dont want to be naked when giving birth......

[MrsMc82]

........so bought a cheapy nighty to wear during labour...... its b utton up at the front so will be able to put baby on my breast as soon poss but not sure if t his is normal / ok ....... will the midwife make me get naked???

Nope, dont worry. If you dont want to be naked there is no reason to.

If you want skin to skin contact put baby under your nightie with her head poking out.

I worried about this with dd and wore my nightie the whole time. Funny thing was was that I went to the loo to change then to take my knickers off! They do have to see your bits!

I had a hospital gown on and just pulled it open/down after giving birth for skin-to-skin & first breastfeed

It's your birth, you're in charge. You can wear a fairy costume if it pleases you.

Unless your Daphne from Neighbours, you do eventually need to take your pants off.

I can't really remember now (pethidine does that to you!) but I seem to recall wearing a cheap nightie with buttons. I'm definitely wearing it in the pictures taken shortly after the birth! I think the midwives tend to encourage whatever makes you most relaxed, but obviously they do need some kind of access to the business end of things!!

They can't "make" you do anything, although if you're a new mum (I have no idea if you are or not!) they can tend to sweep you along with the tide. I had brought a comfy nightie but my mw was ushering me into a hospital gown and I was too meek? scared? daft? to argue.

Your nightie sounds fine, but it might get ruined so make sure you have more nighties/comfy bed clothes with you for afterwards.

and I bought a nighty because i did not want to be naked but as soon as the first big contractions hit I just could not BEAR the feel of anything on me at all and had to pull it off.
Not what I would have chosen but couldn't change it. The best laid plans and all that....

"You can wear a fairy costume if it pleases you."

LMAO Diamondhead!

but they don't have to be display the whole time either

I wore a loose kaftany type thing right up to the point where I had to put a hospital gown on and go for an emergency cs. Kept my underwear on most of the time too.

you may find you don't give a damn when the time comes. but i did.

5 years ago I wore a nightie and a fleece (I was cold) which my ExH then wore to the restaurant afterwards (that he ate at when going home from the hospital) without realising LOLOL (eww).

Can you imagine the midwives faces if you actually wore a fairy costume

i would urge against the hospital gown

not only does it look shite in photos but if you have to go from one bit of the hozzie to the other it can be a bit parky

I'm due tomorrow with DS2, so maybe I should pack some wings and a wand in my hospital bag and report back

Do it!!

I wore a maternity vest top and had what little modesty I had left covered with a sheet during the pushing stage.

Wish I'd been wearing fairy wings May wear my halloween cat-ear headband if there's a next time!

this might be a really dense question but do you have to be completely naked if you're using a birthing pool?

At the moment I don't fancy being completely starkers, but I have been informed that while in labour my priorities will be elsewhere

Loving the fairy outfit. Now have evil thoughts of scaring midwife with sudden enthusiasm for giving birth in a wetsuit.

I was in a nightie and when DD was born she was put up my nightie for skin to skin contact.

Nooooo, humanfraggle, you can wear a wetsuit. We should start a campaign

hehe will pack some fairy wings as well then too!!!! thanks ladies!! would love to keep knickers on too but have come to terms with fact thats not possible - glad nighty sounds feasible tho think i was more worried about nakedness than giving birth!!! xxx

loving the wetsuit idea... can you buy maternity wetsuits? Oo is there a gap in the market?

Can you get them with zips that just open from the bottom, a handy little flap for baby to pop out through?

humanfraggle - now that is one hell of a business idea. you could become seriously rich! just think of all the variants with a zip eg granny pants with zip. hope to see you on dragons den soon. if that fails, there are always those all in ones with poppers at the bottom. i am sure every nurse has a story about a woman who refused to take off her knickers. however, fairy wings are a fabulous idea.

i was absolutely pertrified of baring all and did everythng possible to cover up, however, after hours of labour i became so fed up that i really didn't care who saw everything below. had to have ventouse and episiotomy and so just wanted evrything to be over. i forgot about the humiliation pretty quickly.

good luck!

I'm rather hoping you can source them in extra stretchy material so the baby can be born into it's own little swaddling bag. Obviously you'd need a hole for the head.

Even better - you and fraggle need to team up.