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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Light at the End of the Tunnel! I wonder if the baby sees it too....? Plus, Itsy Bitsy Bums has stolen my heart...

The stitches came out yesterday!  

After 15 weeks, 6 1/2 days, the cerclage (sir-CLAWSHHH....such a French-sounding, fancy name for such an awkward thing...) keeping my cervix shut & this kiddo safe inside was removed.  Honestly, I was hoping she would just kind of slide out like a fish once the doctor snipped the stitch, but no such luck.  Guess we will have to wait and see when she decides to arrive -- I'm so ready!

We (the hubs and I) picked up our newborn rental package of cloth diapers from Itsy Bitsy Bums Monday evening.  There aren't many cloth diaper retailers here in the Kansas City area, so we are very fortunate that what we do have is as high quality as IBB.  Abby  Flores, the shop's owner, is as friendly and helpful as can be, and IBB carries just about everything you could possibly ever want or need for diapering your little one (I foam at the mouth whenever I peruse their online store, much like my dog does if we are within even a half-mile radius of the park).  


Since Ryan and I are cheapskates, we really did not want to purchase a whole newborn set of diapers.  Logically and financially, renting a package for the first several weeks seemed like the way to go for us.  I spent a lot of time looking and comparing packages -- prefolds, fitteds, Fuzzibunz pockets, Bum Genius AIOs, mix & match your own package, etc.  There are a ton of options out there!  When I saw Itsy Bitsy Bums' Preloved Newborn Rental Package, I knew I had found "The One."  It may not have been love at first sight between Ryan and me, but with IBB, I was sure (aww, look, Valentine's Day is making me all nostalgic-like!).  Let me highlight for you briefly just a few of the awesome features of this package, as well as Abby's rental policy:
  • Price -- Since this was one of the biggest driving factors for us, I should really talk about it first.  The Preloved Newborn Rental IBB offers gives us 25 Kissaluvs fitteds (size 0) and 4 Thirsties Duo covers (size 1), plus a small sample of Grandma El's & CJ's BUTTer (i.e. Miracle Gook) for a total payment of $195.  $125 of that fee is a refundable deposit -- if you return all the dipes/covers in acceptable condition, that money comes back to you.  Meaning you've only spent $70 to diaper your newborn for the first 12 weeks of his/her life.  Opt to receive your refund back in store credit (and why wouldn't you?  IBB has EVERYTHING!) and receive an extra $30.  For those of you keeping track, that's FORTY DOLLARS for TWELVE WEEKS of diapering joy!  That's less than $0.50 a day!  I defy you to find a cheaper option.  
  • Flexibility -- Being a high-risk pregnancy, there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding when our daughter might come.  Abby made it so easy for us by allowing us to pick up our diapers a month before my due date, even though our rental period won't officially begin until I give birth.  What a blessing!  That went far in helping alleviate pre-delivery stress, and just shows again the amazing service IBB provides.
  • Simplicity -- We live within driving distance of IBB, so setting up a time for pickup was nothing.  However, for those who live farther away, all orders over $35 are shipped for free within the US.  Returning the rental is as simple as sticking the (clean) items into a box and shipping it back via your favorite method of package transport.  Bing-o, bang-o, you're done & will soon be ready to shop for even more delightfully addictive goodies, from AIOs to wet bags!
So that's my shameless advertisement for Itsy Bitsy Bums.  Being a cloth diapering noob (that's novice, for all you non-nerdy folks out there), I don't have any practical experience yet, but look forward to sharing my adventures (and, I'm sure, woes) with you once we get this show on the road!

1 comment:

  1. Wow! I haven't heard of anyone around here that does cloth diaper rentals but that is a fabulous idea! My second is now 9 months old and I admit, even though I only use cloth with my oldest I used a lot of disposables within the first 6 weeks. He leaked through all my pockets and I wasn't familiar with prefolds at the time. Luckily I got on the old fashioned prefold+snappi bandwagon and that got us through but I would definitely have opted for rentals if it had been available! I hope it works out for you!

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