Puke bags (4)
Trash bags (4)
Tiny box of Kleenex
Toothpaste / toothbrush
Moisturizer
Baby shampoo
Baby body wash
Baby hair comb
Baby wipes
Baby diapers
Overnight pads (20)
Mesh panties (4)
Slipper socks
Puppy pads
Peanut birth ball
Orange juice
Straw / cup for water
Pillows (4)
Breast pump (available for rental)
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (for mom)
Formula (for baby)
Swaddle blankets
Newborn hats
Baby bulb syringe nasal aspirator
I will say that there were adequate pillows available, we used 4 of them throughout our stay. The hospital staff did comment that they were wondering where all the pillows were on the floor and that usually they only allow people to have 2 pillows. We had 2 other pillows from home.
They gave me all the pain medication that I asked for. Unfortunately, I didn't get any stool softeners or laxatives. This is an important point, know what drugs you want and ask for them. You might not get them at the moment you want it, but it will arrive eventually. Also, know the mode of delivery of the drug. At one point, my IV got clogged and my arm swelled up something fierce. After that, all medications had to be delivered orally.
I wore a hospital gown (with nothing underneath) the entire duration of my hospital stay. There were nurses coming in and out all the time to measure my (and baby's) blood pressure and temperature. I was constantly undoing the snaps on the shoulders of my gown to breastfeed. The only time I tied it in the back was when I went for a walk up and down the hallway (to try to move fluids up and out of my legs). I did a lot of pacing around my hospital room. I did some ugly crying while pacing or while sitting on the toilet. I cried when my sister explained that I had a lot of trauma going on in my body.
We were discussing the pros and cons of having or not having a doula. With the COVID-19 happening right now, some hospitals are limiting laboring mothers to one visitor (support person) so in my case I would have had to choose between my mom and my husband (the baby's father). It would have been an easy choice, since my husband had been preparing by attending birth classes with me. In fact, for "day 3" and "day 4" of my hospital stay, my mom wasn't allowed to be there due to the pandemic. But for women who hired a doula, it would be difficult to have to choose between your husband and your doula.
In our case, a doula may have been helpful because of all the things that happened to cause a cascade of interventions that eventually ended in a C-section. Maybe (or maybe not) the doula would have been able to explain everything that was happening and advocate for us better. Maybe a doula would have helped me understand how to push the beg button on my epidural to have a more steady pain level. Maybe a doula would have told me to request stool softeners sooner and make sure I was discharged with a combination of pain meds (opioids) and stool softeners.
One thing I absolutely HATED about my hospital room is that my bed was facing the wall instead of the window. I had to stare at a markerboard that had a list of things that we had to do before getting discharged. And they never crossed things off when we had gotten them done. It was a markerboard that could be updated and it drove me crazy that they didn't update it. I mean, they did change over the names of the nurses on duty. I could have done a better job of talking with the nurses and calling them by their names. I could have brought them gifts or whatever. But staring at that "to do" list that included pain management when I was in so much pain was utter torture.
Also seeing all the action items in acronym form, and I had no idea what those acronyms stood for, made me nuts. I kept walking by that damn thing and wondering what it all meant. I really wanted to cross off some stuff once I found out what it was, and we had completed it, but I was hesitant because it wasn't "my" markerboard, it was really for the nurses to keep track of stuff and I didn't want to mess up their workflow. And one nurse took a look at our window and said, "I'm sorry you have such a terrible view. Some of our rooms have a really nice view." And I was thinking, just don't tell me that I got shafted on the room. I'd rather pretend that everyone has a view of a storage unit and a crappy parking lot, and one window missing a shade.
There were two chairs in that postpartum room, one of which folded out into a bed. I can't comment on the comfort of the chairs since I didn't sit in them, but my mom did complain about it. The nurses did provide bedding for dear husband, who was allowed to stay the night. There was a TV in the room and I turned it on once, on day 4, but the channels were all kind of weird. There was nothing on that I would have wanted to watch.
They sent 3 different lactation consultants (LC) into my room, who were very helpful. They gave me a nipple shield and taught me how to put it on. I showed them the breastpump that was provided by my insurance and we both agreed it was crap. I wished I had brought the other ones that my friend gave me. One of them was really good and I could have saved myself a lot of money if I had shown it to the hospital LC's. They could have given me a kit with all the necessary disposable parts to get going with it. We ended up getting those parts at Target, at our cost, so it wasn't a big mistake, but it could have saved us some money. I plan to write up a summary of what we had on our registry, what we bought, what other people bought for us, what we were able to get second hand, how much money we spent, how much money we saved, etc. That will probably have to be written on another day.
I guess I haven't posted before about this, but 7 days after my son was born I ended up with my colon packed full of poop. That's right, I didn't poop for 7 days. I ended up going to the emergency room and getting a Fleet enema (mineral oil) sometime between 10pm and midnight. It was very effective. I tried doing it at home using Burt's Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Oil with Vitamin E but I had no idea what I was doing. Even though that hospital is a regional drive-through testing location for coronavirus, it felt like we had no choice. There was no way that poop was coming out on its own. Thank goodness for healthcare workers.
What we did when we came home from the hospital was to set up the house as much like our recovery (postpartum) room as possible to make the transition easy. Now that we're 4 weeks postpartum, we've become comfortable getting into our own routine. But when we were first discharged, I had a big fear of doing things wrong and so we carried on exactly as we had in the hospital. They showed us how to give baby a bath and we have done it a few times since we've been home. It's something we plan on doing again today, so he can be all clean tomorrow for Easter.
One more important tip that I realized too late: you can wash the mesh panties the hospital gives you. That way you can reuse them. I just started wearing "normal" panties yesterday. If I would have washed and reused the mesh panties from the hospital, I would have been better off. As it happened, I threw away the first three pairs after 3-4 days and then washed and reused the last pair over and over until now. There's no way to explain how sensitive that whole area of my body has been. From my ribcage down to the top of my legs has been a "no go" zone. I had little sensation or feeling in that area and I definitely didn't want to wear normal pants or panties. Even now, I have these two pair of Victoria's Secret Pink cotton bikini panties that are no doubt 20 years old. They've been washed and washed so many times that they're REALLY soft. I can't wear any newer panties because they would be too tight and restrictive. Luckily I have two pairs.
I want to eventually write a blog about the clothes I've been wearing since coming home from the hospital, but baby is waking up now so I doubt I will have the time to compose that today.
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