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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

First night in hospital: what do you wish you'd done/brought?

79 replies

ethicsgirl · 30/08/2009 12:38

For dc2 I want to be a bit more prepared as I had a horrible time with ds1. I spent the night in a ward with noisy women, ate vile food and hardly got a wink. Looking for suggestions of what might improve my stay this time round. I felt so lonely and anxious last time.

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EssieW · 01/09/2009 11:55

Food.
Food.
Food.

Can you guess I was hungry and craved some decent food (only in hospital 2 nights but didn't eat for 3 days of labour)? DH sent out to get cake, sandwiches, carrot sticks (not sure why but craved these) and drinks.

Also you want cool clothes. Hospitals are too hot.

Slippers would have been useful. I only had the sandals that I'd transferred into hospital in.

giveloveachance · 01/09/2009 12:03

Got to echo the FOOD replies - and something to drink. was so hungry in the middle of the night.

Face wipes for a quick refresh, and mouth wash.

cheap big cotton knickers - agree - much more comfortable.

I pod - it is very noisy in hospital and its nice to tune out the noise but so you can still hear your baby.

Eye mask - great idea, wish I had thought of that.

Schrodinger · 01/09/2009 12:04

get a private room

BornToFolk · 01/09/2009 12:05

Squash to add to the manky tasting water. The first thing I did when my mum arrived to visit was send her to the vending machine to get me a diet coke! I was so hot and thirsty and couldn't get out of bed.

Cereal bars or other snacky nice things to eat.

A notepad and pen to note down times of feeds etc. I kept being asked if DS had fed/for how long etc and in my post-labour/sleep deprived state, could not remember.

Schrodinger · 01/09/2009 12:07

oh, and pizza/curry menu's if there are places near enough, or get DH/family to bring in take-outs.

This is why the private room is so important - if you have a massive pizza everyone else will hate you

funtimewincies · 01/09/2009 20:29

Completely agree with EssieW - food all the way.

Having laboured all night, ds was born at 8.30am so missed breakfast. I'd had Pethadine which made me very sick so didn't get onto the ward until lunch had finished. I slept all afternoon and was woken for tea which consisted of a salad ordered by the previous occupant of the bed (obviously as some kind of cruel joke ). No grub then until breakfast and it was a lonnnnnng night.

One salad in 24 hours, not good and the midwives 'couldn't find anything else for me' .

KingRolo · 01/09/2009 20:36

High calorie food - biscuits, cereal bars, chocolate. I was given salad for my first post-birth meal too. Bloody ridiculous, didn't even come with a bread roll or potatoes or anything substantial.

The midwife took my DD away the first night as I'd had a 30 hour labour and she just didn't stop crying from 10pm to 2am. I just zonked out and was so relieved. DD is 10 months old now and that's the longest sleep I've had since she was born!

SorryDoIKnowYou · 01/09/2009 20:37

After having no decent toiletries after ds1 and showering in nasty hospital liquid soap for ds2 I splashed out some John Lewis vouchers I had on an expensive set of molton brown small(ish) size set of shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/hand cream/body lotion. Worth every penny. I had to stay in 3 days after ds2 and used them loads. Each time I luxuriated in my expensive products I smugly congratulated myself on spending the money on myself. They made me feel expensive and as though I was doing something for myself again. Not just the fat leaking blob with a baby attached.

kathyis6incheshigh · 01/09/2009 20:41

KingRolo I would have killed for a salad
They were giving me leaflets about the importance of eating high fibre food to make post-baby bowel movements easy and there was hardly a vegetable in the place! Cheese sandwich on white bread without even a lettuce leaf
(Not much point in taking salad in with me though - if it's a long labour it will have wilted by the time the baby gets out....)

Murtette · 04/09/2009 13:27

One of my friends has a 3 month old and I just asked her this question. As well as the things already mention on previous posts, she said that she wished she'd had a pair of flip flops to wear in the shower. She also said to make sure your camera was fully charged when you went into hospital.

FourArms · 04/09/2009 21:00
  • Bendy straws (when I couldn't get up after c/s to have a drink)
  • I took my long bf/pg pillow - v.comfy and a fleece blanket.
  • I kept frozen cartons of OJ in freezer to grab when leaving for hosp, so kept in a cool bag, they were still cold post-labour.
  • Lots and lots and lots of lovely food
  • Scrabble!
hackedoffandcross · 04/09/2009 22:00

Only took the 'usual' things in last time but got DH to bring in - Lots of cans of diet coke, I labelled them and put them in the kitchen fridge. Had a headache from the lack of caffeine til I was mobile enough to get myself loads of cups of tea (CS)
Trashy magazines that DH tuts at at home - he brought these without asking

And snacks, choc/yogurt coated banana chips, chocolate. I also had a cake brought in by MIL, I ate the whole thing over the 3/4 days I was in.

