I have been scouring the interwebs trying to figure out how to find out how many times we have tweeted to Ellen.

While figuring out how many times we tweeted @theellenshow is pretty impossible, searching for the hashtag #operationfluffy is possible.  Remember folks, use the hashtag!  It will enable me to search your tweets, and Ellen’s people when they finally decide to give in!

So…  want to know how we are doing?

108 people have tweeted #operationfluffy 587 times!!!

So, @TheEllenShow has received almost 600 tweets about cloth diapers.  I think that is pretty darn good!  But, we can’t stop there!  Remember to keep tweeting.  Take pictures of your baby in a cloth diaper every time you change it, and tweet it.  Take pictures of your laundry basket full of diapers, the diapers on the line, anything you can think of.  We can’t slow down, and we need to speed up.  Have you seen how many people tweet to Ellen?  Thousands…..  even at our high point on Monday night we were only every few tweets to her.  Now we must only show up every few pages.

I have some more ideas up my sleeve about how to grab her attention, but it involves supreme coordination.  I will flesh it out and announce it soon.

Here is the leaderboard, for now.  Anytime you want to check your stats go to hashtweeps.com and search #operationfluffy.

You are all working hard!  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the time you are taking out of your day to support #operationfluffy.

Want to do more?

I need members of the many Cloth Diaper Message Boards to post about our mission.  Babycenter, Diaperswappers, Cloth Diaper Nation, Bliss Tree, Mothering, etc etc…  Put the word out.  Let them know they don’t need Twitter to be involved.

They can:

Join the twitter blitzkrieg using @TheEllenShow and #operation fluffy tags.

Blog about it and link up to the MckLinky in the carnival post.

Write to Ellen using the submission form on her site.  Make sure they mention #operationfluffy.  We need to be a united front!

Send videos of their baby dancing in visible cloth diaper to me using yousendit.com.

Or, have them come up with ideas!

Again, thank you for all the work you have already done!

Welcome to Dirty Diaper Laundry’s first Cloth Diaper Carnival.  The topic this time is: “What you wish you knew then that you know now.”  I know that most cloth diapering moms have probably felt the pain of buyer’s remorse, or other forms of regret.  Or wish they would have figured out their wash routine sooner, etc.  This is the place to share your story.  If you haven’t done so already, it isn’t too late.  Go ahead and write your story on your blog, and come back here.  Use McLinky to add your link, and grab the code to add everyone else’s links to your page.  It is that simple.  Now, for my story!

I was lucky enough to stumble upon cloth diapering while I was pregnant.  The exact time/ date/ place I do not recall.  I do remember knowing when I saw that people still cloth diapered, and that the modern cloth diaper was easy to use, that I was going to do it.  At that point I began researching like I was writing my thesis on cloth diapers!  Actually, I probably did more research on cloth diapers than I ever did on my thesis for my B.A.  Google became my best friend.  I searched “How to cloth diaper”  ”How much does cloth diapering save” “Best cloth diapers” “Easiest cloth diapers” “How to get your husband to cloth diaper”  My fingers knew how to type “cloth diapers” in their sleep.
My main goal was to get a really large stash started, for as little money as possible. After lots of researching, my plan was this: Buy prefolds and covers for the first few months. Then, get 24-30 Bum Genius 3.0 for the rest of the time. I just knew one-size diapers were it for me. I read reviews of Bum Genius for hours. Although there were some who did not like them, the majority of reviews were extremely positive.
I searched local craigslists and found a steal on a bunch of Bummis covers. I bought them, and had buyer’s remorse. They were in poor condition. Why didn’t I demand pictures? Newbie mistake. They were useable, but had velcro issues! The laundry tabs no longer stuck, and some of the velcro was even coming off. I assumed I was stuck with them. At this point I had not yet met my addiction: Diaper Swappers.  I was already active on a cloth diapering board on Justmommies.com. A lady posted an awesome deal on infant prefolds! I went to the site and ordered them. Another mistake.  These prefolds sucked. I didn’t know it at the time. Had I known how much they sucked, I would have gone with another brand.

Fast forward to when I had already bought up what I considered to be my stash. I had 36 bleached chinese infant prefolds (that sucked), 16 preemie unbleached indian prefolds, 3 xs thirsites covers, 20+ crappy used Bummis covers, 2 WAHM small AIOs (that sucked), 2 Blueberry OS, 1 wool cover (that I never used), and 12 Bum Genius 3.0.

