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If you wore your own clothes for the delivery...
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Anonymous
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What did you wear? I hate hate HATE hospital gowns and would like to avoid one at all costs, and my midwives are okay with me wearing my own clothes. I'm thinking some sort of wrap front robe, maybe with snaps instead of ties, or a wrap top and loose jersey skirt. Or I could just bring some of my husband's old tshirts which I've been using as nightshirts. What did you do?
(And yes, I'm fully aware that I should prepare for these items to be ruined!) |
Anonymous
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Stretchy jersey skirt (from Old Navy clearance rack) and old t-shirt. I ditched the skirt before pushing. I ended up asking for an epi and it was no problem threading the various tubes through the shirt.
HATED the gowns - I wore one briefly after delivery, then switched to clothes from home. |
Anonymous
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I don't have any advice, as I wore the hospital gown. I'm just wondering you hate them so much.
PS - Be prepared for some flaming responses. I've seen some thread with the same topic before and felt sorry for the OPs. |
Anonymous
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I had my second baby in the UK and they didn't provide gowns. So I gave birth in a light cotton nightdress which was (needless to say) thrown away afterwards. There was no point trying to keep it.
So, something extremely light - you will sweat - and that you're happy to dispose of. Good luck with the birth. |
Anonymous
| I'm not sure why you wouldn't do the gown. It's loose and light and in all honesty it's going to be the LEAST of your worries! I ended up wearing a gown for an additional day because it was comfortable and very easy to nurse in. |
Anonymous
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I gave birth in the gown but then wore my own nightgown the following days. I wish I had used my nightgown for delivery, it's hideous and yes, flame, but looks awful in pictures, you already look as shit as it is, and the gown doesn't help.
I don't understand why people say it gets ruined.... the hospital gown i wore was not a mess at all. |
Anonymous
| If you do a search on this topic, you'll find lots of great previous threads. Congrats! |
Anonymous
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I found the hospital gowns (even the ones with nursing slits and the ones that open at the shoulders) really annoying to nurse in. The slits had terrible visibility (bad when you're totally new at this!) and the shoulder-snaps were really hard to do and undo, especially while holding a baby. I was much happier with my own shirts.
As for why wear your own clothes for delivery - for me it was purely a comfort issue (both physical and emotional comfort). I certainly wasn't wearing anything pretty or cute instead of the hospital gowns, I just felt better being in normal clothes. I did tell the nurses that I was totally prepared to have any and all of the clothing stained, cut off me if needed, or otherwise trashed. Oh, and bring some layers - I alternated between being too hot and too cold during labor and having a sweater or zip-up hoodie to throw on is easier than trying to keep a blanket wrapped around you while laboring. And socks - bring a bunch of cheap socks or flipflops, throw them away afterward. I love being barefoot and I'm not much of a germaphobe, but even I didn't want to walk barefoot on hospital floors. |
Anonymous
18:11 here (UK birth in nightgown)- okay, the reason it gets ruined is that it gets covered in blood. Not sure why that didn't happen with the gown for my US birth, but perhaps the back of the gown was open and I was lying on something else. Or perhaps I ended up changing. Or perhaps the fabric doesn't show up so much. No idea. But my deliveries were the same in all other respects. And as for the sweat, I think the hospital gown coped with it better than my very light cotton nightdress. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for the replies. I can't explain exactly why I hate hospital gowns much, I've never been in them for very long, but I just find them very uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally, as another PP said. Its a little thing, but a thing I can do, to make me a little bit more comfortable during such an uncomfortable process.
I'll try searching the archives, thanks! |
Anonymous
| I planned a great, comfy birthing outfit, but once my water broke I had no desire to exert more energy by changing clothes (first birth - only lasted 4 hrs and went from nothing to 1 min contractions every 3-4 min). I went to the birthing center in a cotton stretch tshirt and leggings, eventually ended up giving birth in my birthday suit. And I was one of those people who was really concerned about modesty and keeping it together/keeping my clothes one, but once things got intense all I wanted to do was strip. |
Anonymous
| I wore the hospital gown for #1, and then for #2, brought a loose nursing nightgown to wear, and it was so much nicer, and more comfortable being in my own clothes. I was frankly surprised what a difference it made, as the first time around I thought "how big a deal can this be?" When baby was almost out, I ripped it off because I wanted baby on me when he came out. Miraculously, it got only a little spot of blood on it, which came out in the wash. I wore that same gown a lot after I got home, and I'm quite attached to it emotionally now because it was what I was wearing when my son was born (and I had particular attachment to it before). |
Anonymous
| Both times: t shirt, underpants, and a flannel button-down type shirt hanging open. And socks. I looked gorrrrrgeous. But I was comfy. |
Anonymous
I said that about gowns because mine had no blood on it, didn't get messy at all, and I didn't sweat at all, but I guess I had an easy labot |
Anonymous
| Ratty t-shirt. Then nothing when I got too hot. |