Well, we have made it to 37 weeks, full term! I'm feeling huge, uncomfortable, clumsy and it is really hard to move effectively! Despite the uncomfortables, I am so excited and amazed at how everything has gone. Other than a few painful bumps along the way (very few, really) this has been a great pregnancy and I really don't have a lot to complain about!I went to the doctor yesterday, I am 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. He said chances are highly unlikely I will make it to my due date (!!!), especially because of all the contractions I am having, all day long. This was great news to me....I'm ready for this kid to come out as long as he is healthy and ready to go! My guess is I will have him by next Saturday, the 25th. Anyone else want to venture a guess? Date, weight, etc? (If you say 13 pounds I might delete your comment, fair warning.)
Even though I am super excited he might be coming so soon, it has been a little bit of a reality check. Sort of like, um, crap. We are going to have a kid soon. What now?! I'm feeling excited, overwhelmed, nervous, happy, prepared and yet so completely not prepared. Its like I spent so much time preparing for and reading about the pregnancy part that the actual RAISING A BABY part...and the fact that our lives are about to make a huge change forever...got a little back-burnered. I think (hope) it comes with the territory.
Anyway, in an attempt to take baby steps into feeling more prepared for the next part, I wanted to ask all your advice on hospital prep/packing. What did you take with you that you totally didn't use/need? What did you send your husband home to get? Anything that would have made the stay easier/more convenient/more pleasant? Anything you would (or did) completely change the second time around? As long as your advice has nothing to do with me getting as much sleep as I can these last few weeks, I'm open to anything!
13 comments:
I'm so good at giving unsolicited advice, so you can imagine my excitement when it's actually solicited!! :)
*First, you're probably going to get bored. Yes, you will want to catch up on some sleep. Yes, you will probably have a lot of visitors. And yes, you will be completely absorbed with your new little guy. But there will be times during the day when you will want to cry with boredom. And there's only so much you can watch on tv during the day. I took a book and some card games, but I also made Jason bring our dvd player and hook it up. (We didn't have a portable at that time, which would have been so much less complicated).
*Second, with Payson I told myself, you're about to have just had a baby. You'll want to be comfortable and you won't feel like getting up to get ready. Partially true. But with Jack I felt so many MILLION times better when I had gotten up and showered and done my hair. Yeah, I just threw some comfy old scrubs back on, but I rather than a ratty old torn up t-shirt of Jason's I wore cute t-shirts of my own (easy to lift for nursing, if you plan to, as well) and threw on a little make up. I may have been tired and sore, but at least I felt a little pretty!
*Bring your ward directory (unless you have numbers recorded in your cell phones). After family is called, have your hubby call your home teachers and visiting teachers. That will start the word spreading around. You want those meals brought in, don't you?! Seriously though, with Payson my ward didn't do anything. No dinners. No visitors once we were home. My mom took care of food and we had plenty of family and friends stopping by, but I still felt like my ward just didn't care. You might feel silly having people take care of you for a few days, but it really does mean a lot just to know that they care.
*Other than that, the only other thing I ever really sent Jason out for was food. :) I wanted PF Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate with Pays.
*Don't bother packing G's. They'll give you these ugly little mesh panties at the hospital. They might seem weird, but they're perfect. They're comfy and they hold your ice packs and pads in place. And steal some on your way out!! Take them home with you! They're really super convenient.
*If you have a boppy, bring it. If you don't have one, GET ONE!! Even if you don't plan on nursing. They're so nice to lay the baby in or just prop your arms when you want to hold them all day long without feeling like your arms are going to fall off.
*Last, and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, if you plan on nursing at all, you'll want pineapple. Fresh is best, but canned works too. Whether you bring it along or have Jason go grab some, start eating it as soon as you can after the baby is born. It will keep you from being completely engorged and feeling like your boobs are literally going to explode off your chest. And it helps keep mastitis away too. This trick has been in my family for a while and we never knew why, just that it worked. And then I heard on a tv show one day a plastic surgeon was saying that he advises his patients to eat pineapple after surgery because there are some natural chemicals in pineapple that numb pain, etc. But everyone complains about feeling they're milk come in, even if they don't plan to nurse. I've never experienced that. I have felt engorged before, but as soon as I start eating the pineapple it slowly goes away. Seriously. Pineapple is the ultimate for post baby boobs. Whether it sounds crazy or not, YOU WILL THANK ME LATER!! :)
Good luck! Can't wait to see pictures of that little guy!!
pineapple, really? As it happens, I love pineapple and eat it EVERY morning. I'll continue to stock up!!
Thanks for all the other tips...you rock!
I didn't bring a lot to the hospital because you feel your worst there anyway. I just brought extra change of clothes and an outfit obviously for the baby and hair ties.
Everyone is different in the hospital of how their feeling and stuff but your not their long enough to worry about anyway.
Bring some nursing pads just in case your milk does come in early whether your nursing or not. The pineapple just is amazing! It really does work, my sister told me to do it and it's amazing. I just bought the dole little 6 pack juices and brought it to the hospital and was drinking them and water like crazy!
