2 posts tagged “baby clothes”

For those of you have had a hospital (or outside of your home) birth, what were some of your favorite or essential items to pack?

As usual, I started to write a comment for someone's post and it just got way too long. So, I decided to write my own post.

My favorite hospital bag items:

• Carmex - my favorite lip balm, my lips always got so dry
• Snacks for Dad - "Don't you dare leave this room to go to a vending machine!"
• Cash - for who knows what (there's always something) just in case
• iPod & compact iPod Speakers - I'm not a fan of the headphones during labor and I didn't like just bringing CD's, because I didn't know what I wanted to listen to until I got there.
• Tube of Lanolin - I'm a firm believer in preventative nipple care. I don't wait until I start to feel sore. I use it after every feeding for at least the first 2 - 4 weeks. I've had difficulty with breastfeeding and that stuff has been a lifesaver for me.
  
• Preemie Clothes - I had big kids (two 8 lb, 14 oz, one 8 lbs, 9oz) and none of them fit in their 0-3 months clothes until about 6 weeks, and definitely not at the hospital. I have no idea what actual preemie moms do for clothes. After my first I made sure to bring preemie clothes to the hospital so the baby looked cute in all the pictures.
• A Gender Neutral Coming Home Outfit - Maybe it's just me, but I was always paranoid of being surprised on delivery day. So, I bring, as an extra outfit, a simple white sleeper for the baby (for pictures) just in case.
• "Adult Diaper" style underwear - I know this sounds weird (and TMI), but there can be a fair amount of blood for a time (6 weeks after my first, 2 weeks after my last) after you give birth and basically I just got sick of things leaking (on my underwear, clothes, sheets, etc). I read somewhere on a mom message board a recommendation to use these and they worked great, much better than any pad, etc. combination I could think of.
• Forgiving Clothes Home - No one really knows what they are going to look like or what size they will be immediately postpartum. So, bring clothes for you to wear home that are stretchy (like elastic waist stretchy, not like leotard kind of stretchy) and forgiving. When I went home from the hospital I always looked like I was still 5 to 6 months pregnant. Also, don't be afraid to wear your maternity clothes for as long as you want to/need to postpartum. My youngest is nine months old and I wore a maternity shirt just yesterday (and no one gave a second glance). The idea of still wearing maternity clothes even though I wasn't pregnant gave me a lot of heart ache after my first birth, but after my third I just embraced it and was much happier as a result (btw, I'm now about the same weight as before I started having kids, so it's not necessarily a weight issue, it's a how the clothes fit issue).

Take a photo of a hand-me-down.

Baby Clothes

My youngest son has almost no clothes that are just his own. They are pretty much all hand-me-downs. I have two boys. One born in March the other in April. The clothes were the perfect hand-me-down, right season and everything.