Let me tell you what I would have done differently: First, I never, ever would have bought those crappy used covers. My mistake: not looking for pictures, not asking enough questions about the condition. What I should have done: bought used from Diaper Swappers where the condition is stated and there are pictures! I thought I needed that many covers. In reality, I was able to use only my XS Thirsites which I bought used from Jillian’s Drawers. Second mistake: thinking that diapers from Ebay would work! I bought 2 really cute skull AIO diapers. They wicked like crazy and they took forever to dry. What I should have done: never bought them! You get what you pay for people! Third mistake: Buying more prefolds than I needed, buying preemie prefolds (didn’t need them), and buying low quality prefolds. I was completely turned off of prefolds thanks to the ones I bought. They got full super fast, and the serging started coming undone. I never even needed the preemie prefolds. I used them 3 times. Another mistake regarding prefolds: Prepping by boiling. I spent 5 hours using 3 stockpots to boil 52 prefolds. I had to boil them 2-3 at a time for 10 minutes. By the time I was done boiling them, my entire house was steamed up. I essentially steam cleaned my wallpaper and paint. Yellow was dripping off of the walls. If only I had just washed them 10 times. I think in the end it would have saved me work. But alas, I was pregnant and decided climbing up and down 2 flights of stairs to wash the diapers over and over would be more work.

There are lots of regrets, but all in all, I have been very lucky in my cloth diapering journey. I didn’t have to fight my husband to start cloth diapering, I didn’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to fins the right diaper because in all honesty, I love almost all of them!

So dear friends, to sum it up: I would have told myself this: “Don’t buy site unseen diapers, you get what you pay for, and never boil prefolds in a tiny apartment.”

Now, go on to all of the other cloth diapering bloggers and read about what they wish they would have known.  Let us know what you think!

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This entry is part of The Carnival of Breastfeeding.  If you want to read more inspiring stories about breastfeeding in public, you can find links to other contributors at the end of this article.  Enjoy reading my adventures in NIPing… and as I write this I am NAKing!  

Imagine my shock when I look at my twitter feed and see a post about nursing in public that sounds exactly like the one I had been planning out in my head for weeks.  Regret, ahhh, why didn’t I write it when I had the chance?  Well, instead of the incredibly cool rip off of Green Eggs and Ham about the places I have nursed in public (here is the entry I am referring to- PHDinParenting) I will just say it flat out, with no whimsical rhymes.

 I am incredibly proud of my skills at NIPing.  I have been told by more than one person how good I am at it.  One woman said I inspired her to NIP after she saw how I did it with such grace.  Aww shucks.  Another friend of mine gladly told me, “I have never once seen your nipple.”  Gosh guys… you are going to make me blush.  So there ya go, I have the skillz to pay the billz, and feed my son.  

I still remember the first time I nursed in public.  I was incredibly awkward at it.  I was using a cover, trying to nurse at the mall on a bench.  I had nursed in the mother’s room at Babies R Us before, but that was a horse of another color.  My husband was even more nervous that I.  He was constantly trying to make sure my breasts weren’t showing.  He positioned the cover over me, looked around as if we were guilty of a crime, and kept asking me when I would be finished.  I was very proud of myself for not going to a bathroom, where there were two hard chairs in a corner set aside for nursing mothers.  This same bathroom has the Excelerator hand dryers that sounds like jet engines.  Would you want to nurse next to a jet engine, or next to someone who is evacuating their bowels?  

My NIPing took a while to get going.  We didn’t exactly leave the house much when my son was very young.  Sometimes, we went to a friend’s house. There, I would go to another room and use a cover, just in case.  My husband;s boss walked in once while we were at his house.  He didn’t even give me a second glance.  I had taken my cover off, but I was wearing layers so nothing was visible.  He talked to me like I was a human being, not a 3 headed monster.  This was on Christmas Eve.  I was feeling much better about NIPing.

Dec. 24 2008 Taken just after I had nursed my son.  See unbuttoned sweater.

The breakthrough came when we all drove to North Carolina to visit family.  We were still nervous about flying with the baby.  Our game plan was to stop every 3-4 hours to change and feed the baby.  Our first stop was at a very nice rest stop.  I sat on a bench in the common area and, using my cover, nursed my son as truckers and families walked by.  Not so bad.  Next, we stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s.  I was too uncomfortable to nurse in the car so I decided to do it inside.  My husband wasn’t thrilled about that.  I sat in a very crummy chair and nursed my son, with a cover, in front of children and families.  It went downhill…. I ended up nursing in the car the rest of the way.  Scrunched up and sore, but persevering.  We made it to Charlotte, 15 hours later.  I went upstairs in my in-law’s home and nursed him.  

