Ellie, Evan, and Charlotte (Triple-Smith): Diapers...

Not long after finding out we were going to have 3 babies, I contemplated cloth diapering the trips. Several of our friends use them and rave on how "it's not that hard - and you save money - and you save the environment." For a brief moment, I drank the cloth diaper cool aid and was sold. I tried to sell the idea to Jennifer - her response "I am the one going to be dealing with this mess all day - do what ever - just make it easy on me." So she did not say no! I did more research mostly online and reviews from friends. I even went over to a friends house (John and Kathryn Ballard) and got a schooling on the whole deal - "these are pre-folds, these are all-in-ones, these you only wash the inside, these you pull out an insert, and so on." Another good friend (Daniel Smith) was there and he was also chiming in on the in's and out's. We even got baby Maya out for a test spin. Three old college buddies talking diapers - what has the world come too? So we have covered what they are and how to put them on, but what do you do with them after you change them? John points out he poopie diaper pail - then the peepee diaper pail - then off to the laundry room. He shows how to clean them - pulls out some chemistry set of detergents - wash / dry / fold / some stuffing / and your done. At this point, I can only see the financial benefit - it looks real hard and then times it all by three. I come home to Jenn and of course make it sound like a piece of cake. I get on the Internet to research some pricing. Cloth diapers range form 10.00 to 25.00 each. All the websites suggest that I will need enough diapers to get one baby through 2-3 days. Quick math 8 changes per day per baby is 24 a day - x 2 days - 48. I will need 48 diapers just to get through 2 days. Another thing we had to consider was that they will not wear the same size for the next 2 years, I have to figure out about when they might change size and how long they will be in that size. I put together a spreadsheet with scenarios and pricing - study it for several days - we even registered on-line for cloth diapers. So here we go - cloth diapers it is!!!!

I ran it by the mothers in my Sunday School Class - response "Are you crazy - one baby is tough enough - and you got three!"

I ran it by a mother of twins - response "You just don't know how much ciaos multiples can be - go on line find a bulk diaper supplier and get them to ship those disposable diapers straight to your door at least once a week - and stop thinking of cloth - it is too much work!

I guess I better re-think this.

I go back to my spreadsheet and start figuring the same # of changes with disposable diapers. Bottem line - I would be only saving 467.32 the first year and I have not even figured power, water, and detergent expenses. Do I really want to take on this task?

Answer - - -- NO WAY! WE ARE GOING DISPOSABLE!

Disposables are what they use in the NICU. In fact, they have a size that can not be purchased in the store. Here is a comparison to the NICU pre-preemie diaper and a normal preemie diaper. I put my hand in one shot for reference.

You might be wondering why I have decided to talk about diapers. Well it does tie into a current event with the babies. They all have just graduated to the preemie size diaper. I can remember when they were first born the pre-preemie size was too big - and now they are moving into a size that can accually be purchase from wal-mart. The next size is still a little too big but I see it as improvement.

Here's a couple of shot from today

Jenn with Evan