To labour in my nightdress

How many labours has he been present at ?
Was he there at his female relatives as they gave birth?
Wear what you want
You can change your mind and your clothes as you go

I'm quite concerned at your husbands level of entitlement at expressing such unqualified opinions.

Is he normally such an uninformed and somewhat controlling know-all?

Don't know if this has been said already as I've just read up to here, but they will need to examine you to see how dilated you are throughout labour so this isn't a realistic plan, sorry. A long t shirt and no knickers is how I spent most of my labour though so of course you can wear something.
Congratulations on your pregnancy🥰

I gave birth in my nightdress it's fine. You will need to remove the pants as you get closer to the end though

You can wear what you like. However there are lots of external signs midwives are looking for to see you are nearing pushing and most of those would involve underwear off. I would say it is advised that they are off prior to pushing as midwives will want to guide you as we don't like head flying out, we like to know how the quick/slow head is coming as it can take a while. There are signs of problems to come with slow delivery of head. We can see how the perineum is stretching. Any bleeding. Change in colour of waters. With a 1st baby we can often see a tiny bit of the top of the head for an hour or so. Potentially you may open your bowels and that is going to be in your knickers. So I would say it is a good idea to have them off before pushing. However, your partner has no say in this. It is up to you and your midwives to explain the rationale for why they would recommend they are off. And if baby did come 'flying out' we can get your knickers off on 0.5 seconds if needs be! I have has women deliver their babies in their car, down by reception and in every position you can think of and some don't get time to remove them. We just pull them down and catch the baby if needs be!

Just to add, the nightie was from mothercare so it had a long row of buttons that could be undone at the chest which then enabled skin to skin as soon as baby was out. Wasn’t wearing a bra.

Love this!

Yes OP, instruct your DH he MUST wear a jumper, just in case...

I arrived at the hospital fully dressed 9 min before DC3 was born. Went to the loo and his head popped out with the waters as I sat down. Ended up being wheeled through delivery suite backwards on a wheelchair, arse up in the air with husbands jumper over my dignity. Ripped my t shirt off as soon as I got in the room and was totally naked.

I'm not sure you'll care by the time you are actually pushing but until then wear whatever you like.

I think you might have to take your knickers off.🙂

Just wait and see how you feel at the time. Bring the things you would like to wear but don’t worry too much about it.

I brought PJs for my first, but ended up wanting to be naked.

With my second I think I wore a big t shirt

Night dress is fine just buy a cheap one so it can be binned don't wear your best one, there are fluids everywhere!

I never had pants on when labouring with dd after my waters broke just a nightie.

I did have pants and jogging bottoms with Ds until he was crowning but that's because it was a quick labour and he was born 6 minutes after I got to hospital.

I didn't care or prefer either situation, it was what it was!

To be honest it’s no one else’s business what you wear in labour.

People who say you won’t care who sees you on the day - well they don’t know you and some women still prefer to stay as covered up as they feel comfortable with. That is their right as being stressed about being naked is not a good thing, if that’s how you feel. I didn’t feel like that at all, I wonder why people wear anything in a birthing pool but if they want to they want to.

DH will not be in labour. You will. Do what is comfortable for you, and perhaps have a conversation beforehand that what happens in the delivery room stays in the delivery room (as you are a private person and he is happy to discuss with siblings there may be a mismatch. Once things are told to others they can’t be untold.)

Also depending on where you gave birth they don't necessarily check progress that often so you'll be fine with pants Antilop you need to take them off. Think labour wars might do more checking but midwife unit they don't normally

Nightdress is perfect for labouring in! As others have said, one with buttons down the front for skin-to-skin breastfeeding n.

I mean your husband may be right that you may get too hot but then you can just... take it off if you need to which is hardly a big drama 😁

Sports bra?! Is he thick?! It’s hard to think of less suitable attire for labour!

Nothing shows the unfounded confidence of the male of the species like the way they like to opine with surety on birthing matters. A friend’s husband, who had never given birth ( nor had his wife) nor had he run a marathon, told me confidently that birth is not painful, instead it’s like running a marathon’.

My H laughed and said, ‘you’ve never run a marathon, have you? I have. It is painful.’

Amazes me that any man thinks he has a legitimate voice in anything to do with childbirth.

See all the posts on MN with women saying their DH does not want them to have painkillers etc. Or a recent thread where a woman said her DH was disappointed with her because she had an emergency c-section.

Men don't get a say in labour and childbirth. They just don't. They particularly don't get to tell their wife that they should wear at most a fucking sports bra.

I wore the same massive old T-shirt during both my labours and it was perfect.

The bright yellow betadine stains from when I was being prepped for my emergency C-section the first time came out in the wash.

The dark green stains from the meconium my DD pooped all over me after my VBAC never did.

You won't want knickers on if your waters have gone.

long nightie no knickers. They have to keep checking your progress but the nightie provides a sense of privacy although you really won’t care about it once you are in active labour.

Why is your OH getting a say in any of this?

If you choose to consent to regular exams though, wearing no pants will probably make it easier

Op what is your plan for the birth, skin to skin contact is highly recommended for both mum and baby, something to consider. I was doing skin to skin whilst they delivered the placenta

FWIW I've seen a baby come out whilst the lady still had her leggings on! Bless her she arrived in triage in a wheelchair you could see the baby's head was out through the leggings.
Not that I'm recommending leggings tho😂

I wore a long dress. Nae knickers. No one could see mY bits whilst labouring like that anyway. ( I laboured standing or kneeling)

Is he actually helping with everything that actually matters to prepare for a new baby? Or just giving you his opinion on 'Preferred Labouring Attire - A Man's View'?

Not to mention skin to skin contact after birth. OP's DH sounds a bit clueless.