What did you wear during labour?

I've done a search but nothing came up.

I had an antenatal class yesterday and tour of the delivery suite, MW advised against wearing a hospital gown and to wear something familiar.

I guess being a first-timer, I'd like to have my top half at least covered up. The idea of being fully naked in front of strangers makes me feel uncomfortable, and yes, I do realise that you need to leave your dignity at the door when you are in labour!

So, what did you wear?

Hi, I wore an old T-Shirt of my DH in a dark colour. I have to find it again because I will need it soon. But yes once you are in labour believe me you won't care!!
Sue

I went naked.. becaause I was in the water for most of it so I thought naked was the best option for that. I did wear my tshirt for a while, but then I took it off to go in the water. Midwife did get a gown for me but I found it annoying.

I was naked, not much fun in the bath with clothes on LOL. It's the only place I found comfort & I actually felt I looked my best when pregnant cause that big tummy was meant to be there, he,he.

Started off in normal clothes, then went to an old t-shirt, then went to nothing...I was in the bath and then the shower though. I was the same as you prior to labour the thought of being completely naked was horrid, but once i was into full on labour i didn't care anymore, i just wanted to be comfortable and it be over!

i wore an oversized nightie, then they canged me into a hospital gown when they put the epidural in, then when i was pushing i screamed at everyone to get the gown off me cause i was so hot and felt extremely restricted, they ended up cutting it off me.

Big comfy men's tshirt.
It gives you plenty of coverage for the top half and is long enough to cover your butt when you're walking around but short enough that you can still give birth in it.

My Labour was just friday gone! HE HE HE (my first BB post since btw ) :D
And I ended up wearing my favourite tog top that is a rainbow string bikini top, i had a sarong tied around me when I got there but once I started "leaking" stuff they took that away for me and gave me a blanky to put over my belly.... Oh yeah better mention i was constricted to the bed as I had to be monitered due to have a VBAC...

good luck!

i had a t-shirt nighty.. but when i was being taken away for emergency c/section i put into the hossy gown!! then after i went back into my t-shirt nighty again!!

i have to agree with the girls you dont care what you have on at the time!!

I wore a big t-shirt nightie.

Naked here also! Was in and out of the shower and found it so much easier!! Had a towel around me at some stage - but mostly was in my birthday suit!!

I wore the hospital gown

I started off with just a t shirt, then I went into the shower so I was naked (and by then like you said you wont even care who sees you) then after the shower they just put me straight into the hospital gown and I gave birth in that.

i never really worried about what i would e wearing - it just never crossed my mind!

i was induced, i went to the hosp. in trakkies, a singlet top and a big jumper (DP's, i lived in this jumper as i has a winter pg) i took the jumper off once labour had started, and just left the singlet on (bra was not put back on after i had a bath)

naked for me too and I knew everyone as I had my boys where I workd both times

I wasnt ashamed, I was proud, the pregnancy naked body is a beautiful thing :)

...its too annoying to have the additional sensation of clothes on the skin for many women, and also labor is hot work

you dont have to leave your dignity at the door ;)

maybe get something special for the big day...comfy, covering and beautiful...lots of women I have cared for like to wear knickers and singlets or just get it all off ;)

x

I wore a spunky strapless stretchy pink sparkly dress. With a short pink hoodie and matching legwarmers....

I havve troubled over this for weeks and weeks.
Initially i bought a pair of XXXXL mens PJ's but when i bent over my bum showed so i returned them... I have no problem with the top half being uncovered the whole time, but the bottom half - even though it is business end i want/need it partially covered...
Maybe this is because my sister is also going to be a BP as well as DH and i dont want her to feel uncomfy (she assures me she will not)
ANYWAY - i have a crop top and bathers bottom for the bath, the shower i will be naked as i probably will go in and out - but for the rest of the time i have this cotton dress that i bought from Tree of life a while a go and it is sooooo comfy, it is not restrictive at all, light and flowing and most importantly i will be comfy in it.
3 weeks to go, so i will tell you how it worked out ;)

pmsl lulu at your outfit!!

I just wore what I was confiest in.

I rocked up to the hosi in tracki dacs a singlet and a jumper. gradually some layers came off and for the majority of the time I labored in a singlet which got scrunched up like a crop top due to monitoring and my undies. My Bra never came off until later, but in retrospect I owuld have taken it off earlier 'cause it was a real pain when trying to get it off at feeding time.

