Beth

I'm having trouble getting enough sleep lately because after about 5 or 6 hours in bed, my lower back and hips are becoming so stiff and sore I can't get comfortable in bed. Anyone have this problem? Ideas of what's causing it or how to fix it?

I'm 28 years old, stay-at-home mom of 3 kids. My youngest is 8 months old, and sometimes ends up in bed with me nursing for part of the night. For a while I thought the back soreness was a result of sleeping in strange positions with a baby in bed, but last night he was in his crib the whole night. I got up once and nursed him sitting in a rocking chair, then put him back and went back to bed. I was horribly stiff and sore a few hours later and I'm still working it out now. I've never had back trouble before. I usually go to sleep on my side, but sometimes I end up on my back, particularly if I have baby in bed with me. I don't workout/exercise very often just because I'm so busy with the kids, but they do keep me moving and on my feet a fair amount.

I'm expecting baby #3 in a few weeks. My son is almost 2 and 1/2 years old and very attached to me, which in general I consider a good thing. He is still breastfeeding once day, but we've skipped a day here and there without any drama - I feel I could wean him anytime if I wanted to and it wouldn't be an issue. (I have good reasons for not weaning him completely, but that's not relevant to my question.) During the day, he has no problem being cared for by someone else (Daddy, Grandma, church nursery, etc.) for a few hours. Bedtime is a little trickier, but Daddy can put him to bed and Grandma did once (although some crying was involved). But in the middle of the night - only mommy will do! He still wakes up an average of 1-2 times a night, sometimes for a diaper change but usually just for snuggles. He sleeps in a twin bed in his own room. He'll go right back to sleep for me after a few minutes of rocking or snuggling in bed. If Daddy tries to put him back to bed, he screams bloody murder - "I want my mommy!" until Daddy gives in and brings him to me.

On a regular basis, this doesn't bother me, but I'm worried about how he will cope when I'm in the hospital having the baby and the first week or so after when I'm recovering and exhausted and Grandma will be taking care of him. I don't want my mom to be the one who has to deal with him screaming for hours as he adjusts to this, but I don't really know how to prepare him otherwise. My husband is busy with work and trying to get ahead so he'll have more time to help me out when the baby gets here, so I don't want to make him deal with it either. I'm hoping that when I'm actually not here he'll be more willing to accept comfort from someone else, but I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking. My daughter (at the same age) was not at all like this and had no problem being cared for by Grandma when her brother was born.

Anybody else have a super-attached toddler when their next child was born? How did your toddler handle being away from you? Any suggestions for how to prepare him for this - preferably with minimal screaming and crying - or make it easier for Grandma to handle?

I keep seeing this here in the ttc section and also elsewhere on the internet. Supposedly, even if you have sex at the right time, during ovulation, your chances of pregnancy in any given cycle are only 20% (or 25%, 30%, I've seen a few different numbers). Where on earth does that come from? I did a google search and found similar statement on tons of different ttc sites, but no explanation of why or what research that is founded on. I found one Y!A question on the topic, and every answer had a completely different explanation. I would like to know where this comes from, and on what research is it based? Please don't just give me your theory of why that is - I would like to know who told you that or better yet provide links to the research that supports it. Otherwise I'm inclined to think it's just something some doctor made up to make people who are ttc be patient and not get frustrated right away.

I've been cloth diapering for nearly 3 years now, starting with my daughter when she was a toddler and now with my son since he was just a newborn. At home we mostly use prefolds or fitted diapers with covers. I have a variety of pockets and AIOs that I use when we're out of the house for convenience. Lately I'm finding that I have a LOT more leaks with the pockets and AIOs. I usually put two inserts in the pocket diapers - any more and they'd be ridiculously bulky and not fit correctly. At 20 months old, my son can easily soak through them in less than 2 hours and as soon as the inserts are saturated it starts wicking through to his pants. So either I have to make sure he gets changed every hour (which is a real inconvenience when we're not home!) or carry several extra pairs of pants along. This problem is not with one specific diaper brand - I have several different brands of pocket diapers and AIOs, including home-made ones, and all of them do the same thing. We are NOT having this problem at home with prefolds and covers. Even when the prefold is fully saturated, it doesn't start leaking right away. I can leave him in the same diaper for 3-4 hours during the day or all night long and it doesn't leak.

Because of this, I'm thinking about getting rid of my pocket diapers (which I hate anyway - unstuffing a wet or dirty pocket diaper is just nasty - and I have a friend who would love to have them) and using prefolds and covers all the time. Anyone out there doing this? My concern is what to do with the used but not soiled covers in between changes when we're out. At home, I leave the covers lying out on the changing table where it can air out a bit before being used again at the next diaper change. I can't do that so easily when we're out with just a diaper bag. If I stuff the cover into my wetbag with the rest of the diaper, it's going to be even nastier when the next diaper change rolls around. I feel like I would need to just keep using the same cover even if it's smelly and needs to air out, or carry enough covers to use a new one each time and just plan on washing them all before using again (which would probably require buying a few more covers).

Anybody out there have a different solution? How do you cloth diaper when you're not at home?