Labour and birth -Things I was thankful for the things I wish I'd known!

[ND348]

Hi ladies

At four weeks pp oh thought it might be helpful to write down The things thatbibreally found helpful (some of which aren't on the typical hospital bag lists). Obviously this is what worked for me but hopefully it might help someone else too! Sprry its a big long.

Feel free to add suggestions....

Pre birth:
Positive birth company hyponobirthing - this helped more than NCT or NHS antenatal classes for feeling prepared for birth and help me remain calm for (most) of my labour!

Labour:
Tens machine, this was a god send, I got to 8cm with just this before I was examined
Tell midwives you are practising hyponobirthing - This will help them realise you might be further along than they think (they asked me to stay at home for a few hours when I rang up and sent me to the waiting room for 20mins when I arrived in hosiptal as I was so calm , I was 8 cm and baby born within 3 hours!). This will also help midwives keep envirnoment calm like dimmed lightning
Bluetooth speaker or headphones- you don't want extra wires in labour!
A bottle of water filled with ice - I was super thirsty and having ice cold water was amazing
Change for parking- last thing you want to be searching for in labour!

Hospital stay:
Tenna ladies pants - Help you feel secure and no leakage. I wore with normal pants and a maternity pad for extra protection
Cheap black pants - £3 pack from Primark were way more comfy than the disposable ones I also took with me and cheap enough for the bin after each wear
Pack babies outfits in freezer bags - that way its supereasy to grab whst you need. You can even write on so your OH or midwife can grab for you
Robinsons Sqaushed - you'll still be thirsty and plain water might not cut it, i loved being able to add some flavour
Supermarket bakery big box of flapjacks - easy to access high energy in the middle of the night
Eye mask - wards are bright if other mum's have their lights on
Water wipes - obviously for baby but also take when you go to the loo... you don't want to be wiping with scratchy hospital loo role!
Your own pillow - nice to have something from home
Comfy clothes for you birth partner

At home (prep before you go):
Maternity pads by every toilet
A breastfeeding box - make one up for wherever you think you might breastfeed with nipple cream, breast pads and muslins. Having them lying about the place made everything much easier
TV remote on your phone- you can do this with virgin and sky, if you forget the pick up tv remote and are in the middle of breastfeeding it's killer, you probably will have you phone at arms reach though

Finally, don't forget to read your notes, I didn't and was a shame I hadn't read through to find put exactly how long I was in established labour, when her head came out etc and the midwife took my notes when they discharged me from midwives care. Wish I'd read them!

Good luck, you will be amazing x

Hiya @ND348 thanks so much for posting this so lovely of you to take the time out to offer help to others.
It's so valuable to have this sort of information from someone who has just been through it, as people do forget a few months down the line when onto the next stage. How are you getting on now with a 4 week old? Hope you're both doing well?

I've read a lot on hypno birthing, got a book, listened to affirmations, meditations etc. and despite really trying I've struggled to properly get into it. Weirdly, I hadn't come across the positive birth company but having just watched a couple of the free videos I am inspired so I shall be signing up to the online course later. I'm 39+1 so not really enough time to do a course in person.

Thanks again so much xx

Thanks for these great suggestions!
When did you start the Hypnobirthing course? I want to take the Positive Birth Company digital course but not sure how long I need to dedicate to it?

This is super helpful thanks for posting! Have been watching the positive birth company YouTube videos - did you do the course they offer?

39+3 on my first and this is super helpful thanks OP

Glad it's been helpful! I did the positive birth company hyponobirthing pack online. I think it's about 6 hours of video, we did it from around week 32, but you can cram it in if your further along x

Great thread!!

Shower friendly flip flops!!! I ended up staying in hospital for a week. Flip flops in the shower is a must if you have enough time to think about what is flowing out of everybody whilst they use the room.

I completely agree - brilliant thread thanks for posting OP

Flip flops are great but don't work with compression socks so it's always worth having a pair of slippers/pumps if you have room.

Second the flapjacks!

Keep these coming, I’ve got the normal list but some of this is genius!

Good post!

The notes really bugged me too! Gone before I even noticed, however after my birth I found out about a service called 'birth reflections' within my local hospital - you book in to go and talk through your labour with a midwife and they have your notes to show you/you can ask any questions, that was lovely. Not sure if they do it elsewhere though

This is so wonderful and so timely, thank you OP and big congratulation on your baby!

I’m 30 weeks and we’ve done a hypno class, 4 sessions over two weeks and listening to a couple of different MP3s every night. I’ve found it so useful, helpful, positive. I spent the first half of this pregnancy in a spot of denial after a serous of losses and it’s helped me so much to take the fear away, give us both things to focus on proactively and make it seem doable and something to look forward to.

A barrage of questions if you don’t mind!

Did you buy or rent your tens machine? What did you wear to give birth in? Was there anything your partner did that really helped? Did you need any help getting feeding established and if so was it readily available? Is there anything you did or wish you’d done to prepare for breastfeeding before the birth?

Even with vaginal birth if end up with spinal block in case of EMCS (even though forceps got him out eventually) you'll have a catheter in no pants on with a bed mat and pad stuck under you.

And then you're subject to a bed bath waiting on the spinal to wear off.....no one told me things like that happen!

Then constipation kicks in due to spinal so have Lactulose or Movical near by.

And witch hazel is a blessing for stitches.

If you have a blood transfusion milk supply could be affected even 5/6 weeks on after you started out with loads.

@AnneLovesGilbert i rented the tens machine, thunkit was around £20 for three weeks before due date and 4 weeks to return. It's about £50 to buy I think...
I had got a cheap Primark nightie to give birth in, but ended up just in my bar as a stripped off and wasn't bothered about putting anything else on! Best thing my partner did was understand what I was going through and telling me ideas doing a great job, this really helped when I was in transition and saying I couldn't do it!
As for breast feeding, in my hospital there was qyite a bit of support and they got my pinpong when we struggled to latch, however they did miss tongue tie at her new born baby check, this was picked up by a breastfeeding support worker during a home visit. 4 weeks in and were still EBF. In terms of preparing there's not a lot you can do, I read up on it, the womanly art of breast feeding is a good book, and get a decent nursing bra or two. Good luck x

@Almostthere15 flip flops and slippers are a great shout! X

Hi all & thanks for this OP! I'm 27 weeks and starting to panic that I have done zero preparation for birth / impending motherhood.

Talk me down!! Tell me I've got ages!!

@looktothewesternsky you have got plenty of time to prepare! Nearly 3 months so ages to get stuff done and get your head around it x

I'm 12 weeks pregnancy, so it's really early for me but still very helpful to know. Thanks for the thread!