When I walked (or was wheeled, both times) into the labor and delivery ward of my local hospital, I felt woefully unprepared. Not only was each baby about a month early, but I am not much of a “prepper” for big things like that. Honestly, such a big change scares me, so I push off the preparation until the last minute. But, by doing that, I know I made some mistakes. Some pretty big ones. These are the 5 Things I Wish I’d Done Before Giving Birth that I think would have made me feel so much better.
5 Things I Wish I’d Done Before Giving Birth
- Packed an Emergency Go-Bag for the Car. Because, at the end of the day, I knew I was going to have rough deliveries. The pregnancies themselves were rough and I had a half-dozen specialists reassuring me that I was going to be rushed-in at any minute. I think, in the back of my mind, that’s why I waited so long. I didn’t want to admit what I was afraid of most.
- Made My Husband Do a Labor & Delivery Class With Me. He had no clue–and therefore, he was of little help. I mean, seriously, the dude was not on the same page as me. And I did try. I really did. But, as much as I am resistant to big change, he is, too (two lovely introverts, aren’t we! LOL!). So, we just relied on the professionals and fumbled our way through both births…and I felt very lost (and I bet he did, too).
- Made My Husband Do a Parenting Class With Me. Um, yeah, we probably needed that like 10-times over. For reals, neither of us had held an infant for longer than 30-seconds. We adopted our oldest when he was 7, so our combined experience with babies–nothing. I needed a parenting class–and so did he. We were both so un-trained, it was scary. LOL!
- Packed Food in My Go-Bag. I’m a hungry-hippo when stressed. So is my husband. We are snack-when-worried kind of people and I wish I’d thought of that when we packed. Because, frankly, that snack machine sucked by the end of the week. And although I LOVE hospital food (read that: I hate hospital food with a passion and it makes me nauseous to even think about it much less eat it), I really just can’t get by on a single burger a day. I just wanted my regular, homemade cookies. That’s all.
- Packed a Go-Bag for My Kids. This worried me beyond worry-ness. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’d more or less just left them to their devices. It wasn’t nice of me to think that I’d take care of them later. I should have taken care of them first. And, to top it off, I kind of dumped responsibility for them off on my parents, so then I was worried about having been rude to them, too. If I had just prepared, I would have been more relaxed.
What would you have done differently before giving birth? (I can’t be the only one with a little regret) I’d love to hear from you–just drop a comment or find me on Facebook. I’d love a little like-love, too, if you have a sec!