This time next week, Hannah and her
partner will be holding their baby girl – and a whole new life would have
begun. Everything has been packed and planned, and understandably, Hannah – who
has never spent a day in hospital – is anxious about the unknown and the
unexpected, the drips and injections, the operating theatre, and the recovery
room. The only reassurance I could give her is that the staff knows what they
are doing. It's something they do every day. Hannah doesn’t have to do their job for
them. She and her baby girl will be safe.
Hannah was also asking how she will
know that she is doing the right thing for her baby girl. It’s something every
new mother worries about, not understanding how our ‘mother instinct’ kicks in.
I refer here to an extract from Niall Williams's book ‘Boy and Man’.
“How do you know you are doing
the right thing? That’s a question, isn’t it?” the Master asked at last. “How
do you know? And is it enough to, say, do this one good thing, and by doing that
does that mean you are doing the right thing? Because it can seem so small,
can’t it? One small good thing, what’s the use of that, a voice in the back of
your head says. And sometimes that’s the voice that wins!” He shrugged. Then
again, he had the classroom before him. “But I don’t think the other voice
gives in. It comes back. All the time, we have something telling us to go ahead,
do the good thing. Believe in it. That’s the thing. It keeps coming back
because that’s our nature, we want to do good. And that’s a kind of proof to
me.”
“A proof?”
“Oh yes, definitely, because we
want to do good, because, despite everything, and I mean so much evidence to
the contrary, we still believe in it, that’s the proof.”
All packed? Here’s a checklist for my readers:
Don’t leave packing till the last minute. It’s best to be prepared from
36 weeks onwards. Do things like bulk shopping and filling up the deep-freeze
with ready-made meals in good time. Decide what you will wear when you come
home. Put baby’s home-coming clothes into the car seat and let your partner
know where these are for the Big Day.
Take
Hannah’s advice. Don’t write a ‘birth plan’. Wait and see what happens.
For your labour bag you will need:
Documents: medical aid/hospital card, ID, booking forms
Comfortable pants, top, and shoes to ‘labour’ in
Toiletries e.g. face cloth, toothbrush, and toothpaste
Disposable panties
Tissues and moisture cloths
Lip balm or Vaseline
Hand cream
Hair accessories
Energy snacks and drinks
Distraction: cell phone
Nightie
Pads (if the hospital has asked for these)
Socks
Packet for your clothes to be taken home in.
While you’re in hospital you will need:
sanitary pads
breast pads
disposable panties
breastfeeding bra’s
toiletries for mom
disposable nappies
toiletries for baby:
Soap
Shampoo
Powder
Vaseline / bum cream
Aqueous cream
Cord care: cotton buds, surgical spirits
babygrows
vests and socks
wrapping blankets
Take along some things for dad:
‘Snack pack’
something to drink
reading material
camera/cell phone
Photograph: Aloise Ireland
