To labour in my nightdress

[Coolsummer25]

I’m due a baby girl late July. I’m a very private person so would like to labour in a nightdress and with my knickers on. Dh thinks I’m being ridiculous and says he’s never heard of woman doing labour this way and that I will be too hot etc.

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

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

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.

Love this!

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

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.

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!

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

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'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?

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 don't know that OP's husband deserves a full Mumsnet pile on, he just comes across to me as a bit of a nervous first time father. DH and I chatted about labour with our first and he also had older sisters who already had a child each, and were full of advice for every stage of pregnancy/labour. Always saying "what you want to do is..." "what I did was..." "ah you say that now, but just you wait when you're in labour..."

This, understandably got DH a bit fretful and he said similar to me about clothing during labour. I used to be fairly prudish and I wanted almost full coverage wherever possible, he was worried that my hopes for labour were a bit unrealistic (they definitely were in the end haha).

I agree with the commenters that OP should feel comfortable and do what it is right for her, but I also think it's not unreasonable for her husband to say what he thinks. If he didn't talk about it at all then he'd get the pile on for not being involved- sometimes men can't get it right for being wrong on MN!

You're way overthinking this. Take comfy clothes suitable for hospital (it's sweltering) and put on/take off whatever seems suitable at the time.

You won't give a flying shit what you look like, or what your husband thinks about it.

It's a messy business though - fairly likely to have wee, amniotic fluid and shit splashing about the place. My waters broke high up and just a bit came out with each contraction for a while. I'd have needed a mountain of pants to change them each time! And most women shit themselves at some point, you want to be able to wipe that off rather than deal with shitty pants, trust me.

Tell him he can wear what he likes when he has a baby but as it's you and your body you'd rather be comfortable in whatever you want to wear.

I wore a night dress and a vest top in the pool

I never wear a nighty but bought one to have dd. You will need to remove your pants through as they need to check and I had a monitor on the baby

Oh yes - the last bit! My ex MiL quizzed my DH relentlessly to find out how noisy I was because she "had 2 big babies without shouting or making a spectacle of herself".

If you're a private person, you might not want all of your experience being shared so make that deal beforehand.

I absolutely love this comment!

@Nannyogg134 The DH isn't just saying what he thinks though, he told the OP she's being ridiculous, which is insulting and unkind, wouldn't you agree?

The midwife doesn't matter, they will work around you. Just ensure you feel comfortable. I kept my pants on until I felt like pushing and then DP cut them off for me

A sports bra?!? You won't want anything tight like that. A nightie is fine. I'd go for knee length. I took a couple as they can get pretty grotty.

Also your husband sounds like dick

Don't worry, there will be time for the midives to take off your knickers before baby comes out I promise - even with a quick labour the baby won't shoot out like an Exocet missile!

Personally I wore a long nightshirt throughout without knickers, but only because I couldn't be faffed with them.

Realistically you won't be able to wear them until you're crowning because they'll need to keep an eye on what's happening from the start of the pushing stage, not just when the baby starts to crown. But if you want to keep them on until you need to push that's fine. Take spares, labour can be very liquidy! I laboured naked, unexpectedly, as I'd packed a really long t-shirt but I just felt absolutely boiling hot start to finish. I also had to be continuously monitored and the wires were getting tangled.

Maybe I will re think the knickers by the sound of it! He also wants me to get cather in as he’s worried about me having the baby in the loo.

Not sure you will be able to leave it as long as that as the midwives will need access before that point so they can see how the head is progressing down the birth canal.

He really is a numty isn’t he. Good luck with your baby. You’re going to need it with your DH.