Now worried about postnatal care - any tips or advice?

[newroundhere]

I'm 32 weeks pregnant with DC1 and have starting worrying about thinking about labour and birth. However, having read the MNHQ thread on the potential campaign on postnatal care, and the experience of the vast majority of posters there, I am now also worried about what happens after the birth...

Does anyone have any advice or tips on postnatal care? What I should expect / ask for, or what I can take with me or prepare to make sure I have the best experience I can? DH will be in attendance so what should I be asking him to do to support? I'm planning to be in a midwife led unit and would like to breastfeed.

Hopefully this is the right place to post - thanks in advance for your help!

Remember that people will only be posting there because they had a bad experience. I hated the postnatal ward but that's because I was desperate to be home and to have some normality. Although it was extremely busy and obviously needed more resources everyone was very helpful and kind.

My advice then - if you possibly can get a private room even if you have to pay for it. It makes a huge difference. If not have your partner there as much as possible. Ask for help if you need it. If you don't ask they won't know you need help. More practically, the ward is boiling so take light clothes and an eye mask

I posted on that thread, so I'm sorry it's worried you.

The thing I found most useful was home cooked meals. The evening meal on my postnatal ward was served at 5pm, and consisted of a mug of soup, and a sandwich, yogurt and piece of fruit. That was it, until breakfast arrived the following morning. When you're trying to breastfeed, that isn't enough food, but there wasn't any facility to get anything else (unless you got Domino's to deliver, which a friend of mine did!).

You might want to make sure you have a nightie or something with an easy opening front - I struggled to find one because I left it too late.

And be prepared to boil, IME postnatal wards are kept at about a million degrees. DD was born in early May, we were having a heatwave, and the heating in the ward was on full. I'm surprised we didn't all expire from heatstroke!

My tips:

• Take food. Stuff that you can snack on between hospital shit "meals"
• Take pain killers with you just in case. At my hospital, I was asked lots of times if wanted any paracetamol etc, I said yes, and no painkillers ever materialised, despite me chasing it up a few times. I just took my own paracetamol from home on the sly.
• Try to get as much rest/sleep/chill time as you can in the last weeks of your pregnancy. There will be some very loud babies crying, mums shuffling about to the toilet, settling their own babies, changing nappies, staff coming in and out to help mums with various things through the night etc. The postnatal ward is not a quiet place!

Try not to worry too much. Like with everything baby-related, people love to share a horror story! My stay on the postnatal ward wasn't pleasant at all, but mainly because I just wanted to go home and have help from my husband!

Thanks everyone for the tips - I know I'm probably worrying unnecessarily but it's really useful to get your thoughts.

The hospital I'm going to does have private rooms available (at a cost!) but it sounds like it's worthwhile trying to get one of those. And packing a lot of food!!

And thanks for the tip on painkillers MyBread - now I come to think about it I've had the same problem before when I've been in hospital for something else - you would think paracetamol would be easily available but it doesn't always seem to be the case....