I was just wearing my maternity yoga pants. Forever. The foldover kind are the best because when/if you have a section you need extra support there and actually do want the pressure. Some mat pants and undies are awful because they rub right on the incision. I lived in skirts and yoga pants with long maternity shirts for a good long while. Then regular jeans were fine as long as they were a regular rise.
I resumed normal wiping before by 6 week checkup both times. The first time I had baaaad tearing (4th degree), but the 2nd time was only minimally I think? I don't even remember. Pretty sure the normal wiping coincided with the bleeding stopping. Something around there. The hospital where I had S didn't do foot prints. The one for D did though. It was a cute little paper certificate. If you don't get them done at the hospital though, these were SO MUCH BETTER than trying to use an ink pad. We had to do S on her own and newborns keep their hands all curled up and it's pretty hard to get a good one. But these were better. Wish I had known about them for S.
@Apples&Oranges Thats what our nurses used! They sent one home with us to do her handprints but I totally forgot about it until now. On a side note, I cannot believe I’m still bleeding. I thought the D&C would shorten that up but apparently not! It’s been minimal for a while now but it just won’t stoppppppp.
Oh you sweet summer child. I still use mine every so often (and used mine beforehand because pregnancy hemorrhoids are real). @ThatOneGirl I wore a maternity dress home. I had a few soft cotton maxi skirts that also came in very handy post c-section. Ditto soft maternity leggings. My c-section was unplanned for, and after being in the hospital for almost three days pre-birth, I was sick of wearing hospital gowns. After I was finally allowed to shower, I wore my own clothes for the remainder of my stay.
Toothbrush, my own face wash and scrubber, my going home outfit (loose comfy clothes—fuzzy socks, nursing tank, zip up hoodie, not super tight cotton leggings). Hair ties. Chapstick. Cell phone charger for loooooots of photos. I brought all these clothes for the hospital and only wore the gown until I left. For round 2 I will pack way less. I wish I would have brought nursing pads but didn’t know that was a thing yet. For me, don’t bother bringing a bunch of stuff to do like books and such. I didn’t do shit but feed myself and the baby. A cell phone was enough. If your husband usually sleeps in just boxers, remind him to pack PJ pants for himself if he doesn’t want to wear jeans the whole time since the nurses are in and out.
Weird things you might want to think about packing: A pen (for filling out forms/ordering food. My hospital didn’t provide as they are cheapo) Slip on slippers (to get you from bed to toilet without needing to bend over) Burp cloths (some hospitals don’t provide, and even newborns spit up. H was bringing up foam from day 1) Your own maternity pads (hospital ones are rubbish with no adhesive) A drink bottle (hospital brought around jugs of water to fill up and my bottle was easier than infinite cups) A pillow if you’re fussy about that sort of thing. Nappies and wipes! I didn’t bring wipes and got a bit of clack from midwives. Also make sure you clearly label your newborn outfits, maybe even use little baggies to keep mittens etc together. I thought I was organized but it needs to be easy for husband/nurses to find. I remember being very late stage labour and hearing J cursing as he rummaged through the bag looking for his first outfit. Having to call out “the hats in the pocket! No those are mittens you need socks” when you’re a contraction every 2 minutes sucksssss.
I've started putting together the basics of my bag with plans to put in the rest closer to my due date. So far I have just things I won't need until I need my hospital bag: Buttery-soft maternity/nursing pajamas (Thank you @MagnificentCat ! ) Post-partum high wasted underwear (granny panties) 3 pack of nursing bras that look like sports bras Bamboo breast pads No-slip socks A pack of hair ties Baby book A friend got me a BumpBox subscription which has been giving me loads of things that are potentially useful for the hospital (the socks, breast pads, etc) so I've just been chunking them into the duffel bag, lol.
You may not need these if your hospital doles out the super sexy mesh ones. I took so many of those home. CW is spot on about lip balm. Also bring your favorite lotion if you get dry skin easily. Creature comforts go a long way.
I plan on stealing everything I can from the hospital. Mesh undies, swaddles, water cup...if it's not bolted down it's coming with me. I HAVE been tossing random Burt's Bees that I find into the bag so there is an infinite number of them, knowing my track record for losing them.
@ThatOneGirl I lived in yoga pants during my recovery. My jeans rubbed my incision for a while. Granny panties, dresses, my robe.
Thanks to you ladies I have a steadily growing "Hospital Bag" Amazon list so I can move it all to the registry post-shower and get that discount.
I found the Hanes Cotton Boyshort undies to be the best replacement for the mesh shorts when you get home (or stain or rip them, whichever comes first). Depends are also A+ especially at night because they feel much less bulky than the pads and stay in place a lot better.
So for me I’d say- Soft nursing tank/bra Pants you don’t mind getting blood on (just in case) Clothes to go home in (soft maternity tshirt snd yoga pants for me). Phone charger Contacts case/solution Toothbrush/paste YOUR OWN SHAMPOO (trust) Ipad and charger (watched Harry Potter movies while laboring, do recommend). Baby going home outfit Everything else the hopsital supplied, including a basket of snacks. I was happy to not bring much. It sounds like there is a massive variation between hospitals so I’d def check with a local moms group on fb and get experiences.
I brought way too much stuff. I brought my brest friend nursing pillow and then I couldn't use it because of the incision. I also brought a foam roller because ??? The hospital suggested sour candy, so I bought a bunch of sour apple dum dums, and now I have dum dums (never ate any at the hospital). I, honestly, don't know what I was doing the last few weeks of pregnancy.
Jeff Goldblum, same. I was so miserable 24/7 everything was a blur at that point. I brought THREE bags to the hospital. I was so flustered I just kept stuffing random stuff into bags.
Took about 3-4 weeks for me to feel comfortable wiping. ETA: take the giant hospital water cup. I keep mine at work and it's amazing.
Yeah hospitals will definitely differ it seems! Ours provided hospital grade pump in my room and the NICU room. I don't know if this was only because he was in NICU though? I wore themesh underwear in the hospital but hated it..I like depends better at home. They felt more...secure. but you'll want things to slow down a bit first.
The first time I took quite a bit. The second time I took my own travel toiletries, outfit for baby, chapstick and a phone charger.
Also take everything because they're stingy after your first kid. With S we brought home bottles, formula because he was struggling with nursing, tons of diapers and mesh underwear. This time I got 1 pack of mesh underwear and that's about all.
I also liked my maternity yoga pants for take home and recovery because of the support they provided, but some people like maxi dresses because they don’t touch the incision. I’d put both in your hospital bag and see how you feel. I imagine if I had a C-section again I’d wear mostly maternity yoga pants and compression tops, anything that provides support. I’d also look into comfy support belts; the hospital provided me with one and while it was helpful it wasn’t comfortable. Other c-section advice: - Get some silicone scar tape when you start to heal - make sure your sleeping and diaper changing setups don’t require you to bend over.
I got more loot with #1, but it was a different hospital. And I was really struggling from a birth injury so I think the nurse on duty took pity on me and loaded me up. But ask for a diapers refill shortly before discharge and take all they bring you. Or start stashing them from the get go lols. For every change, stick one in your bag and keep asking for more
I wonder if this factored in for me... I know the nurses felt bad for us, because they kept breaking the “rooming in” rule and taking L (with our permission) to hang out with them at the nurses’ station for a couple hours at a time so we could sleep. And they did 99% of L’s diaper changes too. At one point I specifically asked one of them to show N how to do it (I couldn’t get up at that point) because I knew he’d never changed a diaper before and I wanted him to practice!
Thanks to this thread, when I visited my friends and their one day old in the hospital today I was like “remember to take all the things from this room when you leave!!”