Like many other mamas out there, I take the less is more approach to pregnancy. I don’t take any medications, I drink lots of water and I eat healthy foods regularly. At 36 weeks, my doctor asked me if I wanted to go ahead and schedule an induction for week 38. Heck, no! NO induction for this mama! I mean, doesn’t that greatly increase your chances of having a c-section? C-sections are fantastic and have saved a lot of moms and babies, but I would prefer to not have one.
First round of Pitocin. All smiles = no contractions
Week 38 rolled around and just for the heck of it (literally) my doctor decided that we would do an ultrasound at 39 weeks. We did our “just because” ultrasound and it turned out, the amount of amniotic fluid I had was extremely high. This condition is called Polyhydramnios and it creates a few risks for the baby. A higher chance of the cord wrapping around the baby’s neck and a higher chance that the baby could land on the umbilical cord if my water were to break. Those risks were concerning enough that my doctor decided that we needed to induce immediately. Welp! This was not how I thought that ultrasound would go.
We casually walked out of the doctor’s office and went home. Going to the hospital this time around was drastically different from my first birth experience. I took a relaxing shower, shaved my legs and ate a light lunch. We loaded up the car and headed to the hospital. Really, it almost felt like we were heading out on a vacation rather than heading to the hospital. Once we arrived, I was admitted and immediately given a room.
The first round of Pitocin did nothing. My doctor’s plan was to place a foley catheter filled with saline (think, tiny balloon) in my cervix to ripen it internally. In case you were wondering, I despise the term, “ripen” in reference to my cervix. My water ended up breaking while the doctor was getting the foley catheter in place, so we had to forego the catheter. After my waters broke, we decided to see how my body would respond on its own before restarting Pitocin. At this point it was mid-night, so I was happy to get a chance to sleep a bit without being constantly interrupted.
An hour later, I was feeling light contractions, so we restarted Pitocin. This time around, I responded. I wish I could be one of those mamas that can brave labor without pain medication, but I am not. My epidural was placed around 6am and I’ve got to say, those epidurals are good stuff. After the epidural was in place, my nurse got me set up with a peanut (peanut shaped yoga ball). I then napped for a few wonderful hours. My nurse checked my cervix around 10:45am after I started feeling pressure in my rib cage. Her eyes got rather large as she informed me that she
was going to call the doctor immediately because my baby was ready to be born. Our doctor got there just in time and two (seriously, TWO!!) pushes later my sweet baby girl was born. 8 pounds 13 ounces of pure perfection.
A new baby is like the beginning of all things – wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. – By Eda J. Le Shan
This birth experience was so much better than my first experience. I labored in a private room without the worry of when was the right time to go to the hospital. Having my team of amazing nurses with me from the beginning to the end was such a supportive and calming experience. Not going to lie, when/if baby #3 comes along, I am way more likely to take my doctor up on that pre-scheduled induction offer.
When packing your hospital bag, it is important to remember that some things are a MUST HAVE while other things are a NICE TO HAVE! There are dozens of different lists out there that make it seem like your entire hospital experience will be ruined if you forget something. Do not worry!! Even if you forget your entire hospital bag at home, the hospital provides a version of pretty much everything that you will need. I used a Weekender bag from Target for my hospital bag, my exact bag is not still available 2 years later, but this bag from Amazon is pretty similar.
I have had a lot of friends that are pregnant with their first ask me what I recommend they actually pack in their bags. Most of the items that I am bringing this time around are centered around my comfort and around convenience. Here is a list of what I am packing:
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For Mom
1. My own pillow in a colorful pillowcase
While the hospital does have plenty of pillows on hand, I would prefer to have my own pillow. My own pillow is much more comfortable (not that you really get the chance to sleep). Also a colorful pillowcase will look less sterile in photos. Technically, my pillow will probably not go inside of my hospital bag. If you forget your own pillow, you will be okay!
2. A Nursing Pillow
With my first baby, I didn’t bring a nursing pillow and instead used a few pillows to prop him up. For the most part, this worked fine. I will be bringing the My Breastfriend nursing pillow with me. It clips into place and I won’t have to deal with the pillows sliding out-of-place. Again, if you do not bring a nursing pillow, you will be fine.
3. A large drinking cup with a straw
Congratulations, you just had a baby. For the most part, you will spend your time at the hospital laying in bed with others waiting on you. In an effort to stay hydrated and allow my milk supply to come in, I was constantly drinking water. The hospital I delivered at provides small Styrofoam drinking cups which required my husband to refill it constantly. To save him the annoyance and to myself having to go a single second with an empty cup, I am bringing a large cup. This cup is my favorite! Again, we survived the first time without this and you will too if you forget to pack your own. I will probably save space in my hospital bag by stuffing random items inside of the empty cup.
