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Hospital Bag? What Hospital Bag?

post #1 of 23
6/3/11 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 

Hello, I'm Becky, and I'm 15w3d preggers. wave.gif So, I was reading another family rant post about UC, and couldn't help but think of the other day, when my mom asked how early I was planning on having my hospital bag packed. I HONESTLY don't feel like telling my family and mostly want it a surprise and let them see pictures or a video, because I DON'T  want to be pestered about it not being safe and "why am I choosing homebirth, ESPECIALLY unassisted." and "what if something happens to you or baby?" Tried explaining it to my sister on the phone yesterday and she sounded SO weirded out by it. Like it was a dirty foreign object she did not want to touch. So, I am choosing to leave it and write out my story for everyone to read after the fact. This is my 3rd child but will be my first at home AND unassisted birth. I'm choosing to receive medical care until I deliver because I don't want to develop a high risk condition and not know. This being my first at home, I want all bases covered so it won't turn into something I didn't want. I am, however, so glad I found this website. I googled unassisted homebirth and found a post from here and fell in LOVE with the boards and the support.

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post #2 of 23
6/5/11 at 2:42pm

Welcome to MDC. :)

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post #3 of 23
6/7/11 at 11:18am

Yeah, I kept my plans quiet from my family.  OTOH, when pressured (cuz my mom is coming), I told her what I had planned, and her responses were: (1) do you still want me to come? (2) how can I learn more about this?  Believe me, this was a HUGE surprise.  I can't believe she didn't try and read me the riot act.

 

Welcome!

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post #4 of 23
6/8/11 at 6:11am
Thread Starter 

I try to give my mom the benefit of the doubt. When I told her I was pregnant at 16, I thought she'd blow a gasket. She sat half calm and asked me a bunch of questions about the situation. So..... I don't know. I just know I'm not going to tell alot of people. I'd rather them find out after I give birth. I'm not even announcing labor cuz I'll get badgered while I'm laboring. I'm taking the phone off the hook as well, so no calls interrupt me.

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post #5 of 23
6/8/11 at 8:29am

I ended up telling my sister before the birth and she was concerned but didn't try to talk me out of it. She just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing and I confidently explained that I did.

 

I did not tell my parents that the birth was unassisted. They found out it was a home birth after baby was born and though somewhat surprised, they didn't say anything else or even really ask anything else. I don't know for sure if they realize it was unassisted or not. I'll let them think whatever makes them happy. LOL

 

I did actually have a hospital bag packed in case of transfer. It also contained a few signed copies of my birth plan. Praise the Lord, I didn't need it.

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post #6 of 23
6/8/11 at 9:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dayiscoming2006 View Post

I ended up telling my sister before the birth and she was concerned but didn't try to talk me out of it. She just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing and I confidently explained that I did.

 

I did not tell my parents that the birth was unassisted. They found out it was a home birth after baby was born and though somewhat surprised, they didn't say anything else or even really ask anything else. I don't know for sure if they realize it was unassisted or not. I'll let them think whatever makes them happy. LOL

 

I did actually have a hospital bag packed in case of transfer. It also contained a few signed copies of my birth plan. Praise the Lord, I didn't need it.


I plan on packing a "just in case" bag as well and will keep it in the car the last 5-6 weeks of pregnancy, but I do not plan on using it unless an emergency happens.
 

 

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post #7 of 23
6/8/11 at 8:21pm

Yeah, I should stop stalling on packing a transfer bag, but really . . . if you transfer, you don't REALLY need anything that can't be fetched from the house later before you come home from the hospital.

 

But, I'm now 37 weeks and still don't have all of my birth kit and am still waffling on whether or not I want to shell out the bucks for a proper labor pool.  (I'm a major procrastinator.)

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post #8 of 23
6/9/11 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 

HEY! Just get a regular inflatable pool on Amazon for like $30. I am broke as HELL and that's what I'm doing. lol I'm only having this one more baby and I'll be done! DONE, I say. lol I'm like 21 weeks behind you, so I have all this planning going on. I guess I shouldn't procrastinate like someone else *pointing at labortrials jokingly* orngbiggrin.gif


Edited by IwannaBanRN - 6/9/11 at 5:48am
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post #9 of 23
6/9/11 at 5:06am

I never packed a hospital bag for either of my homebirths. I tried, but every time I got started everything I needed to pack was things that would be needed soon after the birth and I didnt want support people scrambling around to find them. My line of thinking was that if it is that much of an emergency it is not going to matter whether I had my PJ's etc. And if the transfer is non-emergent I can quickly gather those things up that I may need. 