Definately get small lovely bath/shower products, I still have a flashback to the big hopsital bath when I use them now, and think of my tiny babies in their cots on wheels in the bathroom while I had a soak. (Liz earle stuff with DD, adidas shower gel with DS)

First time - I was nearly mental with the sleep deprivation after v long labour and CS, the staff took DD just for an occasional hour or two so I could nap. 2nd time, I asked them to take DS so I could get a kip. They were fine with it, just cuddled him for a bit and brought him back and woke me for his feed. Just an hour of sleep is bliss when you are exhausted.

pregnantpeppa · 04/09/2009 22:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FuckOffDailyMail · 04/09/2009 22:16

First night in hospital, what did I wish I'd done?

  • had a homebirth
  • not pushed so hard that I ripped in two
  • demanded a c-section
  • smuggled the G&A on to the ward

hmmm, I'm sure there's more

funtimewincies · 05/09/2009 19:03

Have a spare nightie and dressing gown ready at home in an easy to find place so that when dh is sent home to get something for you to wear because, while in hospital, your waters broke all over your first set, he doesn't return with a T-shirt which barely covers your bits because 'it was all I could find' .

I intend to have a hospital bag and a bad of spare clothes etc. for dh to bring if I need it.

ActivityApple · 05/09/2009 19:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Hollyoaks · 05/09/2009 19:35

I wish dh could have stayed, the first night alone was truely terrifying after giving birth at 8pm and dh sent home at 11pm it was the longest 10 hours of my life. I am going for a 4 hour discharge next time if possible.

alana39 · 07/09/2009 21:33

This time I'm taking a pack of paracetamol and a big sign saying "I've got my own paracetamol thank you" so they don't wake me up at 6am on the first drugs round of the day, half an hour after feeding for the 4th time in the night, just to ask me if I want any sodding pain relief, and then disappoint me by not offering something a bit stronger.

alana39 · 07/09/2009 21:36

Oh and a bottle of lactulose - suggested by midwife as a way I could have avoided constipation and pain afterwards, but too late. This time will start knocking it back as soon as hit post natal ward. Will replace gaviscon habit.

diddle · 07/09/2009 22:12

I ended up having 3 caesareans with my boys, so i wasn't very mobile the first nights, i hated not getting tot he shower, so a nice light body water spray, i've got a lovely body shop one, and a really nice smelling antibacterial hand cleaner thingy. you know the little handbag sized pump gel things, i had carex made me feel a lot cleaner than i was.
Our hospital gives you a private room which was great, i managed to sleep well enough.

jo1rich · 23/09/2009 06:41

I'm due for c/s number 3 next week and must replace the choc I packed which of course I've already eaten!!! CS 1 was EMCS, was given a cup of tea on ward, but it was placed just out of my reach - could have cried. Same with brekky the next morn - put on my bed table but I couldn't bloomin reach it!! CS 2 was ELCS - much calmer experience, but didn't half get a filthy look off bitch midwife when she saw me eating a choccy digestive - I hadn't eaten since the day before and I was bloomin starvin - was a lovely student midwife who made me a cup of tea (which I could reach). Bitch midwife also gave me a bedbath - which I didn't want, but cuoldn't move away from her as still under effects of spinal. Not gonna happen this time!!! can't have private room unfortunately - apparently need to be on ward as under closer obs coz of surgery so no sleep for me first night. My babies tend to sleep (1st night anyways - never again tho) - it's other little darlings and their mothers that keep me awake - and the lights and the alarms at the nurses station and the bin lids closing etc. So shall be tajing in large supply of choc, bikky's, crappy mags, laptop, drinks and it will be put all within reach!!!

Jumente · 23/09/2009 06:57

Homebirth if you can...3,000 times less stressful.

I ruined it for 3 other people on my ward by having a reaction to something in the epidural (I think) and making throwing up noises for a good hour.

I remember shouting 'sorry' through my closed curtains and getting No Reply [arrghhhhh] then they all went home and I got the place to myself for the second night

thatw as hell though initially

I took a big suitcase and got scorned by the people who came in to 'wash' me after I was stitched, for having so much crap with me.

I don't think I let them wash me actually, they were so nasty - I said I'd rather wait till I could walk to the shower.

I don't think they were actual nurses.

Take the basics imo and get out as soon as you possibly can!

FaintlyMacabre · 23/09/2009 07:32

I wish I'd realised that it was the last opportunity for a full night's sleep I was going to have for the next 2 years, and actually slept when my baby did rather than gazing him with a mixture of awe and panic.

bumpyandfrumpy · 23/09/2009 07:43

mobile phone charger. your phone is bound to die!

Longtalljosie · 23/09/2009 09:55

Things I did right:

Plastic jug for pouring water over yourself when you pee.

Water spray - I bought a sprayer from Boots's toiletry travel containers and filled it with tap water - it did the job

Your own pillow

What I'd bring next time:

Microwave meals. There was a microwave on the ward and although we'd bought food we were heartily sick of bananas and Oreos. DH in particular was starving at the end of my rather long labour... I was too out of it to be hungry but he certainly was! If there's no microwave, perhaps pasta salad or something? You can get very sick of junk...

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