4. Toiletries
The hospital does provide some of the basics, just like a hotel does. I prefer to have my products. I have a pre-packed a bag of my toiletries that includes duplicates of my everyday items. This eliminates the chance I will have to raid my bathroom to grab anything when I am in labor. I have also added products that come with added convenience face cleansing wipes that don’t require that you get to a sink, dry shampoo in case you are not up for a shower and mouthwash to name a few.
5. Make Up
I wish I was one of those women that gives birth and then looks like a glowing goddesses after. However, I am not. I do not plan on putting on a full face of make up while I am laying in a hospital bed. But, I do want to be able to freshen up my appearance before photos are taken and visitors arive. My hospital bag will contain just a few staple items: mascara, concealer, bronzer and blush.
6. A phone charger with an extra long cord
Chances are that you are going to need to charge your phone a few times during your hospital stay. Between taking photos of your new baby, making contact with friends and family or googling everything that you are embarrassed to ask the nurse or doctor, you are going to drain your cell phone battery quickly. We didn’t bring a long phone charger the first time around and my husband had to constantly bring my phone to me while it was charging. I found a 10 foot charger on Amazon and plan to use it this time around. If you may be alone at the hospital during your stay at any point, I would bump this item up from nice to have to must have for your hospital bag.
7. A pretty hospital gown (with matching swaddle for baby)
Without a doubt, this is not a necessary item that you MUST have. I love how lively and happy all of the floral robes look in comparison to the basic hospital robes that are provided (see photo above). I was freezing in the provided hospital robe and ended up wearing a fluffy plush robe that my husband went home to get for me. For this delivery, I found an awesome robe on Etsy that
has built-in opening for more incognito nursing. I struggled A LOT with my first baby and balancing having so many visitors with attempting to nurse him. This robe will make it easier to nurse without having to kick out my visitors and without having to feel overexposed while feeding her. You can read about that struggle, here.
8. Clothes to go home in
There are a few things to take into consideration when picking out clothes to pack for you to wear home. 1. You will still have a belly that is around the size of your 6 month pregnant belly. 2. You should be wearing the hospital mesh underwear + a huge pad or your own granny panties + a huge pad. 3. If you have a c-section, you will not want the waist of pants anywhere near your incision site. I am packing two outfits: Postpartum leggings and a long tunic top (comes way below my butt) assuming that I give birth vaginally and a long flowy maxi dress in case I end up having a c-section. I have heard of lots of mamas just wearing home the same clothes they came to the hospital in, so if you forget a change of clothes, you can always do that!
For Baby
1. Personalized hat
The hospital provides everything that your baby will need during your stay. Diapers, a shirt, a swaddle blanket and a plain white hat. I think the plain white hats are very generic and boring. Colorful/personalized hats make for much cuter photos! Etsy has a great selection of personalized hats! Chances are you will still know your baby’s name even if he/she isn’t wearing a special personalized hat.
2. Clothes to go home in
The hospital does provide a shirt, but not pants. You baby’s legs will need to be covered when going home. I will be bringing two sleep and play outfits. One sized Newborn and one sized 0-3 months. I will be prepared regardless of how big she is (fingers crossed she isn’t TOO big!!). Also, remember that a car seat strap will have to go between your baby’s legs. An outfit with actual pants vs. a gown will be much more comfortable for your baby. I will be delivering in March, which has very unpredictable weather here in Charlotte. So I will also have a fluffy blanket on hand to put on her, in the event that it is really cold out.
For Dad
1. Whatever he packs for himself.
Maybe I am a jerk here, but I am already responsible for myself and our new baby. My husband is a fully functioning adult and he can darn well pack for himself. Sure, I will help to remind him to get his bag packed, but I am not packing it for him.
2. Breath Mints
This item will be ALL the bags that come to the hospital. Pregnancy gives me a super strong sense of smell and zero tolerance for anyone with bad (if I can smell anything, it is bad) breath. While technically this item will be for anyone that may be come contact with me, it is listed as an item for dad since he will be with me the entire time. I want to focus on bringing a baby into the world instead of ducking someone’s exhales when they are talking to me. Breath mints are pretty cheap, so I have already added them to my purse so that I limit the chances that we will not have them if somehow I make it to the hospital without my hospital bag.
3. Snacks
This is also for your comfort, but the hospital will only provide food for you, the patient and not for him. Having snacks on hand will avoid anyone becoming hangry at any point in time. We had so many visitors that brought food, that we really didn’t end up eating the snacks. With that in mind, I still think it is always smart to have your own food available.
Commonly Recommended Items that I am not bringing in my hospital bag (and why):
A Nursing Bra–
My robe will provide all the cover that I need and I want to be able to reap all the benefits of skin to skin without having the fabric of a nursing bra in the way.