Don't be afraid to ask for help or anything! Depending on how close to the people you are in your ward let them bring you meals it's just a relief to have them. I would even love to bring you a meal if you need me to, just let me know or if you need anything else I would love to help! That is so awesome that your already progressing so much, I would be shocked if you went til your due date. It's so exciting to have a little one yet SO overwhelming especially the first week he's home, there's nothing in the world better than the little boy you will bring home, it's an amazing thing! Good Luck!
Ok so I know I've never had a baby BUT: when I lived down in Sanpete County and was going to Snow College, I worked in Labor and Delivery down in the little Mt.Pleasant hospital and I saw tons of births down there. The one thing that I remember very clearly was this: Once you arrive and prep to be in labor, they wont let you eat or drink anything in case you have to have an emergency C-section. So have Jason on standby food duty, because once you have that kid, most of the mom's I saw, about an hour after delivery, they were starving! They would keep asking us when they could eat. Well, maybe not Jason because you'll want him there with you, but maybe someone in your family. They'll probably offer you hospital food, which isn't bad (I actually don't mind most of it) but if you want something good then designate someone to be ready to bring you food :) Good luck and I hope everything goes well! And sorry I missed your baby shower, I had to work. I really wanted to be there though!
I agree with kel, everyone is different with how they are at the hospital. I brought make-up and clothes but didn't ever "get ready" for the day. I showered and changed and that was enough.
*loved having my own music to calm me
*loved having movies to watch
*totally steal the ugly mesh panties (best idea ever!)
*make sure someone is always ready and super willing to fill your water
*buy lansinoh nipple cream if you are nursing and start using it NOW
*if you are nursing, ask the on call lactate specialist to help. They totally know what to do
*have something for jason to do. David was on his laptop all the time when I was sleeping or just zoned out
*make sure you have a pen and for me keeping track of every time he ate, how long he ate, which side, and if he pooped or not was a HUGE help. It totatlly kept my sanity in check. (plus they ask you every time they come in so it's nice to feel like a good mother). I kept this up for the first week or two so that I could just figure out a general schedule of like because you will feel out of whack!
*remember that no matter what any one else say, it's YOUR hospital stay, it's YOUR body, YOUR recovery, & YOUR baby. do it your way. I'm serious aub.
GOOD LUCK. It's the greatest time ever. but it's hard!! Have a good cry every now and then and make sure if you're the talk it out type to have someone there to talk to!!!
First- I will be on hand with the Vita-Mix. I'm not kidding. I'll cut up all of the fruit before hand, and the second you pop out that kid, I'll blend you a smoothie with TONS of pineapple. :) Since I'm the compassionate service chick in the ward, I've got you covered.
As far as being prepared- you never can be completely prepared; I will tell you something that someone told me- the moment they had their baby, they just KNEW what to do; how to be a mom. I know that will be the same with you. Something changes, and you just KNOW what to do. It's pretty amazing!
I second the "start using lansinoh now" comment
and buy a donut/waffle pillow at a pharmacy. They're like $60 at the hospital and insurances don't usually cover that.
Drink cranberry juice to help avoid a UTI.
Stay on top of the pain-meds.
Let the nursery take your baby so you can sleep at night. You won't be sleeping for months after you get home.
It sounds like everyone has covered it great. I would try to get up and get ready, didn't do that with my first one, did with my second and felt much better.
The only other idea that my sister gave me, which I liked was to write everything down during the labor. It's interesting to go back and see the time frame of when stuff happened, rather then guessing how long you pushed, or how long it took to dilate. I wrote everything down from when they start the IV, every time they check you, when you start pushing, for how long, etc....just a thought.
I really wish I had known about the pineapple thing. It could have changed my life.
We raided the hospital room before we left. (so we didn't take like, the bed or anything. and we asked the nurse what we could take home) I'm talking like diapers, creams, lots of the GIANT pads ect. Oh, and just in case, we asked for some formula to take home. But, had I known about the pineapple, we may not have needed it.
Whatever, I saw the hospital bed in your new spare bedroom!
Thank you for everyone's advice!! These are awesome tips, I am definitely using these.
I have never had a baby, obviously, but I worked at the hospital long enough to get some pretty good tips from mothers who had delivered.
~Take your own pillow with you. Especially if you are in labor for a long time or want to get any sleep after. Hospital pillows are awful and don't help the sleeping situation so take your own!
~Take whatever you can home with you. When we would go in and clean up rooms (labor/delivery, med/surg etc) we would always throw so much stuff away. You get charged for the room, and SO many of the items in the room go towards that charge whether you use/take them or not, so do it! Ask your nurse and they should show you all the stuff you can take.
Anyways, I hope this helps. Good luck with everything! I am so excited for you. Let me know if you need anything!
Holy cow there are so many long comments! I think the one thing I forgot was my glasses and contact stuff.
One thing: Empty the diapers and stuff out of the baby bed thingy. They will refill when contents are low. Love the freebies!
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