shaunanicole

I had an emergency c-section and the only thing I brought was two hospital bags full of stuff for Ava. Thankfully they have ALL the supplies you need and they don't allow you to wear your own clothes until you get discharged because they need you to be able to pull up your gown to look at your incision, you will also be hooked up on an IV, and you need to have your legs exposed so you can lift your bum so they can change the pads underneath you.

But the hospitals have it all. They supplied me with pads, undies, etc. The only thing you really need to bring is soap to wash yourself in (but they make you wait till your epidural is out to allow you to shower which is usually 24 hrs after the surgery), hair brush, going home clothes, and more hygiene items (toothpaste, deodorant, etc).

And as far as the baby pack A LOT of warm sleepers. The hospital is really cold and you'll want the baby to be warm. So pack lots of warm clothing for the baby and some receiving blankets to swaddle the baby (my hospital also provided this but yours may not).

Good luck!

mummysuzie22

It's totally different here though to america hun. They don't provide you with anything except formula and that even differs between hospitals. Last time i wore my maternity sweats and my normal clothes cuz i was sick of wearing night gowns lol you're only hooked up to an iv here when you get your section. Here they get you up after the epidural has worn off about 7 hours afterwards and get you to take a shower and take your dressing off your wound so it can heal. We get disolveable stitches so need to get them taken out they just fall away themselves. We have to bring our own pads etc too.The hospital do provide blankets etc which is good. The fact you pay for health care over there and we don't i think will have alot to do with what they provide etc. But it is good to see how it differs between the coutries xx

E&L's mummy

i was up the later the same day as i had a spinal not epidural. space was another issue tho...there is never enough room in the little locker for it all lol

mummysuzie22

Yea i was lucky to have a bed by the window so had the corner there for my bag and all the pressies that people brought Alex xx

shaunanicole

Wow! That sounds like crap. I had a big room all to myself, I had room service, everything was provided for me and baby (formula, pads, undies, gowns, baby clothes, bottles, etc, etc), and the way they treated me medically is completely different then how you've explained it.

It took 24 hrs before they took my epidural and IV out, they also waited 24 hours to unwrap my dressing, I had a nurse go into the bathroom with me before my epidural was out to wash my "area" for me with a squirt bottle, and I have staples (I get them out Friday).

How crazy! It really is completely different in both countries. But I suppose it may be because I do pay for my medical insurance - and it's NOT cheap.

mummysuzie22

I've lived in america most of my life and def know it's not cheap. I know tho that the treatment you had isn't in every hospital tho so you def were lucky. Am glad though that i was up and about afterwards so soon cuz it helped me healing so quickly and i was ready for a shower after all that time. You can request your own room etc here but i wouldn't have made a great friend if i had and would have been super lonely so don't mind bein in a room with other mums. You can get private health care here and pay etc for it but we pay for our health care through our taxes every month and i can't fault it at all. xx

baby_maybe_825

Ours here in Canada is basically the same thing as you explain but we get private or semi private rooms (no wards anymore ) I had an emergency c-section with my last pregnancy and I had staples (That part depends on the doctor doing the surgery I guess) and it was over 24 hours before I had my IV removed. I didn't have an epidural as they didn't have time , I was put to sleep fully. Catheter wasn't removed until the next day either... I had nothing with me in the hospital as I was in the car at 37 weeks heading to a routine appt when I began to hemorrhage, and the only thing I had with him were my clothes brought to me the day we were leaving. All of that help with the hospital etc... is covered by medicare, so I pay nothing! So different in so many places!

baby_maybe_825

Also my staples were removed 2 days after surgery, the day I went home I wouldn't have minded them in a few extra days though, and coming home 2 days later was terrible. That night I couldn't sleep at all, so much pain etc.. I will stay in as long as I can this time! lol

mummysuzie22

Ooo i couldn't do staples lol i made sure my stitches were dissolvable ones before he started and same this time..i was watching a documentary the one with michael moore and canada is relatively the same as here in regards to paying for your medical care which is good..a cost we don't need to worry about at the time xx

mrso

Yes I was going to say in the US they do provide many different things then in the UK/surrounding areas. Every state is different too. It is nice to know that if I have forgotten something that they can provide it to me, granted I will pay for it but I am not really stressed about forgetting anything.

Discharging me from the hospital after only 2 nights is perfectly fine with me (unless i have complications). Because yes we have to pay for everything. Granted my insurance will cover 80% of costs but that other 20% will be $2000 to $4000. Depending on what all I use/need.

It is different for everybody. Last time I spent 6 days in the hospital after my vaginal delivery and really would like to avoid that if at all possible. I know that I needed to stay becasue of all the complications I had but I would rather be at home. My hospital bill was about $6000 and took us a year to pay off.