Hello! I'm a newb- my first message on mumsnet! I'm a reusable user with a 4 month old. Just wanted to say that I decided, in spite of dire warnings from everyone, to try out my nice nappies from day one. I ended up not having a problem and would do it again probably.
I had a trial newborn sized Mothercare Smart Nappy which has a fab little cutout for the bellybutton so that was the first one we used. It was incredibly simple to use (it's a cradle style nappy) when hubby put baby's nappy on in the labour room. He was happy!
I had a bumgenius nappy sack with some lavendar oil on a napkin in it for my stay (3 days). The nurse said it was the best smelling nappy bag she'd ever come across! Brills, thought I.
We switched quickly to the Tommee Tippee cotton bottoms (which we had a stack of) and hubby took them home to throw in the machine with instructions (i.e. keep it simple- flush the liner; throw the nappies in a hot wash) when the sack was full. We never had meconium stains so he did a good job!
When we got home he was the "gatekeeper" so that included shoving nappies in the wash every other day- not exactly onerous, so he, again, was happy.
Um, that's it. We found it to be fine, and it really helped when mum-in-law was over and soaked them in a bucket with napisan (some would say not to- fair enough- but I love it) between washes, so I've stuck with her method. Still love the cotton bottoms more than any others, but the baby has outgrown them and we were bought a load of bambineo's and one life's, so that's what we use now.
Hope it goes well and you haven't gone into labour in the time it took to read this very long post! Apologies!