FTM: What I Wish I’d Been Told
Any website, book, comment piece or friend will tell you what you “need” in your hospital bag. This list includes things that will never see the hospital light, and seem to be listed just to send you into a panic buying frenzy / a harsh kind of pregnancy paranoia.
plastic maternity knickers are not required!!
These are described as an “essential” as you will be gushing your way through childbirth, causing your regular knickers to be irrecoverable. The ill-fitting elastic will dig in and leave unsightly red welts, whilst the actual pants will fail to cover your modesty. And, in my experience (and that of many others) once you’re in labour knickers are extraneous. They end up on the floor, left in suitcases and basically ignored until after the main event. After all, when you’re contracting and your midwife needs urgently to check your dilation, do you want something hideous in the way?
Likewise if you give birth by planned caeserean section, no one is pleased to see plastic between your legs, and knickers are removed before the operation.
I was tricked by plastic knickers and so had those closest to hand after baby’s birth, and trust me I would rather have had a couple of ruined pairs of regular knickers than try to have midwives change maternity pads post-birth in these crinkly crunkly nightmares.
gracehoneysett 