What Will You Wear During Childbirth?
I'm planning to wear a sports bra and loose skirt!
Seems like a silly question, I know. Childbirth definitely seems like it should be the one time we women shouldn’t be worrying about fashion, right?
Well don’t worry – I’m talking about comfort and function, most definitely not fashion. I have had a few people tell me that they chose to wear their own clothes (or no clothes!) during delivery, in lieu of the traditional hospital gown. For several reasons, this makes total sense to me…
1. To be more comfortable. Not that I really expect anything to be particularly “comfortable” during labor, but if I can do anything to ease the process, I will. Soft, stretchy cotton sounds so much better than a scratchy or bulky hospital gown.
2. To feel more connected. One of the reasons shared with me for opting out of the gown is that the provided gowns are just that – gowns. They cover you from your neck to your knees. I have heard that being able to see and directly feel your belly during contractions can help you feel more connected and in control (ha!) of the process. I’m a very visual person by nature, so I can see that this might help me.
3. To feel like myself. Sounds silly, but I think it’s very easy to get caught up in medical moments and truly feel like you are out of your own mind and body. I imagine childbirth is the type of experience that could easily lead to this. Wearing something familiar will help me to stay focused and feel a little more like me.
While of course I realize that anything I am wearing during labor is going to get really messy and likely end up in the trash, I’m okay with tossing an old stretchy skirt if it makes my childbirth experience more comfortable and pleasant. So what am I planning to wear?
I’m packing a comfortable sports bra and a stretchy cotton skirt. And of course if I end up changing my mind or drenching the skirt within hours of getting started, I will always have the option to change into a hospital gown if needed. I like that my hospital gives me the option to wear whatever is going to help me have the best (and healthiest!) birth experience possible, since in the end, that is really all that matters.
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Your rationale absolutely makes sense. My only comments from my experience is that I enjoyed the access that the hospital gown gave for nursing right away, and, well, yeah it’s really messy. I changed into my own clothes as soon as I moved from the delivery room into a regular room.
I had planned on wearing my own clothes but, honestly, once I got there I found that I was more comfortable in the hospital gown. Not to mention less laundry when we got home.
I went to the hospital because my water had broken…and after a 36 hour labor, I think I had gone through at least 4 gown changes and more bed pads than I care to tally up.
That said, it sounds like your flexible with the idea of changing into a gown if necessary. I also really liked having my own robe to wear over the gown for the early stages of labor (not gonna lie, though, this time I’m bringing a spare…my robe didn’t make it past delivery, and I would have loved having one for those first hours of breastfeeding). I just laugh at any friends who actually consider buying a “designer” hospital gown.
I’ll definitely change to my own clothes once we’re in recovery–unless I have a c-section, in which case I have a feeling I’ll stick with hospital gowns a while longer.
I definitely think that’s the way to go, and actually chose to wear the same thing myself after you mentioned it on Daily Garnish! My OB warned me just yesterday that she thinks it’s a great idea but that it will be messy!
Yeah I think you know I didn’t even get my suitcase out of the car til M was born. I drenched my shorts on the way in. I was wearing a regular bra and hospital gown. Wish I’d ditched the bra bc taking it off to nurse was a pain due to he iv wires and getting around them. Just a thought as a sports bra would be even tougher to maneuver around if you need iv fluids. One thing I totally forgot about was they put a stretchy bellyband around my belly to hold on the baby’s heart rate monitor to make sure they aren’t distressed during pushing. Maybe your birth center doesn’t do that? They also put up a sterile drape but again maybe not eveywhere does that? i’ll be interested to hear what ends up happening! It’s cool you have a choice and whatever makes you comfortable I say go for it!
Katie KS, I haven’t been there yet, but I know they make nursing sports bras – maybe that would work?
I gave birth at a birth center…only option was to wear my own clothes. I wore the tank top I had been sleeping in the night before. And that’s it. Nothing covering the bottom half. Totally easy to pull up a tank top to nurse or just to have skin-to-skin contact. Maybe it’s different in a hospital setting where lots of people might be in and out of your room, but the last thing I was thinking about during active labor and 4 hours of pushing was modesty.
A nursing sports bra sounds great! Now I want one!
I wore my own clothes during labor – it was definitely more comfortable. I was totally naked for delivery, though, so I didn’t have to worry about the dirty state of my clothes, but in any case, birth is messy but unless you wear a white dress or something, it’s likely you’ll just be able to wash out any blood and goo.
I wore a nursing bra, old tank top and wrapped a sheet around my waist (rather, below the belly…there was no waist at that point…) with both of my boys. You can soak through as many sheets as you want- hospitals have loads! And stains totally came out of my tank and bra.
I second the earlier comment about a robe for walking during early labor. I bought an inexpensive one just for that purpose and wore it over my hospital gown. I was also glad to have it after delivery to wear in in the room over my clothes and after I got out of the shower. Those hospital towels are tiiiiiiiiiny!
I’m so curious to find out what you actually wear! I’m 10 weeks behind you in my first pregnancy and I’ve SO enjoyed following you on Daily Garnish and here on Babble. I’m feeling the same way you do about wearing the hospital gown though I’m not opposed to it if I have to. My next step is finding out if my hospital will actually allow me to wear whatever I want. Keep us posted (I know you will) on the coming days/weeks!
hi blogs.babble.com-ers have a nice xmas to every one – matty