Hunter and I have been packed and ready for the hospital for weeks. Our small duffels are in the trunk of the car loaded up with our comfies, cords, and other essentials.
We never got to do this kind of prep with Arthur. When you give birth at 32 weeks, you're kinda not even thinking about your hospital bag yet. And that's okay, we figured it all out in the end. Obviously.
Here are some things we learned from our two rather lengthy stays at the hospital while we were waiting for Arthur to arrive and after while in recovery:
1. Hospital coffee is terrible. No fault of anyone, it just is. Weak, often decaf by policy on the labor and delivery wing, and you have to ask a busy nurse to go get it for you. Pack Starbucks Via instant coffee packets in your bag or something similar and thank me later. Hunter is looking forward to being in charge of his own caffeine instead of relying on the hospital.
2. I'm gonna wear a hospital friendly gown of my own choosing rather than the regular one they hand you at the start. I've worn enough hospital gowns for a lifetime. They're too balloony big for me to feel comfortable (even while pregnant I'm still not a "one size fits all" height person), tough cotton with no give (understandable for durability, but not comfy for me), and they make me feel like I'm an invalid when I'm not.
I chose a stretchy, lightweight, lilac colored, knee length, super-duper soft, short-sleeved labor and delivery friendly gown that I found on Amazon. It snaps up the back for epidural access should I so choose, there are snaps on both shoulders to allow for skin-to-skin upon delivery of Griffin, and it was inexpensive so if it's SUPER gross after our hospital stay and I can't imagine cleaning it, I will simply toss it knowing it served a good purpose and made me feel more like me while I wore it. Honestly I sorta imagine that if all goes well, I'm gonna be one of those laboring women who ends up naked with a baby on her chest and not remembering how she got that way because she went full instinct mode at one point. So we'll see how long any gown at all lasts on me.
3. We're bringing our white noise machine. Hospitals have well intentioned "quiet" signs in patient hallways but there's really nothing you can do to escape the necessary hustle and bustle right outside the door while you're trying to sleep or concentrating on your labor. Many hospitals also offer earplugs for sleep. If you need em, ask your nurse!
4. We're putting up my affirmations for all to see because it sets the tone for anyone who enters the room. Anyone on my care team will be able read about the attitude and energy we are creating and protecting in the room so that they can join us in having as much of a calm, connected, and focused birth experience as possible. I don't get to know who my care team is until I'm there, so this is a way for me to say "Hey, this is who I am and what I'm trying to accomplish! Join me!"
5. Notice how none of these ideas have anything to do with expecting this birth to go a certain way? That's another thing we're bringing with us, just like the last time: flexibility. Even as we have prepared to have a different birth experience than our first, that doesn't mean we can't still get surprised by new circumstances arising.
To handle whatever it is to come, we are bringing with us our communication skills, our patience, our calm, our curiosity, our self advocacy, and our complete trust in one another. Honestly, if our duffel bags somehow didn't make it into the hospital with us, we would be fine because those six things are all we actually need to do this again. The rest is just purely convenience.