Hospital Clothes?

[meg_shannon]

What sort of clothing did you bring with to the hospital for your birth? What did you find useful? What didn't you use?

I'm expecting my first soon, and having never stayed in a hospital before I'm unsure for after the birth. (They will keep the new Little One for 24-48 hours, so that's how long I'm staying too - unless I have to have a C-section).

I'll have access to a shower and tub facilities; though right now I don't have any sort of swim wear that fits (went from a B to DD...).

I'm not modest, so I don't mind being nude, but I hate being cold.

[EmilyVorpe]

A sports bra, nursing bra, whatever kind of bra fits. This is mostly for laboring and such, like in the water. A lot of women end up just in a bra (or naked).

2 maternity shirts. You will most likely wear hospital gowns for the majority of your time there.

Maternity pants (most likely, again, you will not be wearing pants until a few hours before going home...but, if you really think you will want to lounge around in pants, bring a 2nd pair incase of them getting blood on them)

Thats pretty much it for clothes for you. The hospital have disposable gripper socks and disposable mesh-like panties, which you will be horrified at but greatful for after the baby.

[EmTheWife]

For after, bring comfy clothes you don't mind being photographed in, if you're going to have visitors. And yes, those panties rock! They can hold a huge pad plus ice packs with enough stretch to stay up . Congrats and best wishes on the coming birth!

[EmilyVorpe]

Ooooh yeah! forgot about visitors... Yeah, even if its just a bathrobe over the gown, you may want something to wear in front of visitors. Some women end up not caring, but I did.

[St. Margaret]

I bought a cheap, comfy, attractive cotton nightie at Target and wore that at the hospital to birth. I did NOT want to wear a hospital gown.

Bring shirts that you can pull up or down easily to nurse in, and that you can be comfy in-- I was there one day and wore a comfy cotton tee, because I was just trying to rest in bed. I wore sweatpants, too. Comfy in bed and easy to pull down to change the pad all the time. That way you can sleep without having to change for bed, if you want. and bring your mat pants-- I wore my mat jeans home and for a couple months following I like a comfy front-open lightweight sweater in case it's cold, too (easy to nurse still). And socks! You probably won't have to worry about leaks that early so maybe not a sleep bra/pads.

[rhiOrion]

I wore a big maternity t-shirt and a pair of really super comfy yoga pants to the hospital. They wanted me to put on a hospital gown, but I wanted to keep my clothes on. Then I was bouncing on the ball and my water broke. I said, "I guess I'll take that hospital gown, now." I hadn't considered that once my water broke I would keep gushing- so yeah, I happily took the gown at that point. But really I was only in the gown for a little while before I got in the tub, and at that point I got naked and stayed naked until she was born. Then I stayed naked for a few minutes until my in-laws wanted to come in. At that point I did some sort of hasty quick cover up with the gown only halfway on.

I kept the gown only barely on for the rest of my hospital stay (just over 24 hours), at which point I put on a pair of super comfy pajama pants that I had bought from Target, and a nursing tank. In retrospect I should have done something other than the nursing tank. It was a bit tight at the time, and something like a loose men's button-up shirt might have been better.

So, I packed things like a bathrobe, big underwear, a bathing suit, a sports bra, etc... and didn't use any of it.