To labour in my nightdress

Tell him next time he's in labour he can wear whatever he likes.

I doubt that will be comfortable or possible. MW will want to keep an eye on progress.

I laboured in a nightie, my knees were generally covered, it was fine.
You may want to rethink the knickers, it’s a bit hazy but i remember a lot of goo being involved. Plus you really won’t want the faff and discomfort of dealing with shifting around removing them when you’re crowning, wanting to know if you’re crowning, checking dilation.
The catheter thing is nuts.

He sounds a bit of an idiot. What’s it got to do with him? A nightdress or similar is completely normal to wear! Does he think you’re going to pop the baby out in 5 minutes? A sports bra is a daft idea too. It’s too constricting and who wants to wrestle with that when you’re trying to put baby to the breast?

It’s up to you what you wear. I wore a maternity dress early on and then swapped to a nightshirt. I had a few nightshirts actually. The one I gave birth in had buttons half way down the front and was ideal for feeding. I think it was an actual maternity nightshirt. It looked great and was very comfortable. I kept my pants on most of the time too. The midwife won’t care.

I think nightdress and pants is fine for early/middle labour but pants will obviously have to come off and midwives will need to keep checking towards the end so taking pants on and off to be examined is impractical. You don't need to be exposed, you can have a blanket/sheet over you if you are on a hospital bed. Honestly, I think a lot of women think they're going to be embarrassed/shy/modest but in my experience once in full blown labour that all goes out of the window! A lot of women get very hot and strip off 😏 you really don't have to be embarrassed in front of the midwives - they look at fannies all day every day and if you tell them you're feeling a bit exposed they will do everything they can to put you at your ease.

Don’t over think it OP, just go with the flow at the time. Once you are in established labour, your won’t worry about anything else.

Yeh things don't always go to plan .They haven't read your birthplan .

With all due respect OP, your husband is either a nervous control freak, or a controlling idiotic asshole.

Don't GIVE A CRAP ABOUT WHAT HE WANTS. This isn't a joint venture, this is labour that ONLY you will go through. He is merely a spectator. He gets no opinions.

Please PLEASE FOR GODS SAKE do NOT let him dictate anything to you.

His sole job is to support you throughout Labour however you bloody want and need!

Tell him he'll need a catheter so he doesn't disappear off to have a wee.

The OPS DP hasn't said she can't wear anything or should wear anything.

He just said what he thought might be best.

And he might be wrong but so might OP be.

They're both thinking about what might happen or be best.

He isn't a c* for having some thoughts or opinions like many posters seem to be judging him as.

If he was forcing it on OP he may be but he's not, he's just saying what he thinks might be helpful. Doesn't make him an asshole 🙄

I had all 3 of mine in a nightie. But my pants came off the second the waters were broken! I preferred their big throwaway ones - pants I mean, as my waters continued for a while and I used their pads. Second having two nighties in case

Honestly I reckon the knickers will be a pain unless you don't want them to check how far along you are etc but the nightdress totally fine! Get the ones with poppers and have a spare in case it gets covered in your waters and you want to swap and maybe a third for after?

Unless you are giving birth on a tv soap opera. Unlikely, but you never know…….

It doesn't really what he thinks though does it, its your call. I wore a nightdress for all of my deliveries, started off with pants on, not sure at what stage they came off.

JFC, fathers were invited into the birthing process to support their partner and help them bond with their baby. Now they're telling us what to wear when giving birth. 😡

Midwife here-wear knickers if you prefer, we honestly wouldn’t want you to put our convenience over your own comfort 😊 although I agree with a pp, keeping knickers clean and dry will be a mammoth task once your waters break! Maybe buy a long nighty which will keep you covered in case you decide to take the knicks off during labour, then you’ll still feel covered. I always make an effort to cover women up with a sheet too :)
also your husband will have zero say in whether you have a catheter or not. We would only recommend one if clinically indicated.

Ok OP sorry if you are real but I now I think this post is a wind up.

You simply CANNOT be married to someone that stupid. It's not possible. You'd have left him in sheer frustration long ago.

Goodness. For someone who's NOT about to push a small human out of his vagina, he sure has a lot of opinions.

If he's like this about your labour 'outfit', imagine what he'll be like about how to feed your baby/sleep training/weaning/childcare/school etc etc

He’s being ridiculous, I work in healthcare and 99% of women keep a top on and most appreciate having their bottom half’s covered even if just with a sheet (e.g if epidural and catheter in etc) most keep clothes/nightie and knickers on until pushing unless in birthing pool. Maintaining a woman’s dignity is a key part of the job. I would be very unimpressed by why student who didn’t do this e.g. highlighted involuntary bowel movements or even invited birthing partners to look. Equally I would be very unimpressed by a partner who talked about his partner in an unflattering way after. I hate hearing the saying that you leave your dignity at the door when you had children or even once when working in a nursing home, heard staff saying they couldn’t understand a woman being ‘shy about intimate care’ as she’d had 3 children, such attitudes are awful.
I had long dress on with all mine and the only knickers came off literally as baby’s head coming out and made it clear still wanted covering as much as possible

Your DH doesn't get to decide what you wear, ever. Especially not for giving birth. You can always take it off if you get hot. I found I lost all my inhibitions and laboured naked - not something I'd planned on necessarily! But he doesn't decide anything about what you do in labour. He needs to learn this.

I can't remember what I wore for my first 15 years ago, but my middle daughter I just wore a vest top and was covered with a sheet. My youngest born in the August heatwave and I laboured in the maxi dress I was wearing when my waters went! That was a fast labour

I think a nightdress will be fine and just cover your bottom half with a sheet, they're thin.

I wore a big t shirt/ nightie, but once I started pushing, I whipped it off as I was so hot (it was January!)

When he has a baby he can decide what he wears!

I gave birth with trousers on! They were round my ankles when DC popped out!

The point of the presence of the father at the birth is to be a help and comfort to the mother as a trusted birth partner. Not to wave his bloody stupid uninformed opinions around.

Every woman is different and you should do whatever you, in consultation with your midwife, think is safest and most comfortable and if he disagrees, that's his problem (putting it politely) and it should be no concern of yours.

I'm usually very chilled but I did point out to DH early on in the pregnancy that he had no rights to be at the birth and if he pissed me off during labour I would kick him out of the room. He needs to catch himself on that being there for you is a privilege, but you are running the show (and your midwife and any medics are there to support and keep you safe)

FWIW I laboured clothed both times, didn't have examinations (arrived too late at hospital DC1, Homebirth DC2) and DC2 was born astonishingly near to a toilet, with no ill effect