In reality I actually had no idea what to pack in my hospital bag. It was though, something that I looked forward to doing from around 20 weeks and I was itching to do it for ages. However, I resisted, not wanting to tempt fate or anything and I finally managed to complete it last week. Since then, I've remembered a few little extra bits that I've thrown in, but they weren't necessarily the essentials. I think I've done pretty well but by all means, please suggest anything you think I might have missed that's important!
For research purposes I have read A LOT of blogs lately on what people packed in their hospital bags and I think I've got it about right. I hope so anyway! We live on an island so if I have forgotten anything, hubby won't be that long nipping home to get it for me haha!
So here is what I have packed....
Button front nightie
Nightshirt and leggings (to wear after birth)
Black tracky bottoms
Black vest
Black loose top
5 pairs of old knickers which I intend to throw away after
2 pairs of disposable knickers (just in case! Although, I really don't want to use these)
2 pairs of socks (I've heard that your feet can get very cold in labour?)
Black Belvia bra
Bikini (I really want to use the birthing pool, but that all depends on my blood pressure on the day)
2 towels
Slippers
Headphones (to go with my iphone for music)
Kindle
Paperback book
In my toiletry bag there is:
Mini shampoo and conditioner
Fragrance free shower gel
Dry shampoo
2 hair bobbles
2 hair clips
Headband
Bio Oil
Sachets of Palmer's body butter
Toothbrush
Mini toothpaste
Flannel
Lansinoh nipple cream
I got sent a little package in the post from Aptamil which had a free sample of bubble bath in it from a lovely little website called Boo Boo, who have now changed their name to Love Boo. They specialise in lovely products for mums to be and new mummies and also babies. The bubble bath was yummy and it felt like I was having a treat when I used it. I was having a look at their website the other day and I really fancy popping their Super Stretchy Miracle Oil into my hospital bag! My tummy has gone really dry lately as it is so stretched and this sounds lovely to slather on after birth.
Food bag -
4 x lucozade sports drinks
Box of cereal bars
Multipack of mini Cheddars
4 x packs of Dextrose (these are also for hubby)
Bag of haribo!
Pack of biscuits (again, these are for hubby as he needs something in case his blood sugar drops as he is diabetic)
As yet, I don't have a nursing bra, which is starting to put me on edge now. I like to be organised. It's not for lack of trying, I just haven't been able to find one I like. However, a couple of blogs I've read have mentioned the Carriwell Seamless drop cup nursing bras. The other day I was reading A Mummy's View Friday Favourite blog post and she was reviewing the very same bra from a website called Boobie Milk. She said it was great and would really recommend it. Boobie Milk is a nursing and maternity underwear online shop run by a lovely sounding lady called Karen, who, if you live in the West Kent area, will come out and measure and fit you for a bra! This sounds fab - I would love someone to come to my home and measure me properly. However, since I live on the Isle of Man, I doubt Karen is going to trek over here on the ferry just to measure me! So, I will have to do it myself. However, Karen is very thoughtful and she gives very clear instructions on the website on how to go about measuring yourself, so with the help of hubby that is tomorrow's task! She also offers free returns, just in case you measure yourself wrong or the item doesn't fit right etc. I have struggled to find a nursing bra that I like: M&S seem to have a good range but they are all a bit frumpy looking for me. I had a look in Mothercare as well and their range didn't seem very supportive and a bit flimsy. Quite a few people have suggested the Carriwell nursing bra and I am very tempted to buy it from Boobie Milk. It gets really good reviews and looks a bit more modern and funky than the boring cotton ones on the high street. I want to feel like myself still and just because I am breastfeeding, doesn't mean I can't feel good about myself! They seem to have an offer on at the minute that you can get the hipster briefs in the same colour with the bra for £25!
If you haven't done so already, you really should pop along to A Mummy's View blog and catch up on her posts. She has very recently had a baby and her blog is all about being a mummy and being pregnant. It's a lovely read and I spent a couple of hours the other day reading back through her blog posts!
I really don't know if I have enough or too much. But like I say, we don't live that far away and I'd rather have too much than too little.
Do you think I have missed anything vital out here?
mummystartingout x
Showing posts with label labour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label labour. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Happy New Year, Bump Update and more!
Hello! Happy New Year (a week late I realise). Rather than bombard you with various posts, I thought I would just roll everything in to one!
So first of all, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. I can't believe how fast it went actually; time flew by and before I knew it I was back at work yesterday. We had a very lovely Christmas; we went to stay with my parents and of course me being pregnant and still on crutches (because of my ankle) meant that I got looked after by the parents! Fab!
