Gifts in the hospital

Ananke · April 2011

When you had LO, what were your favorite gifts for yourself and for LO? I have a friend who is having a baby and I'd like to bring her something nice in the hospital.

kcl22 · April 2011

Call ahead and see if she wants anything special to eat? I was lucky, the hospital I delivered at had great food but I know others weren't happy.

Other than that, honestly, my favorite "gift" was the friends who knew how to stop by, ooh and ahh, give a hug and take off. There are so many people in and out, it was nice when people kept it quick. But that's just me, I was stressed!

SimoneSays22 · April 2011

Sorry to sound lame, but my favorite gifts were ones that were sent to my house.

I had several people bring me stuff at the hospital and it was a PITA to take them home since we already had tons of crap to take to the car.

My old workplace had a fruit/baked goods basket delivered. The delivery truck literally pulled up outside our house as we pulled in our driveway on the way home from the hospital. Now THAT was a great gift.

MamaLBF · April 2011

Food, food, and more food. By day 6 I was about to just go hungry!

Jessicamz · April 2011

Lunch! Honestly, that was my favorite gift.

We had so much stuff to take home from the hospital it was exhausting. I spent 3 months returning all the random gifts people brought us that we really didn't need. Of course I appreciated them b/c they were thoughtful, but by the time the baby was born I'd already had my shower and picked up all the last minute items I needed for baby! If you really want to bring her something, I'd do board books. You really can never have too many of those!

emilydholmes1 · April 2011

SimoneSays22:
Sorry to sound lame, but my favorite gifts were ones that were sent to my house.
I had several people bring me stuff at the hospital and it was a PITA to take them home since we already had tons of crap to take to the car.
My old workplace had a fruit/baked goods basket delivered. The delivery truck literally pulled up outside our house as we pulled in our driveway on the way home from the hospital. Now THAT was a great gift.

I agree. I had several people bring flowers and they were SO hard to carry out of the hospital. We made way too many trips and it seriously stressed me out.

If you are going to visit, maybe a card with a gift card in it to a spa or manicure/pedicure, favorite clothing store, babies r us, etc would be nice and easy to put in a bag without having to carry so much around.

If not, see if you can bring food or get something delivered to the house.

hopkins5 · April 2011

When you call to say you're on your way, ask her what she needs. We had only packed for two days and ended up in the hospital from Mon night - Fri morning, so our best "gift" was my parents showing up with snacks and necessities like extra undies.

I also liked a friend bringing me dinner from my fav restaurant. Other than that, friends and family dropped stuff off for us at our house and our parents houses. I was thankful to not have to bring something extra home/worry about it accidentally getting left behind.

ETA: The men often get left behind to fend for themselves. We were both grateful to my brother for bringing SO dinner. My hospital food was great but he hadn't had much until then.

LordValuemart · April 2011

I had GD while pregnant, my OB gave me the OK to eat whatever the eff I wanted and we'd take actions based on my levels, the hospital I delivered at had good enough food, but my sister was effing AWESOME and brought a giant pizza for my fiance and I to eat. We ended up sharing with my nurses too, but it was sooooo goood. She also brought us ice cream from Coldstone.

Jessicamz · April 2011

The PP reminded me...we were sent a fruit arrangement from Edible Arrangements and that was really nice! Also, you could do a gift card. We got a ton of gifts and it was nice to have a gift card so I could pick some things out for myself.

wils0482 · April 2011

I remember wanting "real" baby wipes because the hospital wipes sucked. SIL checked with us to see what we needed before she stopped by. It was so awesome of her! Then she came and hung out with DH and DS while I took my first pp shower. Awesome.

I also really liked when people came to our house with meals.

LittleGus · April 2011

By the time I left the hospital I'd had about 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours so the gifts I received in the hospital were stressing me out like whoa. I think I started crying because I didn't have room in my bag for them. My favorite gifts were food. Bah Hah. And the favorite delivery system was dropping it off then leaving.

Dont' I sound like a peach? I was exhausted and stressed.

Carilyn · April 2011

Starbucks.

ZoeyMarie · April 2011

Is there a grocery store around her house that delivers? You could get her a gift certificate for so many deliveries or something like that.

shannond354 · April 2011

Carilyn:
Starbucks.

Ooh, this! Full fat, full caffeine! My DH did this and it was lovely. Food is also good.

Genevieve_kris · April 2011

My best friend brought a big bag full of fresh fruit. Best gift. My parents picked up some really nice socks for me since I had forgotten to pack extras.

A few people brought flowers and we left them for the staff when we left - no way were we going to pack up all of that in the car.

Ananke · April 2011

Thanks everybody! I had a pretty small shower and since I was team green, we really appreciated all the clothes and stuff that people brought. That was about all we received, and one bouquet of flowers. It only took one trip to get everything to the car besides me and DS since most of it fit in our suitcase.

I had already planned on doing some frozen meals for her, or stopping by a couple times during the week to bring her food. I really wanted to do something a bit more unique, kwim? I had gotten her a nursing bracelet to help keep track of feedings/diapers, but space cadet that I am, I already accidentally gave it to her, and I still want to show up with something small, but thoughtful.

I probably still have time to order something online if I do it tonight. I doubt she'll go into labor in the next couple days, but she'll definitely have a baby by Thursday since she's getting induced. If nothing else, I'll go with the coffee since I know for sure she likes that! I'll definitely have to remember her DH and bring him something. I do remember my DH being kind of left out.

Jessi+Aiden · April 2011

For me: my best friend went to Central Market (best grocery store ever) and bought me all of my favorite foods, packed it up in a big basket, and brought it to me as soon as I was out of the recovery room. It was a life saver since the hospital food was VILE!

For baby: My sonograms and OB estimates all guessed A being a 9+ lb baby, so we only had 0-3 month clothes for him and no newborn things... Well the little guy fooled everyone, was only 8 1/2 lbs, and had a tiny little body so all the clothes I had for him just fell right off! My MIL came up the day after he was born with a bag full of newborn clothes so we had something to take him home in and dress him in for the first month.

those were my favorite things, but really other than my best friend and immediate family, we didn't let anyone visit the hospital so there wasnt a lot of gift giving per say.

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