Or my Pampers story.
I was born in the 60s and became a Mom in the 90s. Which basically translates to:
a/ a family that thinks diapers are evil and
b/ resistence on my part, to diapers, when my son was born.
We led into his arrival by frantically stitching baskets full of cloth diapers, lovingly hemming the edges and hawing at the steadily growing pile. We bought the softest honeycomb cotton in pure white from a particular shop in a particular area, thanks to a neighbor's advice. We cut. We stitched. At the end of the day, it wasn't the sore fingers we were conscious about. All we could think of was the day we'd bring my son home.
Even Sury pitched in, inspired by my Mom and I cozily settling down after lunch everyday to two-three hours of sewing. He would come home for lunch and extend it with some sewing. Very therapeutic. Some of you might wonder why we didn't use the sewing machine. We did. For the smocks...when I managed to convince my Mom that I was perfectly capable of managing my growing tummy and operating the machine.
And so - a month before the due date, we were all set to welcome Vidur into this world. In fact, I was packed and ready to leave for the hospital, just in case he decided to arrive earlier than scheduled. I may not have been a girl scout, but "be prepared" is a motto I strive to live by.
One fine evening in November, my water broke. I told my Mom, who freaked out in excitement. After sending someone to call Sury from the nearby complex (no mobile phones you see)I calmly finished the porridge I was eating and called a cab. By the time Sury rushed home we were ready leave.
We got to the hospital. Almost 16 hours of labor later, and an emergency Cesarean, Vidur was born.
In the midst of all the delight an excitement, nappy washing went on. All of us were eager to do it. What we thought was an overload of nappies when we were stitching them like there was no tomorrow, turned out to be barely enough.No sooner would we change him than the next one would be wet.
And so it went on. We washed, we disinfected, we ironed. We learned to be clever ... but how clever can one be about predicting an infant's activities? So we stitched more nappies and that ironing table was one busy place.
Life went on. Vidur was growing pretty fast.
My cousin visited us bearing gifts consisting of a cute jumpsuit, some feeding bottles and a large pack of diapers. We were happy about everything but the diapers. Stupidly, we didnt even open the pack.
Until the monsoons arrived. Mumbai monsoons are something else. It rained nonstop. Nothing seemed to dry.
Then one day, exhausted, I was hopefully looking through the shelves to see if there were any cotton nappies left when I noticed the pack of diapers. Tucked away at the back. I pulled it out. Read the fine print. Opened it. Felt the diaper curiously. Yep, folks. Just like my son, first time ever for me. I called to my Mom and suggested we try it out. We were slightly sceptic, but also desperate, so decided to try it.
Amid much wriggling, my son had his first diaper on.
He stayed dry. My happy boy... you guessed it... was happier!
It was like magic.
Suddenly life was....drier! It seemed like we were given the gift of time. We could actually do things at a stretch and go out without worrying about soiled clothes ...everyone's!
I fell in love with the pack of Pampers.
But into each life must some rain fall, and literally - in my case.
What would we do after the pack of 24 got over, even though we used it stingily only when absolutely necessary?
I had to find a regular source.
Can you believe Pampers was not easily available? I got all kinds of brands. I tried one...but found it kind of lumpy and the adhesive strip was nothing like Pampers. I became friends with all the pharmacies in the area. Finally, I found one that agreed to supply regularly. I had to travel a little far to buy it, but that was not an issue.
Those days, diapers were pretty expensive, but totally worth it.
By the time Vidur was a year and a half old, we moved to another city. Which meant I had to find another source. I came across another popular diaper that a lot of Mommies recommended, but somehow, once you start using Pampers, nothing else matches up. To my delight, I found a pharmacy that sold them quite close to our place. The bonus was they also had a bigger range with bulk rates. If you'd asked me then, I would say that it couldn't have gotten better...but it did.
When it comes to our babies, we want nothing but the best especially if it is going to be worn on the skin. Soon Vidur learned to take off his diaper - and we knew it was time to potty train him officially.
I happily gave away my stock of Pampers to another grateful Mom.
I returned to work when I enrolled my two and a half year old son in playschool. One day, my boss wanted to know what I carried in my totebag - naturally - because it was a part time job...so why such a big and full bag? I realized I had been carrying a pack of two diapers, a change of clothes and an empty sipper. So hilarious. Talk about habit. From the next day I switched to a smaller tote.
Back then, I may not have had a lot of technology, but I certainly did everything I could to make sure my precious one got the best.
And it WAS baby skin friendly wearable tech...Pampers softest diaper.
Now a couple of neighbors have babies and I was pleased to see that they all swear by Pampers,which has only gotten better over the years.
And oh, by the way, I never used those feeding bottles. My son just refused to drink from them. Ha!
Happy is a good place to be and today, I am excited that my son is on his way home, as I write this, for a week!
♥
"This post is a part of the Pampers #SoftestForBabySkin activity at BlogAdda"
