Gift for children whilst in hospital ..

[hollie29x]

Hey. I am currently 36 weeks pregnant and booked to have a csection at 39 weeks. I have an 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter that are both very excited but also extremely anxious about me going into hospital to have baby.

Does anyone have any ideas or done anything themselves when in this situation in terms of something to leave them as a comfort when I go into hospital?

Maybe they could each pick a toy or memento for you to take with you into hospital, and you could send them pictures of you with the items they choose, so they know they're still very much in your thoughts? If they pick toys, the toys could also do little messages (eg by email) to accompany the photos - like "Today we met Sue, who's helping look after Mum. Sue brings yummy tea and biscuits!" and eventually "We just met your new baby brother or sister!".

You could even get matching toys for you and them, so you each have one and can cuddle it knowing that the other person is thinking of you.

If they're not into cuddly toys, how about cards for each day you're in hospital, with little treats inside (eg. a mini bag of sweets, a handmade voucher they can trade in for getting dad to do one of their chores for a day, a book token) and a message for them to say how much you love them and how glad you are that they're looking after each other and dad.

Never did any of that gift stuff, had 6 kids from 5 pregnancies. Ours coped fine with me away, latest I was in for 3 nights after c-section and a bit worse for wear as my previous scar ruptured in labour too. They were just happy to have us home and were super excited for cuddles with baby.

I would just buy a book with age appropriate information on what happens