(The DSL was shut off last night, and I’ve survived. So far.)
I’ve actually started packing my hospital bag, sorta. Since I won’t be going anyplace else til then, I put my travel stuff in there, and the massagey roller ball thing, and some stretchy non-mat pants. Any recommendations on what to bring to the hospital?
I’ve also gotten some things figured out (or close to figured out) for the fall. As far as my practicum goes, there are two options: student teaching or create-my-own. Student teaching (biggest scam ever, ‘work’ full time for 15 weeks, and pay someone else for the privilege…) would fulfill the practicum requirement and earn me a 680 certification. Make my own would fulfill the practicum requirement, and allow me to do what I want, when I want. I can still get a 680 cert if I chose to teach later; I would just have a tranisitional cert until I completed a year of teaching (for pay.) Um, huh. Wonder what I’ll do . . . .
So, yay for flexible scheduling for the practicum part. I was afraid I might have to work 20 hours a week (school hours) or something, and I totally don’t. I could write a book about IT and have it count, seriously. That’s what one guy did. But, I do imagine I’ll need somechildcare to do that, whatever ‘that’ is, and I’m totally stoked because my boss’ daughter just got an apartment in town. Yes, THAT boss. But, he found Jesus after he divorced his first wife (isn’t that always the case for the most holy), and the daughter is very much NOT a churchy person. She’s a freshman this year, in early childhood ed, and I see her every day I’m here so I definitely KNOW her. She’s very level-headed and responsible, and loves kids, and has been excitedly folliowing my pregnancy all year. She’s GREAT, seriously. And I would have no fears of her secretly trying to baptize the baby or anything. Anyway, her having an apartment in town and a college student’s schedule will be great for ME to find 3-6 hours or so a week where she can come to the house so that I can work on school stuff. When I heard about the apartment, I asked her right away, and she was totally excited about the prospect. This is so great. Truly. My night classes aren’t a concern, since Dave works 9-5 (and can flex that when I need to be at class by 5), but to have someone lined up for very part time babysitting is such a weight off my chest, you don’t even know.
I have a college student as a babysitter. I never realized what it meant until last week. I needed to work–grades due–but there those two kids were, stubbornly using up my last attention span. Aha! Babysitter, make them disappear! Two hours later, I was done and they returned.
Babysitters rock.
Here’s my list from my last baby…
robe
slippers
pajamas (for after you have the baby. You don’t want to wear a nasty hospital gown for your whole stay)
toiletries (soap, shampoo, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, hairbrush, makeup and hairstyling items if you think you’ll want them)
book or magazines. The baby will sleep some and you’ll find yourself wanting something to read
blank notebook — you may feel like writing the birth story down while it’s fresh
music for during labor. I have an iPod and made a birthing playlist a few months before having the baby. I would practice my hypnobirthing relaxation exercises while listening to the special paylist. Doing that helped so much.
going home outfit for the baby
other clothes for the baby if you like — I like dressing my babies in layette gowns for the first two weeks or so because they poop so much and it makes changing easier. Joaquin wore his own clothes in the hospital instead of their onesies.
cash — your husband will probably be eating from vending machines/hospital cafeteria and may need to pay parking fees,
depending on your hospital
list of phone numbers of people to call after the birth
camera (do not forget this!!! And make sure your husband uses it.)
large manila envelope to put all the hospital paperwork in
Lansinoh for nipples, phone number to LLL if your hospital doesn’t have a lactation counselor on staff
nursing pillow. Yeah, you can just pile hospital pillows all around, but using a Boppy is so much easier.
Maternity clothes from when you first started needing them. Think of how big you were at around 16 – 20 weeks. That’s about where you’re going to be for the first week or so (for me anyway). I found that the maternity pants that go under the belly were perfect. Well, those and sloppy sweat pants. Either do.
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Sounds like you have found the *perfect* babysitter. Yay!
Bring your own toilet paper. Make it the ultra-luxurious kind.
The previous commenter got most of it… The things I was really happy I had were: the boppy (the nurses may not be able to find you extra pillows when you need them), my own nightgown, warm cozy socks and slippers (otherwise, they will make you wear these gross institutional sock/slippers with grippy things on the bottom and they are just unpleasant), cash, our video camera (we decided that we could always delete the video if we didn’t like it, but we definitely would never be able to go back and record it again. The camera was placed over our shoulders so there’s no view of any private parts, but you still get the view of the baby), light reading, andmotrin (shh- don’t tell!). I had a maternity dress to wear home, but that was stupid. I should have brought some sort of comfortable and loose-fitting shirt, because there was a big gap between when I was dressed and ready to go home and when we were discharged, which meant the lentil had to nurse, which meant I had to get undressed and dressed again because the dress wasn’t made for nursing.
Sweets packed flip flops and swim trunks for the shower (in case I wanted to sit under the water during labor), and forgot to bring a change of clothes.
We didn’t bring our iPod because we were instructed that all power sources had to be kept open in case of emergency, so we wouldn’t have been able to charge it. As it turns out I labored at home so long that when I got to the hospital music wouldn’t have made much of a difference in my general outlook.
very exciting! just writing this is giving me baby fever. Those two nights in the hospital were a special time for our little family. 🙂