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post #10 of 23
6/9/11 at 5:50am
Thread Starter 

That was my thinking. Like, do I even NEED to have a hospital bag in case of an emergency transfer? They'll throw me in a gown anyways. *shrugs shoulders*

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post #11 of 23
6/9/11 at 7:44am

I had a transfer bag cuz truthfully, my DH is clueless where anything in the house is and wouldn't know what to bring. I made it easy on him. I also have no family or friends where I'm living at the moment.

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post #12 of 23
6/9/11 at 10:02am
I didn't have one, and when I transferred I didn't really need it. It would have been GREAT to have had a bag with snacks I like, soap/shampoo, and some decent sandals, but not necessary. Just depends on how much you like having your own stuff - if you really hate or fear hospitals, it's nice to have some stuff from home. I didn't mind using their stuff, but their snack selection was pretty gross, and the shampoo was crappy. All minor things, not worth worry. You may not care about this stuff, but when I took my post CS shower, having my own stuff would've been nice. I did remember the camera, you don't want to forget this!
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post #13 of 23
6/9/11 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by newsolarmomma2 View Post

I didn't have one, and when I transferred I didn't really need it. It would have been GREAT to have had a bag with snacks I like, soap/shampoo, and some decent sandals, but not necessary. Just depends on how much you like having your own stuff - if you really hate or fear hospitals, it's nice to have some stuff from home. I didn't mind using their stuff, but their snack selection was pretty gross, and the shampoo was crappy. All minor things, not worth worry. You may not care about this stuff, but when I took my post CS shower, having my own stuff would've been nice. I did remember the camera, you don't want to forget this!



I HATE hospital shampoo! It leaves my hair feeling so dry and weird! lol I might just pack shampoo and conditioner. That's about the only thing I CANNOT live without. haha

 

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post #14 of 23
6/9/11 at 12:54pm

Girl, please pack your toothbrush too!  lol.gif  moon.gif

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post #15 of 23
6/9/11 at 2:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by labortrials View Post

Girl, please pack your toothbrush too!  lol.gif  moon.gif



Oh! True that! Their toothbrushes(if supplied) make my gums bleed. F*ck it! I'm packin a damn bag! lol

 

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post #16 of 23
6/9/11 at 2:44pm

I didn't have a bag for my last uc but I had never really thought about it either..  :)

 

This time I'm going to pack one since I have a low-lying placenta and I'm planning to transfer if I have any abnormal bleeding or other signs of separation, otherwise I don't think I'd worry much.

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post #17 of 23
6/9/11 at 5:17pm

Hi! 

On my last I did wind up transferring, and it was kind of eyeroll worthy watching me grab stuff with these out of the world contractions that just hurt so much more than my other births. And dh really just had no idea ROTFLMAO.gifAt the time I was just really annoyed because I wanted him to be helping me, and it was just not happening. 

 

I'm glad to meet you, I've UC'ed three of mine, the others have been various hospital and mw-assisted births. I'm in and out, due to homeschooling 9 kids, I have one day a week I come in, and some days it's pushed off to another day (or week lol)

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post #18 of 23
6/10/11 at 4:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by vegemamato View Post

I didn't have a bag for my last uc but I had never really thought about it either..  :)

 

This time I'm going to pack one since I have a low-lying placenta and I'm planning to transfer if I have any abnormal bleeding or other signs of separation, otherwise I don't think I'd worry much.


Oh, good luck, momma!
 

 

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post #19 of 23
6/10/11 at 5:35am

we were so remiss that we didn't even know where our insurance cards were.

 

which we didn't realize until 5 days after, when we went to the hospital for the LC (since that's where she was), and we rented a breastpump (which insurance covered, oddly enough). 

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post #20 of 23
6/10/11 at 12:13pm

Thanks..  I'm feeling good about everything but a little less focused this time than I was for my last.  I'll probably be posting here more now that I'm in my 3rd trimester..

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