What to wear in labour?

[sazzybee]

Apologies in advance if this is a very stupid question. All the pregnancy books I've got say to wear an old t-shirt. Thing is, I'm so massive that any of my old t-shirts are never going to cover my fanjo and bum.

Obviously if I'm in the throes of labour, that's not much of an issue but if I'm walking around in the early stages, I'd like something a bit longer.

What did you wear? And do you just bin it afterwards or wash it and wear it again?!

cheap nightie from primark. whipped it off just before ds born so could do skin to skin. binned it afterwards...

I wore dh's shirts. I think it's a lovely idea to buy a massive but nice nighty so you feel good.

I remember reading that Paula Yates always used to buy a brand new gorgeous dress to labour in.

oh, and def agree with whoever said buy new pjs/nighty for AFTER labour

Old tshirt but ended up starkers both times. I had pics of babies head and my huge boob circulated to all friends and family too. Certainly didn't care at the time, though I do feel a bit mortified Dh's nana saw it now.

Jessica - cheap nighty from i cant remember where, and it actually stayed on!

Rebecca - went to hosp in long black skirt and vest top, ended up stripping off once waters went and stayed naked until after the birth when MW said "i think you need to put something on before going up to the ward!"

I wore one of DH's old T-shirts. Washed fine but he refused to wear it after that. I just kept it tucked away and wore it at every birth

When baby was born I just pulled it up for the skin to skin contact thing. (didnt want to feel too exposed )

Oh and echo WEAR SOCKS. Take a two pairs just in case your waters break over one pair.

then have 2 or 3 nightshirts with buttons down the front for afterwards.

I wore joggers and a top for the first 12 hours

After being in the pool I put on one of DH's tshirts - wasn't really long enough but I didn't really care at that point

Think just ended up wearing a hospital gown frist time.
Second time just work the maternity top I'd bowled up to hospital in. But then not much hanging around with ds. Then had shower got changed into joggers and t.shirt and straight home.

bright pink sun dress, which I refused to take off. MW wanted me to change to hospital gown... got quite arsy about it?

my birthday suit of course!

DD1 - pink DKNY top I had purchased in NY only a few months previously, this was not my intended labour wear, on the recommendation of MN I had the cheap Primark nightie in the labour bag but it was all too fast, just pulled down my jeans and pants, never used ANYTHING in my labour bag.

DD2 - homebirth, was starkers, I was downstairs hanging over downstairs bathroom sink when MW arrived, between contraction I ran upstairs, stripped, jumped on the bed legs in the air shouting "quick examine me!" Classy!

waterproof mascara...don't go near a birth pool without it.

lol to the waterproof mascara!!

pink nightie - wore it fora few nights of my stay pre-labour but in hospital still.
got some pink cotton pyjamas for a fiver in tescos (got 2 pairs)to wear afterwards so could unbutton to breastfeed, and swapped the bottoms every time dp came to hospital as there were the inevitable leakages after labour when bleeding was heavy for a day or so.

god it was hot this summer when i had ds2, i was the only one in the 8 bed bf ward, there were lots in the bottle feeding ward and all i could hear were the cheers/boos of when england had just lost in the world cup.

not that thats related sorry...

I wore a pair of pedal pshers,a pink seersucker halter top and turquoise espadrilles.

You may not get a choice my second was so fast I gave birth in my jumper!

This is a very funny thread - thank you

ankle lenghth black maternity skirt
hand loose t shirt thing in my bag and midwife did ask if i wanted to take my knickers off when i called them back in to declare i was pushing, and i refused (they came off at some point) so i guess they weren't going to fuss over outfit changes

It sounds insane but one of my biggest fears with ds1 was that you had to give birth naked - as in every book/pregnancy magazine I read, that's what labouring women seemed to do. I was relieved to find it's not compulsory and I wore a saggy old night-shirt. I wore it again when I had ds2 5 years later...and that time I kept my bra on as well (much to the midwife's consternation) and my glasses too - as my Mum took my glasses away from me when I was having ds1 and I couldn't see anything

had pair of yoga type pants with a vest top and when things got going I took the pants off and was just in undies and top and then when they were really going, the undies came off.
x

Nothing or hospital gown - why on earth make washing for yourself???

oh
and birkenstocks all 3 times

wasn't pretty

huge baggy tshirt - though can remember having my PJ bottoms prised off me with a bit of a fight quite late on in the preceedings. Like you marthamoo, had a real fear of being naked - have just told my midwife for this birth the same thing and warned her she may have to be quite stern about removing clothing from me!
also still had bra on throughout, in fact I never took it off - was a feeding one so just undid it for 'skin to skin' or 'skin to bra' as it was

Forget the clothes - ensure you have a pedicure a couple of days before your due date.

and shave your legs - waxing will be far to painful at this late stage!