Pregnancy Post: My Labour Essentials

During my pregnancy, I reads LOTS. I scoured the internet, books and asked endless people for advice. One of the things that I worried about was what to take to hospital; what would I take, what if I ran out of something? I ended up getting a checklist from a pregnancy magazine which even prompted me to write an advice post on my blog. I took so much stuff to the hospital, I looked like I was going for a weeks holiday!

In reality, I hardly used any of it. Who needs an iPad loaded with films in the height of a contraction!? The majority of what I took to hospital was useless but there were others that were an absolute life saver! Here's some of my must have products for labour:

1. Cooling water spray

By far, these were the most useful thing throughout my whole labour. I was absolutely BOILING the whole time and these were so refreshing and seemed to give me a burst of much needed energy. They are sold in Boots, Superdrug etc but be warned, they run out fast and you need loads!

2. Energy Drinks

I supped my way through lots of these during my labour. In fact now I can't even stomach one because I drank that many!

3. Strapless cotton dress

I wore a strapless beach dress from Primark during labour. Most of my friends laughed and reckoned I was vain however it was really useful! It was much more comfortable than the cardboard like hospital gown and enabled me to protect my modesty whilst also being able to quickly pull it down to ensure skin-to-skin after Freddie was born. You can pick them up really cheap in places like Primark as you don't want to be spending a small fortune on something that it going to get pretty gross!

4. Maternity Pads (& lots of them!)

Obviously I don't need to go into too much detail but you need these & lots of them. Normal sanitary towels just don't work and you need to ensure that you get 'maternity pads' which are designed especially for after birth.

Other items I found essential were:

• Snacks for birthing partner - I wasn't hungry during labour however Mr C was. It was the middle of the night so the hospital cafe was closed and, I wouldn't have let him leave me anyway but luckily he had some pasties in his bag that he'd bought earlier in the day meaning that he wasn't going to starve all night!

• A 'going home' outfit for mum - This is most definitely an essential however Mr C forgot mine!! In the end I had to leave the hospital wearing a tight maxi dress (not a good look with an after-birth tummy!) and my dressing gown!

• Hair bobbles & clips