I had been a bit concerned about how I would feel about not drinking over Christmas this year, but actually, it wasn't so bad. I think I overdosed on ginger ale at one point, but really it wasn't all that bad. I managed the odd glass of champagne (Christmas Day morning) and a glass of red wine (for medicinal purposes of course) but really I didn't miss it all that much. It made me think, that after the birth I might try and carry it on really and not drink as much as I used to. I've seen a great decrease in our weekly shopping bill as I am not buying wine, so it's definitely going to save us money, which we will need with a new baby.
So, on the topic of baby, I am not just over 32 weeks! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Back when I was 20 weeks I was really impatient and thought that I would never have this baby, ever! I just couldn't see 40 weeks at all, and yet, D Day is looming and approaching quite fast.
On Saturday the hubby and I attended a course at our hospital for first time mums. It involved topics such as normal labour, induction, pain relief and alternative deliveries (forceps etc eek). The day ended with a tour
of the maternity ward (which I had already seen!) and then the labour ward. As we live on an island, our hospital is naturally quite small. Big enough for what you need, but nowhere near like the ones back on the mainland. The labour ward only had four labour rooms, which I was quite surprised about, especially after being a devout follower of OBEM. I have to say the whole day actually overwhelmed me a little. It suddenly became very real and I realised that very soon, in fact any day from now really, I have to get this little man out of me. Obviously I was aware of that before Saturday, but I had been so focused on nothing going wrong for the last 25 weeks or so, that I really had never considered labour in all that much detail. Anyway, I am feeling a bit better about it now, at least I am prepared and have lots of information.
I also had my consultant appointment and growth scan last week. Growth is all on track and everything was fine at the consultant. The only thing, this little guy is breech at the minute. I have another scan booked for 36 weeks at the end of January, so hopefully by then he will have turned. I have already looked in to manual turning of babies and it is not something I feel very comfortable with. I know that the only option after that is c-section and I know it may seem outrageous to want to go for that without even trying to turn him, but I just really don't want it done. So c-section it would have to be if he hasn't turned. I've been given a leaflet on what little exercises you can do and positions you can get in to to help the baby turn, so I am going to make the effort myself.
The bump has definitely popped out now and there is no mistaking I am pregnant. I can no longer wear any of my jeans, even with the elastic band trick and I am generally uncomfortable in clothes! In fact, I am starting to feel generally uncomfortable full stop. I am not sleeping well due to weird spasms in my thighs which are a pain (literally) and I am waking up feeling really really tired. I have three and a half weeks left at work before maternity leave and I am now eagerly counting down. I think those last two weeks are going to be really hard going. I can feel my body slowing down and I just want to rest.
So it's a new year. I don't really do resolutions, I never stick to them, so I gave up a few years ago. I make plans for various things and I generally stick to those, I am very organised in general, so planning and list making are some of my favourite hobbies! I started to think about this blog and blogging in general. It's about a year since I started blogging and my blog has seen quite a lot of changes. I have had three blogs really! But I am not much more comfortable and happy with this one and feel this is much more me.
So I had a think about this blog and what I would like to do with it. I am really in to photography and taking pictures. However I am nowhere near an expert or anything even close! But I would like to learn more about it. One fellow blogger at Totally Tates, does some wonderful photography and she seems pretty clued up about various aspects of taking pictures. She has decided that she is going to put some of her tips up on her blog, so I am looking forward to reading those and hopefully learning something. I use my iPhone generally to take pictures, but I also have a camera, and whilst it's nothing high tech, I would like to learn how to use it better. So with photography in mind, I have decided to take part in project 365 again this year. If you've not heard of it (I am sure you have!), it's a photo for every day of the year. I started it last year and because of my blog changing etc, it just got way laid, but I am determined to see it out for the year this time. You can follow my 365 project over on instagram - I am lilamy84.
As this year is going to be the year of change for myself and hubby I wanted to create a way of documenting it too. I want to be able to look back and see what we got up to and how we dealt with our new arrival. With this in mind, I am going to use this blog a bit like a journal and each week (hopefully!) I am going to do a blog post called 'Our Week' where I record what we have been up to. I might do it in pictures or I might do it with words.
Now I can't guarantee it's going to be riveting, page turning stuff, but this blog is really a way of recording our life so I hope you enjoy it! I always like reading what other people get up to!
And I think that's it, my very first 'Our Week' will be coming up shortly so stay tuned...
mummystartingout x
So first of all, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. I can't believe how fast it went actually; time flew by and before I knew it I was back at work yesterday. We had a very lovely Christmas; we went to stay with my parents and of course me being pregnant and still on crutches (because of my ankle) meant that I got looked after by the parents! Fab!