FYI, if it's chilly you might want socks. But don't get socks you want to keep buy a cheap but comfy pair that you have no probs with throwing in the bin later.

I did have white socks but I never intended to keep them, they were red by the end :)

I was induced and so needed the drip in my arm which makes it hard to take stuff on and off, so initially just had a singlet on, then I took that off and didnt wear anything seeing as it was just DH and my gorgeous midwife there. I had undies on though because I was still leaking fluid after they broke my waters. I was cold later on after she was born but pretty warm during labour. When the Dr came in, and anaesthetist to do my epidural, I got DH to drape my pashmina scarf over my shoulders and that gave me enough modesty when I felt like there were a billion people in the room.

Mmm 6months ago seems like forever ago.
I wore trackies and a jumper (it was winter), I laboured in the hospital in jamies and a dressing gown, and ended up in a hospital gown.
I am not sure how I ended up in that though. I think it was cause they were prepping me in case i was whisked away for a c/s.
Looking back now, I was glad I had the hospital gown, because I would have been worried about 'dirting' my clothes.
It all seemed so relevant beforehand, but once you are there in the midst of things in labour, you wont care, you'll just want to be comfy!!

I took some nighties I bought specially.... they didn't leave my bag!! As soon as we got to the birth suite I was in the shower, and from then on it was bath/shower/bath/shower/bath... nakey the whole time.... eek!! For someone who won't even walk around the house naked for even a short period of time, this would normally be a HUGE deal, but honestly, I could'a cared less!!

Good luck!!

Hi SG, just found your thread :)

I wore (both times) just whatever top I had on. I rocked up to the hossie in trakkies and a t-shirt/singlet and when I got into the delivery suite I took off everything on the lower half and my bra, leaving only a top covering my top half (well really just my BB's!). Both times during labour I've been covered by a sheet or blanket or something on my bottom half right up until I needed to have it moved for pushing or for someone to 'have-a-look'. I found this great as I was never 'exposed' when I would have worried about it and it kept all my clothes in tact as well. It also made it easy to just stip off my top when bubs was almost there for that lovely skin to skin contact. HTH

xxx

I went in in bonds tights and a long sleeved top and ended up in a hospital gown too as well as socks and slippers, though they came off later. I was induced, monitored and was being prepped for a c/s, so confined to bed. Luckily she was born just in time to prevent it! I was quite happy to be in a gown too, Easy acess for Dr's and nurses but easy to cover up for modesty too and no dirty cllothes to wash at home. I ended up with lots of blood everywhere (sorry if TMI!).

DD1 i wore a shirt and bra
DD2 naked....i was in the shower so clothes were the last thing i needed!

Hi Shoegal - I wore a really nice white bra (to look good in the photos). I didnt care if it got all dirty and bloody afterwards. On the bottom half, I wore some black maternity pants which came off during the internal exams and stayed off as soon as the contractions were bad enough that I needed to start hopping in and out of the shower.

Good luck with the birth ......

I wore an old nightie made of t-shirt material. The front buttoned down which was great for breastfeeding afterwards. Was surpised that I was not changed into a hospital gown for my c-section. This time around I am seeing what this hospital has in the way of gowns, as I have nothing suitable at home and I don't want to spend any more money than I have to.

I wore my favourite oversized comfy cotton t.shirt nightie !! :dance:

... I intended to go NAKED but so glad I didn't as i had all sorts of midwives just walk in or pop their head around to look & watch (ah, & not like helping out or anything) :rolleyes:

YEP, no privacy anywhere !!

But I'm so glad I wore at least something as I so cherish THAT t.shirt nightie & I love to just wear it whenever I want to feel close to that moment of giving birth again, it was such an amazing experience :D

Also I have intended to keep it as a keepsake for my lil daughter when she is older :dance:

I was induced & wore trackies and a loose top over singlet & bra... The aircon was broken in the birth suite and I did A LOT of pacing! The top went first, then the bra, then the trackies...all before my waters had broken! I actually gave birth in the singlet because I got a bit 'distracted' & forgot to take it off, but as soon as bub was born, it came off too for skin2skin..

Like most people have said, modesty is the last thing on your mind!

My DH is a large man, so I actually wore one of his old "big" t-shirts, although it didn't stay on for very long and I ended up wandering around the birthing suite completely starkers. Wear whatever you will feel comfortable wearing, you could even go to somewhere like Big W and just buy a plain XXXXL t-shirt, especially if you don't want to ruin any of your good nighties/pj's.

