For those of you giving birth in a hospital or birth centre (i.e. not home), what are you going to wear? I hate hospital gowns since they always choke me and are annoying to keep in place, but what's another option? I want something that keeps my goodies accessible (crotch and breasts!) but still covered enough so I don't have to keep readjusting for comfort.
(I mean specifically for labour and birth, since we'll be getting out of the hospital within 4 hours of birth as per midwives protocol, so I don't need anything for the next day).
I've got a cotton robe that I'm planning to wear. It's very light but cozy at the same time in case of me feeling hot OR cold in the labour room and it covers me up well enough to walk around in the halls. It's also mostly black so it can get mucky and I won't worry about it. I figure I can whip it off easily if I want to be in the buff, or if I choose to keep it on I can open it up in front for me and baby to be skin to skin. That was the best I could come up with.
I hate hospital garb too. And I feel like it is a good reminder to me and everyone who enters my room that I am NOT ill, labor and birth is NOT a medical emergancy. I have my reasons to be there, but the belief that I need to be "delivered" is NOT one of them.
Last time I made myself a wrap skirt and had it fasten with snaps. I created it to fit below my bump. I paired it with a tank top or sports bra (can't remember) I plan to wear the same thing this time.
In case of a hospital birth, I've packed a loose fitting sundress. It's a polyester spandex blend so it is super lightweight doesn't cling to the body moves and stretches freely. It's easy to lift it up for doppler checks and easy to bing down around the breast for breastfeeding if I happen to still be wearing it. It will also dry easily and wash easily.
But, last time around, all I wanted was to remove my clothes off once the contractions got strong.
I was thinking a sarong/wrap skirt, black sleep bra, and a loose tank top over that if I am wandering the halls. I need to find a skirt still...........
I forget what I intended to wear, but I ended up in some combination of a maternity camisole and hospital gown for part of it, and just the camisole for most of it.
I was bleeding quite a bit (redheads - apparently it's common), so I was just as happy to muck up hospital clothes rather than my own. I wore the camisole in the tub - which is where my water broke, too - so it definitely got a bit icky.
Originally Posted by slgt
I was bleeding quite a bit (redheads - apparently it's common)
Something else we have in common, slgt (redheads)!
I wore this super-soft long t-shirt to birth my son, but I ended up naked at the end. I'm planning to start out in the same shirt, and probably end up naked again. I'm also planning to have this one in the same room that DS was born...I'm getting excited!
I've never planned to bring things to a hospital in 5 births so I don't know.
At home when I birth I usually wear a sports bra throughout L&D. I can pull it down for a first feed easily.
I'm weird in that I can't be fully nude when I birth. I feel too exposed. I either need my top half covered or my bottom half covered, but not both at the same time.
:
So when I am birthing I have the sports bra and then afterwards I am usually topless and skin to skin nursing while my bottom half is usually in post-partum garb and covered somehow; usually shorts or sleep pants.
I'm usually good with whatever I am wearing to a hospital. I odn't mind the hospital gowns because I know I can give it to them to launder and fold and put away. I don't care what I look like and it's fairly comfortable to me to wear one too.
If there is an emergency need to transfer then I'd probably just send DH home to get me something to wear home (depends on what I wear there too I suppose.)
With DS 1.. I brought along a button down, throw away loose top so I could easily have access to breastfeed. I didn't want a dress or anything because I was bleeding too heavily. I just wore my husbands old boxers as my "shorts" and didn't care what I looked like for the most part (still looked find in pictures because pics were from the waist up. I also brought along old slippers that I could throw out as well...
For my going home outfit, I did have a dress to leave the hospital and threw the other stuff out. I'm a germ freak and after working in a hospital, I try not to bring anything back with me.
lol...I will bring nothing. I am a bleeder so there is no need to bring home a new baby and dirty clothing! Plus if I get the hospital gown wet/dirty/bloody/vomity I can quickly and easily change into something else without having to stress out about it.
Originally Posted by somegirl99
I also am planning on wearing the hospital gown as I figure it will get messy.
Yep. I packed some of my own things the first time, but in the end I didn't care what I was wearing (or not) during labor, and afterward I bled so much (also a redhead) that I didn't want to mess up my pretty things. As it is, I ruined my slippers with amniotic fluid and other muck.
I am hoping to get a room with a birth pool this time, and just in case I'm feeling modest I am packing a sports bra and some large running shorts to wear in the pool, but I know I probably won't care if I'm naked once the time comes. I may wear the sports bra, but the shorts will probably come off.
I'm just going to wear the big nursing gowns they have on the postpartum ward. I'm heading straight to stay at Children's after I get discharged, so less dirty laundry is better.
When I gave birth I bought some maternity jammies that were like long gowns, I was able to change my pads as well as have access to nurse the babe and wasn't concerned about exposing something...
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