Diapering the "old fashioned" way

I am leaning toward using cloth diapers for our baby most of the time. I plan to work part-time from home while caring for the baby, so I should have the time to throw diapers in the laundry and take the little extra time for the folding and pinning that cloth diapers require. Brian and I both were reared on cloth diapers (pardon the pun), so I figure if cloth was okay for us, it's okay for our child, too. Not to mention, the idea of sending lots of "disposable" diapers to a landfill makes me cringe (it takes something like 500 years for one disposable diaper to decompose). Yes, I know laundering diapers uses up water and electricity, but we have a high efficiency washer, and the water and electric use somehow seem less bad to me than the waste that disposables create. Even though cloth diapers are relatively expensive upfront, think of how much money we can save over time by reusing them (not only for this child, but for possible future ones, Lord willing).

Here's the catch - Brian and I could become pros as changing disposable diapers pretty quickly (we have experience with cousins and nephews), but neither of us has ever changed a cloth diaper. I've read about it...my mom and mother-in-law have told me how it's done, but I really don't know how to do it. That part we can figure out, I guess, and we'll get better as we practice.

The other catch is that, nowadays, there are SO MANY kinds of cloth diapers to choose from! Plain-ol' flat diapers, prefolded diapers, fitted diapers, and "all-in-ones." Plus, there are different kinds of inserts, liners, and covers. How do we know which ones are the best? We don't - I guess we'll just have to try some different kinds to figure out which ones we like. It would be nice if there were a cloth diaper STORE to visit so we could see and feel what each kind looks like, but alas, virtually the only place we can get the darned things is online (unless we get just the plain flat or prefolds - they sell those at places like Walmart and Target).

I imagine we'll also use a variety of disposable and/or biodegradable diapers for traveling and babysitters. Everybody knows about disposables these days, but did you know they make biodegradable diapers (called "gDiapers") that you can flush down the toilet? The entire diaper is not biodegradable - just a little insert that you place inside a liner, which you place inside a cute little bum cover. I definitely like the biodegradable idea, so we'll probably try some of those and see how our septic likes them. We'll be getting a new septic tank this summer (whooppee!!), so perhaps we'll get brave and flush a few gDiapers to see how durable that tank really is!