Socks-
The hospital I deliver at provides socks with non-slip bottoms that are thick and warm. I see this as one less thing to pack, plus I don’t own non-slip socks as an adult so it is also one less thing to buy.
PJs-
Giving birth is a messy, messy process and I have no desire for any of the wonderful P.J. pants to be anywhere near that mess for the first few days. During my two-day stay, I constantly had nurses coming in to check the pee-pad I was laying on (think of those pads you use to train puppies) for bleeding. Wearing P.J. pants would have made that process way more inconvenient and likely more awkward.
Towels-
The hospital provides towels for you to use and I have zero desire to risk getting blood on my own personal towels. Yes, their towels are not as large or as fluffy, but the two minutes I will be using them is not worth bringing my own.
Hair Dryer-
The hospital will provide a hair dryer. Again, it is not as nice as my own personal hair dryer is, but hair dryers are large and bulky. I don’t want to make room in my bag for my own and I survived just fine without my own the first time around.
A Diaper Bag-
Given that the hospital provides everything that your baby needs during your stay, the few items that I am bringing for baby will fit just fine in my own bag. I brought a diaper bag the first time. Aside from my husband carrying it in and then back out of the hospital, we did not use it.
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Gender reveal for a second child? Is a big party appropriate for a second child? Do you make your friends feel left out if you don’t have something big and inclusive? The size and guest list of your gender reveal is something that you never expect to ever be conflicted over. But there I found myself, completely conflicted.
We were both born and raised in the city that we live. We went to college here and have since lived here since graduation. Our friend base is fairly substantial (seriously, not bragging here!). We also have a lot of family members that live here. Anytime we host anything that includes everyone, our guest list can quickly grown to 50+ numbers. Really it is a great problem to have and we consider ourselves lucky. But when planning anything, it is something that we HAVE to take into consideration.
Ultimately we, okay really just me because hubby doesn’t care, decided to do something with just our family. Since our last gender reveal party we have had baby showers, baby daddy showers and first birthday parties that all of our friends have given up their own time to be a part of. My decision was based both on two things. 1. The desire to not have to plan a party for a large group, and 2. The fact that I didn’t want to create yet another occasion that our friends would feel obligated to come and celebrate our lives.
We invited our family over for a simple dinner on friday night. At the end of dinner we popped confetti poppers that were PINK!! The rest of our friends and out-of-town family go the news shortly after – thank you social media. I am so happy that we choose the stress free option of having a quaint dinner with our family rather than going all out on a stressful, expensive party.
Also, with all that money we didn’t spend on a party, we decided to do a mini-shoot to celebrate our gender reveal happiness!!
What did you do to reveal the gender of your baby?
I have always known that I wanted to be a mom. Some of my friends think that I am crazy, but 5-year-old me couldn’t wait for the day that I would get to be a mama. Don’t get me wrong, I had other dreams and ambitions as well and wanted to have my life in place before becoming a mom, but I always knew the end goal was to be a mom.
In April of 2015 we found out that I was pregnant with our first child, who turned out to be a little boy. He has been the center of our universe since he first made his appearance in December of that year. Being the mom of a boy has been so much fun. He was an easy-going boy, he loves to dance and he gets along well with other kids and adults. He is adventurous, playful and so loving towards us. I have loved being a mom to my little boy.
We we found out that I was pregnant again, I couldn’t deny that I really, really, REALLY, wanted this second child to be a little girl. I tried not to admit this out loud because if it ended up being a boy, I wouldn’t want that little boy to ever feel unwanted. I would have loved any baby that came our way. Monday we had our anatomy scan and immediately we could tell that baby #2 was a girl!!! Insert tears, cheering and me doing a mental happy dance.
Immediately I started thinking about all the adorable clothes and accessories that baby girls get that baby boys do not. Tutus, head bows, shoes with rhinestone or glitter!! I can’t wait to have fun with all of the fashion choices that are out there. On a more practical note, I am excited for the mommy/daughter relationship that I will get to build with her. Everyone always talks about how boys are yours until they get married, but that baby girls are yours forever. I have no idea if there is any truth to it, but I am so thankful that I get to opportunity to also be a girl mom.
was going to call the doctor immediately because my baby was ready to be born. Our doctor got there just in time and two (seriously, TWO!!) pushes later my sweet baby girl was born. 8 pounds 13 ounces of pure perfection.
has built-in opening for more incognito nursing. I struggled A LOT with my first baby and balancing having so many visitors with attempting to nurse him. This robe will make it easier to nurse without having to kick out my visitors and without having to feel overexposed while feeding her. You can read about that struggle, 
