To labour in my nightdress

I arrived in a silk shirt. They got a drip in pretty quickly as I had complications. The shirt was cut off later. The hospital bag was still in the boot of the car.

OP, these are some really quite detailed discussions you and your husband are having and it sounds as though at least one of you (him?) is getting a bit wound up.

Can you give him some jobs to do so he stops worrying about how you'll get your knickers off when the time comes and wanting you catheterised (not the nicest experience IME)? Tell him he is in charge of parking, snacks, music, mood lighting, photos, drinks. Keep him busy.

Also, I was fully dressed (jeans, pants etc) with my last labour until I arrived at hospital already pushing whereupon I stripped off completely and on being told I needed an emergency caesarean lumbered down the corridor totally starkers to the operating theatre. I am still sorry, several years on, for the poor women who saw me pass their rooms. All I can say is I was in the grip of some astonishing hormones and felt high as a kite. I am usually very covered up and even sleep with socks on or I feel insecure.

I wore my night dress. No pants though

Dd1 I laboured in a nighty. It was an old, large one with a Forever friends teddy on the front. I wonder what happened to it.

I have absolutely no idea for #2 or #3.
I do remember with #2 I gave birth on the floor and resisted all suggestions of moving into the bed. The reason was they pumped the bed up to a height I could easily lean on it, and when it came to the point they suggested I might need to lie down and push, I decided it was too high to climb on, completely forgetting that they could lower it again. 🤣
Ds I suspect it was whatever I was wearing at the time because, although he wasn't a quick labour, the other two were slow too and I didn't want to go into hospital too soon and left it a little late. I was in the hospital less than 4 hours total with him because they had no spare beds so we went home again after he was born. We left the house at some point after midnight, having been in labour on and off all day, he was born at 1:30am and we were home again by 4am. He had to sleep in a doll's cot that night because we had nothing ready as he was a little early.

Is he your only birthing partner? I mean this in the kindest possible way, but is there any way someone else can come and support you both? If he is so anxious and having to deal with his feelings alone in the moment he could project his thoughts onto you and it won't create a calming environment. In fact it could stress you out more.

I wore a hospital gown both times, why dirty your own clothes. But I don't think you can wear knickers once in established labour, you won't care

I have ridiculous labours (last one was about 10 mins of actual labour) - I still managed to get my jeans off in the time between waters going and child arriving.

How is your husband such an expert on what women do or do not wear when giving birth? Wear whatever you feel comfortable in - it's your labour. I wore a really cute nightshirt when I gave birth to my son, and later had it made into a teddy for him along with his first sleeper!

I planned to wear one of dh's old t shirts every time, although with dc2 and dc5 I ended up wearing my favourite nightie by mistake because they both came in a bit of a rush after ages of not much happening. I wore my pants for my youngest 2 because I was gushing waters and I wanted to wear a pad. The midwives took them off in theatre both times which was a bit weird because I was numb from the waist down by then so had no idea they'd done it.

In the nicest possible way @Coolsummer25 your husband sounds a bit deranged. There is no way the medical team will put in an unnecessary catheter on the off chance you give birth in the toilet. And quite rightly because having a catheter in comes with a possible risk of infection and should only be used if necessary.

If baby comes quickly the midwife will just cut sides of your knickers and pull them off. My son was in a hurry to make an exit and I can still see my knickers being flung on the floor!

Nightie for me but you will probably find that as labour processes you will be so hot you will probably tear it off. No real need for knickers as the midwife might want to check how far along you are.
There will only be the midwife there and your OH/Birthing partner but in the end you won't really care if you are in a football stadium with a 50,000 strong crowd 🥰🥰

You wont be able to keep your knickers on once the midwives are with you as they will want to examine you. But of course you can wear a nightie/nightshirt - I did with both of mine. Do whatever feels comfortable for you (except the knickers - you probably wont want to by that point anyway as - sorry if this is tmi but its not just the baby that comes out!)

I work as a midwife. A lot of women birth in their night dresses. I would take either some old roomy ones that you won’t mind if they get spoiled or go and buy some cheap ones in primark.

Lots of women also wear knickers in labour, especially of their membranes have ruptured and they are wearing a pad.

The most important thing is to be comfortable.

You can (and should) wear whatever you feel comfortable. I wore a nightie too but panties came off after my waters broke. My experience was that a lot of inhibitions went out of the window during labor so I wouldn’t worry too much now!

God, this thread is making me think. I'm pretty sure I was similarly obsessed about what i should be wearing to give birth, then the actual circumstances took over. For example, somehow I imagined that it would be great to give birth to the sounds of Bob Marley...when my partner tried to play Bob during the throes of labour, I could't have cared less.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty sure I gave birth to child 1 in a vest top, after getting in a birthing pool for ages then having to give up on that.

Child two came pretty quick...I was tripping on the gas and air and thought I was scuba diving and stripped naked as far as I can remember. Under normal circumstances I'd never prance around naked in a brightly lit room...or any room for that matter.

Child three...god knows. There are photos of me holding her against a suspiciously bare chest. Ah yes, I remember stripping my clothes off when I was in the throes of pushing her out...seemed like the right thing to do at at the time I think.

I think your husband should chill out a whole lot.

He's utterly clueless!

I wore long T shirts each time, without pants
Bear in mind you're likely to be sweaty and wet as waters break and you may not have the energy to change and if you'd like an epidural or need a CS you will be gowned
These thoughts simply won't matter once you're focusing on bringing your long awaited baby into the world
Congratulations!

I had a flannelette nightshirt, because it was December. Nobody told me the maternity ward would be hotter than the sun! If I was doing it again I'd go for a cap sleeve or sleeveless cotton night dress. DS was on monitors for some of it so I had wires coming from inside so no knickers possible. It's not the most dignified experience labour, but that doesn't mean you just have to go naked and forget privacy was ever a thing

I laboured in a short nightdress on all four of my children's births there was no issue and it was very comfortable. Definitely didn't get in the way

First I was wearing normal clothes as I wasn't thinking about it and my waters broke before my labour. Just took them off when it was time to push. Kept top half on.

Second I wS wearing a dress and 3rd. 4th again I wore my normal clothes until the end.

Just do what you are comfortable with and ignore him. If you get hot, you can take it off. I think you are very sensible and a night dress and knickers is perfect

If this is for real, he needs to gently be told to redirect his nerves/stress to elsewhere than you.
Like, literally anywhere else.

He supports you and the people around the both of you support the both of you. Support goes inward, stress outward. Like the circles of grief but the circles of support.

Let him Now (or let a midwife tell him) because this is pretty ridiculous.

Omg. If only babies just slipped out when we went for a wee 🙄

I'm pretty sure that when I went into hospital I changed into just a long tshirt.

Some of the posts on this thread are hilarious and have made me feel better about giving birth myself!
I'm due to give birth end of June! My understanding is that knickers would just constantly get wet with some sort of bodily fluid! So there's no point really keeping them on.
I'm planning to wear a nightie, it's long enough that it goes mid thigh, and it's something I'll be comfortable in but can still go knickerless!! It's upto you how you give birth. They do have to do a lot of examinations though and you will need to be knickerless to push, and you'll most likely be pushing for a while.