REAL essentials for birth and immediately afterwards - come and help me with my list

[FrannyandZooey]

Most of the lists on websites etc are making me laugh with all the things they consider 'essentials'

what do you really, really, need?
so far I have got

maternity pads
breastfeeding pads
few baby clothes
nappies
cotton wool
somewhere to put baby eg moses basket, made up with sheets

if in hospital:
clothes for me to come home in
nightie(s)
towel(s)
toiletries
maternity notes

what have I forgotten?

lovely food
more sanitary towels and teeny nappies than you think is possible
blankets
for hospital don't forget camera and money and the car seat to take baby home

looks pretty good to me,maybe some snacks -drinks to keep your energy up in early labour and music if you like it.

lots of reading material for all those long night time feeds.....can be pretty boring.

socks or slipers for the hospital as the floor is often cold.

plenty of nighties if you have a boys....every sodding time I took my DS1's nappy off he pee'd on me....went thro 6 nighties on the first day alone!!

oh, if you are planning on breastfeeding, you need feeding bra's.

Snacks for you and DH/DP if you're in hospital. And I took Ribena, which was really useful as I couldn't keep anything down (sorry) and so it was a useful source of sugar for energy. The hospital water usually tastes awful too.

Oh, I took flip flops too - the bathroom floor isn't always in great condition. Not surprising really with lots of women bleeding everywhere I suppose.

Ooh - for immediately afterwards, I remember the thread where someone recommended making sure you had your coffee/tea in an insulated cup - because (a) it made it more difficult to spill it all over the new baby, and (b) it kept it warmer, so you had a better chance of getting to drink it while it was warm. I thought that was a great (but v simple) idea.

Second the flip flops and some wipes to clean the bathroom, the post natal ward was a tad minging. Boiled sweets, flannel and lip salve for labour, I was so dry. Magazines, money for TV and phone, decent snacks eg dried fruit, flapjacks.....

Enormous pants to hold the massive towels you will need to wear after the birth.

Money and food .. i went ages with no food.

Well, my essentials list would only be about 10 maternity pads (more than enough for me) and no breastfeeding pads -- I don't start leaking until 3-4 weeks after the birth.
Otherwise,
feeding bras,
some things for baby to wear,
something to clean baby's bottom with,
pack of nappies,
camera,
two blankets or muslin cloths.

In hospital:
snacks,
something for me to wear afterwards,
something for me to sleep in,
small amount of money,
Carseat -- if driven home from hospital.

Baby can sleep in my bed or a drawer at a push, no need to sort it out much in advance. They tend to quickly conk out anywhere and stay out easily (on sofa, bouncy seat, someone's arms, etc.) for the first few days.

Ah yes, when we got my maternity clothes out of the roof we found my black cotton 2-sizes-bigger-than-normal granny pants. They were great after the birth though, no horrid paper ones for me, and they went right up over the (jelly) bump so that I would have been OK if I'd have needed a CS.

arnica in case you have any stitches, witch hazel for putting on pads if you have sore bits/stitches

muslins for burping

Painkillers; medication for piles - essential !; senna or the like for constipation.

chocolate
camera
snacks eg seed/oaty bars
nice essential oils are my treat for the bath afterwards, oh and lots of salt

are you trying for a hb? (woukd recommend)

(ps can't believe you are nearly there!)

oh yes, get in the painkillers

afterpains are much worse 2nd time

(they are fkn AGONY time no 3)

Ribena
Chocolate
Mobile phone

ohh ver very soft towels, you might feel the need to attack anyone who tries to use normal towels on your precious baby as they might be a bit scratcy

seriously, little ewe do an organic nappy that is just the right size to envelop a newborn and it is about £3

Lansinoh for sore nips.

Also, I can't believe I got to my fourth birth before discovering the wonders of moist toilet wipes. MUCH more soothing than gingerly dabbing with loo roll. (V good for piles too which are often a nice side effect of birthing even if you've been lucky enough to avoid them in pg).

I also took food. In fact with DD2, DH brought in all my food. One look at the 'sweet and sour pork' (grey pork with the tiniest bit of pineapple you've ever seen) was enough for me.

Good luck.

Something appropriate for breastfeeding AND the warmth of the hospital - i wish i had taken at least four button through nighties/long linen shirts as i had c-section and was in a few days. Everything got milk-stained!

Put something that smells comforting to you in your toiletry bag - i had Erbaviva relaxing spray. it makes the space yours and you can reclaim it when the person opposite overdoes the minging body spray

Maternity pillow - mine was invaluable, esp as DD was 9lb 12oz at birth.

Well I found packs of dried fruit, a big pack of chocolate hobnobs and a box of clotted cream fudge absolutely essential after labour. Mainly coz the food in the hospital was shite - how you were expected to be able to heal, poo and feed baby on that rubbish I'll never know.

I didn't bother with a bra, was really doing anything energetic and was back home when my milk came in. Felt much more comfy that way especially as it was fecking hot.
Which reminds me, I had a little battery operated fan which was useful for keeping cool.

Gets some witch hazel to stick on your maternity pads, found that lovely and cool against my sore bits.

You know ds is only 21 weeks and I am really struggling to remember what I used at the hospital!

ooh thanks chaps, really useful thread and not full of the sort of crap that is on the mothercare site for instance

Filly what painkillers can you have? I don't remember anything helping with the pain, really

am just hoping to have the baby anywhere I feel comfortable so don't care where I am as long as I want to be there

some sweets - energy + gas'n'air might give you a dry mouth. i ate LOTS of jelly babies.
little drinks cartons with straws. lots of choccy biccies and something more substantial for dp eg sandwiches or a pasty.

your normal washing things for a homey small. some carrier bags for dirty clothes.

the most useful thing for me was freezing lots of spag bol, lasagne and sheperds pie in tin trays so we didn't have to cook for about 3 weeks and had lots of filling, easy to eat food at the ready.

smell not small

massage oil/ moisturising body oils
toiletries wipes toothpaste shampoo
towel-u-like
flip flop type footwear
MUSIC
snacks and water of your choosing!
cash
dark glasses more jackie-o the better!
headscarf and lippy!
camera
car seat
(hospital experience only)

I had a bag of yoghurt coated raisins for snacking for energy. Labour went too quick to need them, but I munched away on thw ward afterwards, and found they had the added bonus of making the first post-natal poo nice and easy to pass.