Diapering the Spica baby

The biggest question everyone has when learning about the Spica cast is "HOW DO YOU DO DIAPERS?????"

It's so very simple.  Pre-spica, I had been quite anxious about this as well, but truthfully, it's easier to diaper a Spica baby than a wiggly baby.  :)

Before going into the hospital for Annabelle's surgery, we didn't buy any diapers, because we weren't sure what we'd need.  After learning how to diaper the day after her surgery (after her catheter came out), we determined the supplies we'd need.

Pre-surgery, Annabelle was in size two diapers.  She ended up needing size one diapers to go under her cast, and size six diapers to go over it.   In the hospital, the size one diapers they had were Pampers Swaddlers, with (insert fanfare) the wetness indicator.  I was never happier about the brilliance of this invention.  There was a means to be able to know whether or not my daughter's diaper was wet (if it was questionable) - without going through the rigmarole of pulling the diaper out of the cast.  Genius.  My husband went to the store and got a small package of both Pampers Swaddlers and Huggies Little Snugglers to determine if one was better than the other.  My answer = YES!  The Pampers were soooooooo much better than the Huggies for our Spica cast.  The Pampers were much wider at the bottom in the crotch area, so they were able to be tucked entirely under the cast, unlike the Huggies.
So ... we opted to spent the extra cash to buy the Pampers Swaddlers while Annabelle is in Spica.

For nighttime, I had read on several other blogs to add an incontinence pad for extra absorption.  Brilliant.  These are what we ended up getting at Target (see below photo), and they worked marvelously.  Annabelle often sleeps 10-12 hrs at night (maybe waking just enough to nurse), so she would often go that long without a diaper change - and she would still wake up dry.
Just make sure to get the moderate absorbency, rather than the light!