Things got better though.  Throughout the trip, I gained more confidence.  I start nursing without a cover at my in-law’s house.  My Mother-in-law nursed her children, why should I be uncomfortable in the home I was staying at for over a week?  Then, friends of ours came over.  We grilled out, and I nursed my son coverless in front of them all.  We carried on a conversation while I nursed!  For the first time I felt like I was not left out in the cold.  I didn’t have to be shut in a room to feed my son while the party went on without me.  I was still too uncomfortable to nurse in front of immediate family, like my father and sister.  But friends and strangers were no longer an issue.  My triumphant moment came at Ikea.  It was the grand opening.  I went with my pal on the second day.  I was carrying my son in his sling, having a grand time.  Once it came time to nurse him we went to the cafeteria.  I opened my nursing top and fed him proudly with no cover.  He was fidgeting though, and popped off many times.  A stranger came to try and help me!  She also wanted to put the sling over him as a cover, which I refused.  I knew he didn’t like covers, and I used to use them anyway.  But no more!  I kept feeding him.  I remember a man walking by and smiling over at me.  I hope it was a good smile; that he was happy to see a new mom nourishing her baby.  I like to think so.

On our drive back I had a terrible time, however.  We stopped at a rest area and my son needed to be fed.  I took him in, not realizing it was just a bathroom.  No common area.  And not even a chair to sit in.  I stood up and nursed my son while a revolving door of women came in and out.  I wasn’t embarrassed, just sad to have to feed my son in the restroom while toilets were flushing and hand dryers blared.  I vowed then to never, ever, nurse in a bathroom again.

Since that trip I have not used my cover.  I have come up with ways to nurse discreetly.  My dress for going out either incorporates a nursing top or, a nursing bra, an undershirt that can be pulled down, and a regular shirt to pull up.  This hides my mommy tummy.  Lately though, it has been hot.  I have only worn one shirt, and decided to heck with not showing my tummy.  My son covers most of it anyway.

Here are some of the more interesting places I have had to nurse my son.  

In a park, while wearing rollerblades:

On a plane. On a later trip, I nursed next a a perfect stranger just so I could sit in first class (woo hoo upgrades!) Totally worth it.

In a cave in TX. I nursed close to the entire tour to keep him happy and quiet. I am out of focus… but you can tell, I am really IN a cave.

In an aviary at Bush Gardens (I even nursed him while we walked through the interactive area, with birds flying all around us)

Other cool places that aren’t pictured:
On the beach.
On the pier.
At an outdoor festival next to a homeless person.
On a train.
In the airport.
In the grocery store while in a sling.
In Marshall’s while in a sling.
In many, many restaurants.
Next to a waterfall.
At the Zoo.
At the aquarium.
In a speeding vehicle. 

States I have nursed in so far: New York, North Carolina, Texas, Florida. (Illinois and D.C if you count layovers )

***Edited to add this hilarious story! ***

While we were in San Antonio we were using a different carseat than our usual.  This one was a convertible.  My son hated it and cried almost non stop while in it.  On one drive (to the caves in which I am pictured above) he was screaming.  I decided to try and breastfeed him while we were driving because my sanity could no longer take it and my heart was breaking.  I pulled up my shirt, pulled out my boob, and inserted it him his mouth.  Happy baby, uncomfortable mommy.  We got off of the highway and stopped at a red light.  I was still feeding my son, hunched over the car seat.  I look to the right and see a man in a truck smiling directly at me.  Then, it hit me that my boob is in my son’s mouth and he is smiling at me while this is happening.  He can see me.  If I pulled it out it would only be more visible so I turned away and hoped for a green light.  Meanwhile I am telling my husband, who crawls up a little.  His response, “What made you think people couldn’t see you?”  Me: “Our windows are tinted” (we are in a rental.) Him: “Not they aren’t… you are wearing sunglasses.”  Yeah, I am that dumb.  But, at least I put a smile on that guy’s face!

I wouldn’t say I am a lactivist, but I am proud to feed my son, whenever and wherever it needs to be done. I am just sad I didn’t begin Nursing in Public sooner, I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.  I have yet to hear a negative comment, although once in a restaurant the lady I was talking to promptly stopped conversing with me once I began to nurse my son. Other than that, the responses have been non existent or positive.

(Boobs) Out and Proud

Would you, Could you…

Here at the Restaurant

Nursing in a room full of people you know…

Aww, is he sleeping?

Nursing in Public: Chinatown, The Subway, The Vatican, and More…

Breastfeeding in Public

Nursing in Public as an Immigrant 

Breastfeeding in Public- Mommy News Blog

To Cover or Not to Cover

Nursing in Public, or NIP as its known.

Get kicked off a bus for nursing in public?  Here’s how to respond.

Thank You For Nursing in Public

Breastfeeding in the Summertime

Why Worry About NIP

Little Old Men… & Nursing in Public

Wee NIP in the Park

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles… We’ve Breastfed in Them All.

Nursing in Public: A Fresh Perspective on Nurse-In’s

 Breastfeeding Hats? YES! Nursing Covers? Uh… Not So Much

Products that can help you NIP

Easy, discreet way to breastfeed a toddler in public

Nursing in Public – What’s a Breastfeeding Mother to Do!!

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