There’s one thing about living in Bozeman:  if you’re pregnant you are definitely NOT alone.  In July of last year there were so many babies being born one day that the hospital had to send women in labor to the next town.  Seriously.

The median age here is 36 if that gives you any clue.

Anyway, I have a few friends both here in town and online who are expecting for the first time and I thought I’d share some of the information that I wish I had known about when I was pregnant for the first time.  The products out there are so overwhelming that it’s hard to determine what you really need.  Hopefully this weekly series will help.

The Basics

Get yourself a pair of fisherman pants.  This pair is from KhaoSanRoad on Etsy.  These pants are one of my all time favorite maternity items because they stay up.  All day.  For the entire pregnancy.  I have a pair that my mom got me on a visit to Thailand that survived from my blossoming belly all the way through 200+ pounds.  The nice part is that they will instantly fit once the baby is born too.

Maybe get two pairs.

And speaking of Etsy, I wish I had thought of it for all of my first pregnancy/baby needs.  If you like unique, handmade items that help support artists directly then you should familiarize yourself with the world of Etsy.  Good stuff. 

Get yourself a wrap.  Forget all of the other baby carriers for a little while and invest in a good quality wrap.  Once you know your baby’s temperament (and how fast they’re going to grow!) you can make a more educated decision about additional carriers.  It blew me away how much the wee baby wanted be held (um, ALL the time) and finally putting him in a wrap opened up a world of freedom.  Here is a site with fantastic instructions for how to use one (the source of the photo too). 

In a few weeks I’ll provide a tutorial on how to make your own pretty little wrap using 2 or 3 yards of fabric so stay tuned.  If you opt to purchase one, Ellaroo makes my personal favorites.  They support a cooperative weavers in Guatamala and from what I understand give them a fair price for their work–always a nice thing.

And here it comes:  cloth diapers.  This is a scary one to delve into because there are so many different styles and systems of cloth diapers available these days.  When we initially made the decision to use cloth, we figured we’d be using little folded up pieces of fabric with plastic pants like our mothers did.  Yeah, well cloth diapers have come a loooooong way since then.  Check out Zany Zebra, a comprehensive site about cloth diapering including links about how to make your own (featuring one of my tutorials by the way).  Familiarize yourself a bit and I’ll tackle this subject in further detail sometime down the road.

Before you get too squeamish about cloth diapering, here are the tools that should convince you that it’s not that big of a deal:

The bucket (which has holes drilled in the bottom) sits up on top of the toilet and you spray the goodies off of the diaper with the hose that looks like it came straight from your kitchen sink (it hooks into the water line on your toilet).  Voila.  If you or anyone you know is at all handy these are fairly simple to make yourself and really help make cloth diapering a breeze.

 If you have any particular products or questions that you’re wondering about, give me a shout and I’ll happily stand on my soapbox for you.

Happy baby growing!