Yep i was naked too,my DH kept trying to put clothes on me or a towel around me but i kept slapping him away & saying get off me so he gave up:lol: As the contractions started to go into full throttle i came out of the shower(again) & just started to go down on the floor,lucky DH is fast & he threw some towels down underneath me so i wasn't directly kneeling on the cold floor,i don't think i would have cared too much but it was a nice thought:)
Honstly hun i am usually the last person to want strangers to see me naked ,but u just don't care in that situation.Good luck with the birth ,hope it all goes to plan.

I swore I would be fully clothed during labour as I am a little shy about my body. I was induced and instructed to wear nothing but a gown (which didn't impress me). I was also restircted to the bed (blerg) and was insistent (in the beginning) that the blankets be covering me as well. That lasted a whole 20 minutes! LOL. At one point the midwife tried to pull the blankets back up and I kicked them right back off again!!!!
I also thought I'd be embarrassed when they did their checks throughout the labour and after baby was born but when they changed my pad (I had an epidural and also a C-Sect so couldn't attend to that for a while) and took out my catheter, I couldn't have cared less!!!!!!! It was the last thing on my mind!!!!

HTH

MG

I wore an Elle MacPherson black jersey nightie that's very stretchy and it looks like a dress. No bra, no knickers. Easy to hitch up when the ob needed to do an exam. I kept it on until the epidural I think but otherwise would have kept it on till the 'end'. Actually maybe I did wear it till the end. All a bit of a blur! Anyhow, I wear it now as a dress too and it always makes me smile.

I went naked with my DS! It wasn't the plan, I thought I would at least have a bra on, but because it was night time I didn't have one on, and it's not like you're gonna stop during labour and say "WAIT! I gotta put on a bra first!!" haha! You just don't care!

With my DD, I was induced in the morning and only took 3.5 hours! I had a drip in my arm the whole time so was restricted to the chair (and it was a pain in the bum going to the loo!) so I was just in my trackies, singlet and bra the whole time until my pants came off and she was born a few minutes later!

TRUST US hehe you won't care! ALL THE BEST :D

Thankyou for your responses.

I was exactly the same as mother goose. I was determine to stay clothed so I wore trackie pants & a couple of singlets when I got induced. That plan only lasted hmmmm 5 minutes, the ***** hit the fan I was put into a hospital gown. Good thing though, after 8 + internals it was alot easier with the gown on.
If you want to wear clothes I recommend buying some bonds crop tops :) Very comfy!
I was showered by a midwife the mext morning after my c/s. Pffft and to think I cared at the start if I was saw naked haha!

I wore my fitted t-shirt and yoga pants to start off with. Then I went in the shower so I had nothing and when I got out of the shower I put on my undies and my fitted t-shirt but as soon as I put the undies on they came straight back off ready to push so I only had my t-shirt on.

Wear whatever makes you comfortable but you'll probably won't know what it is until you are in labour.

The first time I wore a huge tshirt that hubby had in his cupboard for god knows what reason, he is tiny and wouldnt let me throw it out (hoarder) so I wore that so he would have to.

2nd time round I wore a bikini top, I was in the shower for most of it so I had that on to cover up a bit and it did up at the back and neck so i could take it off no matter what happened

I had grand plans of wearing a big tshirt which I packed specifically for that purpose... and spent almost the whole time in the nicky noo-nar :) DH threw a sarong over me when we went from our room to the bathroom (across the hall) and I was not at all bothered by the fact that people might see me naked. In the end I was in the shower and the bath a lot, and the only people in the room were M and the midwife/s (they changed shift) so it felt fine. Clothes just didn't seem to feel right, and you should know that normally I'm a fairly conservative dresser (no midriff tops for me - ever!)

You'll make up your mind at the time, I'm sure!

Just thought I would update...

I was induced in the end. I wore a singlet top and shorts. The pockets in the shorts were great as it held my TENS machine controls. Towards the end I was so hot and sweaty that my MW took all my clothes off me. I was pushing with a gown draped across me and I pushed it off just as Baxter's head was crowning in readiness for him to be placed on my chest.

Isn't funny when you get in that zone and you just don't care who sees you in that state?!

SG
xo

I never thought I'd wear anything but I wore my undies most of the time as I had so much stuff coming out I was wearing pads. I only took them off when in the shower and for the last couple of hours when I was pushing. I got dressed in a loose t-shirt and trackpants to travel to the birth centre but took them off almost as soon as I got there.