I had been a bit concerned about how I would feel about not drinking over Christmas this year, but actually, it wasn't so bad. I think I overdosed on ginger ale at one point, but really it wasn't all that bad. I managed the odd glass of champagne (Christmas Day morning) and a glass of red wine (for medicinal purposes of course) but really I didn't miss it all that much. It made me think, that after the birth I might try and carry it on really and not drink as much as I used to. I've seen a great decrease in our weekly shopping bill as I am not buying wine, so it's definitely going to save us money, which we will need with a new baby.
So, on the topic of baby, I am not just over 32 weeks! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. Back when I was 20 weeks I was really impatient and thought that I would never have this baby, ever! I just couldn't see 40 weeks at all, and yet, D Day is looming and approaching quite fast.
On Saturday the hubby and I attended a course at our hospital for first time mums. It involved topics such as normal labour, induction, pain relief and alternative deliveries (forceps etc eek). The day ended with a tour
of the maternity ward (which I had already seen!) and then the labour ward. As we live on an island, our hospital is naturally quite small. Big enough for what you need, but nowhere near like the ones back on the mainland. The labour ward only had four labour rooms, which I was quite surprised about, especially after being a devout follower of OBEM. I have to say the whole day actually overwhelmed me a little. It suddenly became very real and I realised that very soon, in fact any day from now really, I have to get this little man out of me. Obviously I was aware of that before Saturday, but I had been so focused on nothing going wrong for the last 25 weeks or so, that I really had never considered labour in all that much detail. Anyway, I am feeling a bit better about it now, at least I am prepared and have lots of information.
I also had my consultant appointment and growth scan last week. Growth is all on track and everything was fine at the consultant. The only thing, this little guy is breech at the minute. I have another scan booked for 36 weeks at the end of January, so hopefully by then he will have turned. I have already looked in to manual turning of babies and it is not something I feel very comfortable with. I know that the only option after that is c-section and I know it may seem outrageous to want to go for that without even trying to turn him, but I just really don't want it done. So c-section it would have to be if he hasn't turned. I've been given a leaflet on what little exercises you can do and positions you can get in to to help the baby turn, so I am going to make the effort myself.
The bump has definitely popped out now and there is no mistaking I am pregnant. I can no longer wear any of my jeans, even with the elastic band trick and I am generally uncomfortable in clothes! In fact, I am starting to feel generally uncomfortable full stop. I am not sleeping well due to weird spasms in my thighs which are a pain (literally) and I am waking up feeling really really tired. I have three and a half weeks left at work before maternity leave and I am now eagerly counting down. I think those last two weeks are going to be really hard going. I can feel my body slowing down and I just want to rest.
So it's a new year. I don't really do resolutions, I never stick to them, so I gave up a few years ago. I make plans for various things and I generally stick to those, I am very organised in general, so planning and list making are some of my favourite hobbies! I started to think about this blog and blogging in general. It's about a year since I started blogging and my blog has seen quite a lot of changes. I have had three blogs really! But I am not much more comfortable and happy with this one and feel this is much more me.
So I had a think about this blog and what I would like to do with it. I am really in to photography and taking pictures. However I am nowhere near an expert or anything even close! But I would like to learn more about it. One fellow blogger at Totally Tates, does some wonderful photography and she seems pretty clued up about various aspects of taking pictures. She has decided that she is going to put some of her tips up on her blog, so I am looking forward to reading those and hopefully learning something. I use my iPhone generally to take pictures, but I also have a camera, and whilst it's nothing high tech, I would like to learn how to use it better. So with photography in mind, I have decided to take part in project 365 again this year. If you've not heard of it (I am sure you have!), it's a photo for every day of the year. I started it last year and because of my blog changing etc, it just got way laid, but I am determined to see it out for the year this time. You can follow my 365 project over on instagram - I am lilamy84.
As this year is going to be the year of change for myself and hubby I wanted to create a way of documenting it too. I want to be able to look back and see what we got up to and how we dealt with our new arrival. With this in mind, I am going to use this blog a bit like a journal and each week (hopefully!) I am going to do a blog post called 'Our Week' where I record what we have been up to. I might do it in pictures or I might do it with words.
Now I can't guarantee it's going to be riveting, page turning stuff, but this blog is really a way of recording our life so I hope you enjoy it! I always like reading what other people get up to!
And I think that's it, my very first 'Our Week' will be coming up shortly so stay tuned...
mummystartingout x
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