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Minnesota Babies
ilovebijou
member
Photo taken at 16 months old
Packing baby's hospital bag/hospital pictures
ilovebijou
member
Do I need to bring anything for baby other than a going home outfit, carseat, blanket, and onesie? Should I bring the onesies with the side snap (so it doesn't irritate the umbilical cord) or are the ones that snap at the bottom ok?
Once you had the baby, did you wear your own clothes in the hospital?
Is there anything you wish you would have brought/should have left at home when you had your baby?
I'm a total overpacker so I'm just trying to bring the "necessities" so we don't look like we're planning on staying for weeks.
Also, we're delivering at St. Johns. Should I sign up for the in-hospital pictures? Was it worth it? If yes, did you sign up before you checked in to the hospital or just after you had the baby?
Thanks!
Photo taken at 16 months old
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Packing baby's hospital bag/hospital pictures
All we brought for baby was carseat, going home outfit, hat, receiving blanket, boppy (for nursing) and pacifier. I'm sure the bottom snap would be fine. Thats what we used
I stayed in the hospital gown for the first 24 hrs. after I had DD just because the nurses come and check you down below every couple hours if you have stitches... and its just more convenient, plus then I knew I wouldn't get my cloths messy. But it is nice to have your own cloths if you do stay there a little longer because it just makes you feel better.
The only thing I made my husband go home and get me were more socks and DVDs to watch. I unfortunetaly had to stay in the hospital for 3 1/2 days and DD was in the NICU so it gets kinda boring by the last day... I got really antsy to leave.
I delivered at Mercy and they just come around to your room after you have the baby and ask you if you want pictures. You can still have them taken though and not buy any. Thats what we did. It was nice because they upload the on the hospital website within 24 hrs. so family and friends can go on and look at them. But they are kinda pricey, and not the best quality. So we didn't buy any.
I delivered at St. Johns, but I did not have the pictures done, ONLY because as a gift someone had a photographer come to our house a few days after we got home and take pictures. If it weren't for that gift we would have had them done. The person who does pictures for St. Johns does REALLY cute newborn pictures, way better than the typical hospital pictures.
I believe you call right after your baby is born, and she comes the next day. I believe it's that way because no one ever really knows when their baby will be born, unless it's a planned c-section.
When you check into the hospital, you'll get a folder with a ton of information and one of the information sheets will be about the pictures.
I did wear my own "comfy" clothes after my c-section. I hated that hospital gown.
St. John's usually puts babies in a sleepsack/swaddle, so unless you want your baby to wear something different, you don't need to bring anything besides a going home outfit, carseat and blanket. Also, our going home outfit was a longsleeve onesie type shirt with buttons on the bottom, and it didn't bother his cord. Maybe a bobby too, if you plan to breastfeed?
Good luck with your delivery! St.Johns is awesome. I was there for 6 nights when I had my baby, and I don't have one bad thing to say about them. I actually missed it when I was home.
How fun Karla!!! You are almost done. Here are my suggestions:
We did buy some side snap shirts, but I don't think it was necessary. I think Hayden was fine with either. She was just wrapped up in a blanket the whole time we were in the hospital so we didn't need any extra clothes.
I had a c-section so I was in my bed until the next morning. After I took my first shower I changed in to my clothes. I went out and bought some black pajama pants and black underwear, all found on clearance so it wasn't a big expense. I bought the underware a size bigger than I normally wear so I was fully covered and so the pads could fit. I just wore the pajama pants, my nursing cami, and a robe until I went home. I bought the pajama pants and underware in black in case they did get messy, it wasn't as obvious.
We didn't bring a boppy because they had enough pillows for us to use when I was nursing. But if you or DH has a favorite pillow make sure to bring that. It was so nice to sleep on my own pillow and not the plastic hospital ones. We also brought a blanket for DH. They have some there but again, it was nice to have one of ours there.
Like a PP said, they give you a folder with all of the information in it, including pictures. They kept hounding us about signing up for pictures so we finally decided it wouldn't hurt anything to at least take them, and then they never came around before we left!
On a food note - make sure to ask about your meals. We didn't fund out until day 2 that we could special order meals, we didn't have to eat what they brought. We just had to call in by 5pm the day before for our next days meals. One thing that Fairview did, and I am sure they do it everywhere, but the nurses told us that if we wanted some alone time without visitors, they would put a sign on our door that says "please check with nurses station before entering" that way they could control how many visitors we had.
Good luck and enjoy your last few weeks as a kidless couple!!
I totally agree with pretty much everything you said. St. John's is great. I wore my own clothes after the first day, but they do have nursing gowns if you plan on nursing, which was pretty nice. We skipped the pictures because I thought they were kind of expensive.
