. If you wet these to wipe baby clean you can just throw them in with the nappies for a wash. Saves heaps of money on both flushable and non-flushable depending on your fancy wipes!
phew

Jesus auf mind blown

looking you need a massive hug! You take worrying to a whole new level I can compete though Just think, not long till your 20 week scan and you'll have all that reassurance!

5hell sorry to hear about your further bleeding. I know it's very frustrating to just not know - I have everything crossed for you. I've harped on about this before so apologies to other viroids, but I had very heavy bright red bleeding at ten weeks which turned out to be a SCH, so you could be going through something similar.

I agree with others that a scan might be worthwhile. I know it's early, but at least then you know what the bleeding is being caused by.

jelly we don't have a tumble dryer either. I figure we'll have to wash and dry all our normal clothes anyway, so adding a few nappies into the mix isn't going to make it any more complicated than it already is!

Oh 5hell that's distressing. I really hope the MW referral works out! What's the process now for getting assessed?
By the way, re cloth, DH was probably more enthused about it than I was and he did a lot of our research in particular about best practise for washing and drying. Perhaps if this is a combined decision and both partners can play a role in deciding which brands, if you should go prefold or fitted or both, initial investment amount, how the washing rota will work, etc, maybe a dubious partner will be more inclined to agree to give it a go. :) There are all the obvious environmental benefits plus less likely to get nappy rash because you have to change the baby more often than with a disposable plus you can tailor the absorbency to your baby's individual requirements plus they are just adorable. They work for us, but not for everyone. If you don't have a washing machine or you really live in a ridiculously damp house or flat, or if you are really cash-strapped in terms of upfront funds and can only get by from month to month, then they really are not the best bet at all.

Sorry indi

Yay pud 20 week scan! :)

Mind completely blown by cloth talk..
gaggia we are mat leave buddies! I finish August 27th for 2 weeks annual leave then take mat leave from 14/09 (when I'll be 40weeks! )
purple I am so jealous.

honey I really want one of those Lakeland dryers! They look ace

5hell

Looking forward to seeing your baba today pud :D you shouldn't need a wee sample

jelly I haven't bought anything either... should probably start to think about it...

mountain yay for mat leave!!!! You haven't bought anything? Not a sausage?.....meh I think that's cool me neither. When will you start buying? Do you occasionally shit your self about having nothing though?.

Ah I disappear for a few days and have 12 pages to catch up on!

for the ladies that need it. Thinking of you all.

5hell gx for you, keep the PMA, hopefully its nothing to worry about.

la glad you are home and being looked after.

I went to the zoo with DH yesterday, school holidays so filled with 100s of people. I have realised how much I dislike other peoples hyper screaming children! But there was so many tiny babies too that made me feel all warm and fuzzy, why can't they stay that size forever?!

In more positive news though, I'm now able to sleep for 6 hours before needing to pee rather than getting up after 4hours!

Update from me, and it's good news!

TL:DR version - scan today showed a heartbeat

Longer version:
I had a bleed last night that was just like the first day of a period. Bright red blood, one very small clot (

tea that's lovely news! Brilliant stuff.

looking dont worry about swampy knickers, the more pregnant you are the swampier you get.