Do I need to bring anything for baby other than a going home outfit, carseat, blanket, and onesie? Should I bring the onesies with the side snap (so it doesn't irritate the umbilical cord) or are the ones that snap at the bottom ok? We brought a sleep sack and was glad we did, LO didn't like to be swaddled from day one, and we brough clothes for her to be in during the day, the hospital just gives you the little shirt and swaddle. We brought her home with the onsie that snaps at the bottom, pants and a sweatshirt
Once you had the baby, did you wear your own clothes in the hospital? Yes, I showered about an hour after delivery and changed into my own clothes and wore them the rest of the time except for the hospital gown to sleep in
Is there anything you wish you would have brought/should have left at home when you had your baby? Not really
I'm a total overpacker so I'm just trying to bring the "necessities" so we don't look like we're planning on staying for weeks. We had lots of things for LO and myself and I thought we were overpacking we ended up using everything
Also, we're delivering at St. Johns. Should I sign up for the in-hospital pictures? Was it worth it? If yes, did you sign up before you checked in to the hospital or just after you had the baby? We didn't do pictures at the hospital, we took a bunch ourselves and had a photographer come out a week after we got home.
We only brought a going home outfit and only used onsies with the snaps on the bottom. Of course we had a car seat and blankets for the ride home. The wipes they provide you with you have to get wet so this time around we may be bringing our own wipes, more for convenience. And I will be bringing the brand of pacifier we will be using. A good suggestion my friend told me was that if you want foot or hand prints for the baby book to either bring the book or a piece of paper and the nurses to do it for you while they are taking the sets they need.
I wore the hospital gown for the first day but then wore my own clothes. I brought a comfy pair of lounge pants and a nursing tank top and zip-up sweatshirt to put over it. I also brought slippers which came in handy since we had to make trips down the to the special care nursery. I didn't wear my underwear at all while I was in the hospital. I just used the mesh ones that were provided.
I way over packed. Part of the problem was I wasn't even packed when I went into labor so DH ended up grabbing a lot of things I didn't need. This time I will be packing much less since we live so close the hospital and DH can run home (which he did last time too). I only really will be bringing our laptop, clothes and toiletries as well as camera and videocamera. I would recommend bring your breastpump if you purchased one and plan to nurse. Take advantage of the nurses while you're there who can help you use your pump properly. I also like the suggestion of bringing your boppy if you plan to breastfeed.
I delivered at Woodwinds but we got transferred to St. John's because DD was a preemie and was in their special care nursery. Due to this we didn't do photos. However, my friend had her three kids' photos taken by the photographer HealthEast uses and was really happy with them. She actually has used the photographer for family portraits as well. But as others have said you get a packet of info and can call the photographer after you deliver to plan when she will come for photos. This time around we won't be doing hospital photos but I plan on having a photograher come to our house for newborn photos.
Good luck!
Children Photography Photo Credit: Heather Barta Photography
This is going to be a little long. I delivered at United, if that makes a difference. I had a c/s and stayed for four days.
I used onesies that snapped at the bottom. They didn't seem to bother him too much. We didn't put those on until we went home. At the hospital, they had the onesies that snapped on the sides. They also had sleep slacks with a swaddler on them (the swaddler is detachable). Like this. I saw that someone had posted that their hospital didn't have the sleep sacks, so maybe it would be a good idea to bring one.
Honestly, DS and I were both half-naked a lot of the time. We did a lot of skin-skin. I just wore the hospital gown backwards so that the opening was in the front. That made it really easy to BF and lay him on my chest. I just laid him on top of my chest and then a blanket over both of us. I also didn't have a ton of visitors. But when I did have visitors, I put on my own gown that I bought (from Motherhood Maternity). It was nice to be in something that wasn't a hospital gown.
I loved it that I brought the boppy with. It was great for BFing after the c/s. I also am very happy that I brought some DVDs. The cable in the hospital sucked and it was really boring for the four days while DS was sleeping. I really liked having my own pillow there, too. Bring your own shampoo and soap. I hated the stuff at the hospital. The hospital has a lot of stuff that they can give you. They gave me lanolin and cool packs for my breasts, vaseline and lotion for dry skin, wash for DS, and all of the necessities.
I didn't do the in-hospital pictures. I knew that we would buy them and we took plenty of pictures ourselves. If we had the extra money lying around, we probably would have done it. So make the decision based on that.
Hope that helps!
Have you seen the new maternity suites? They remodeled since I delivered DS. There's a mini fridge in the rooms now. And they added tea time.
If you get a chance, I'd love to hear how it is. 