Henry’s World

Though not all-inclusive, below is list of the basic necessities to take along to the hospital for delivery;

For Mom
____ Comfortable robe
____ Nightgown
____ Nursing bra and nursing pads
____ Warm socks
____ Slippers
____ Comfortable outfit you can wear home
____ Sanitary pads
____ Toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, moisturizer, lip balm
____ Hair clips, barrettes
____ Brush or comb
____ Toothbrush and toothpaste

For Your Labor Partner
____ Change of clothes
____ Book or magazine
____ Toothbrush, toothpaste, and other basic toiletries
____ At least $20 in cash and change for snacks, phone calls, and so forth
____ Snacks or soft drinks in small cooler
____ Watch with a second hand for timing contractions

For Baby
____ Car seat
____ Newborn hat
____ 2 receiving blankets
____ 2 “onesies”
____ 2 pairs of socks
____ “Going home” outfit — including sweater or bunting if the weather is cold
____ Diapers and diaper bag

Documents
____ Birth plan
____ Insurance cards
____ Address book with phone numbers
____ Birth announcements and postage stamps

Extras
____ Electric heated massager or tennis ball (very helpful for lower back pain or leg cramps)
____ Massage oil
____ Personal stereo and headphones
____ Favorite tapes or compact discs
____ Some books and magazines
____ Camera or video camera (and film!)
____ Extra pillow
____ Gift for sibling
____ Hard candy to suck on during labor
____ Lanolin, if nursing
____ Cell phone

1. It’s more fun to color outside the lines.

2. If you’re going to draw on the wall, do it behind the couch.

3. Ask why until you understand.

4. Hang on tight.

5. Even if you’ve been fishing for 3 hours and haven’t gotten anything except poison ivy and a sunburn, you’re still better off than the worm.

6. Make up the rules as you go along.

7. It doesn’t matter who started it.

8. Ask for sprinkles.

9. If the horse you are drawing looks more like a dog, make it a dog.

10. Save a place in line for your friends.

11. Sometimes you take the test before you’ve finished studying.

12. If you want a kitten, start asking for a horse.

13. Picking your nose when no one else is looking is still picking your nose.

14. Keep banging until someone opens the door.

15. Making your bed is a waste of time.

16. There is no good reason why clothes have to match.

17. Even Popeye didn’t eat his spinach until he absolutely had to.

18. If your dog doesn’t like someone, you probably shouldn’t either.

19. Toads aren’t ugly, there just toads.

20. Don’t pop someone else’s bubble.

21. You work so hard pedaling uphill that you hate to brake on the way down.

22. If you stand on tiptoe to be measured this year, you’ll have to stand on tiptoe for the rest of your life.

23. You can’t ask to start over just because you are losing the game.

24. Chasing the cat is more fun than catching it.

25. Make your mother proud of you.

(Author Unknown)

Courtesy of Nina Camp

For repeat moms-to-be or anyone who goes to a hospital, I’d like to share a recent experience I had at a local obstetrician office.

Earlier that week my regular obstetrician (OB) stopped seeing me because my health insurance had changed (through no fault of mine, the appointment line assured me that my insurance was accepted, but that’s a story for another time).

So at 22-weeks along I was scrambling around looking for a replacement OB, and found one 10-minutes away from home.

Before they would commit to seeing me as a patient I had to fill out a medical history questionnaire for the office coordinator to go over, and because my pregnancies have never been simple I used more than the normal one sheet of paper to explain my history and despite that I got a phone call 2-days later saying that I had been accepted to the program and had my 1st appointment the following Monday.

So I arrive with the family in tow and will admit it was a very pleasant experience, a far cry from what I’ve become accustomed to at doctor offices, so after a Q & A session with the physician he casually states that he might have to transfer me to a high risk hospital as I was more complicated than they normally see at their clinic.

I didn’t get a follow up appointment when checking out but was told the nurse would call me the next day, I guess that served as the doom to come so as soon as I got home I started searching for high risk physicians that participate in my health and was only able to find one in the entire state.

At 7:30 am the next morning I get a call from the receptionist that I would be receiving a certified letter in the mail referring me to high-risk unit for my continued prenatal care, I was still shocked even though I had suspected it might happen. The high risk specialist agreed to see me and was as baffled as I was that the doctors office treated me the way they did, and to make matters worst, they wrote in my medical records that they had sent a certified letter (which I still haven’t received) and it leaves me wondering about the quality of their work since a certified letter is something easily proved.

So what I want to leave you all that will read this, patient beware, though as the layman in this case you’d expect the staff employed by the hospital to know what health insurance plans they participate in, what kinds of patients they see, to avoid unpleasant surprises, ask, ask and ask again. I’d rather have an upset employee that thinks I’m trying to do their job, than having to change 3 doctors in a month

Thanks for listening.

A friend of the family had gone to visit her folks back home in and she came back 6-months pregnant, by her boyfriend. She’s real tall and just wore baggy clothes that she had her husband fooled (now I ask how could they lie in the same bed and he not know, but that’s another story).

Anyway auntie goes into the labor one night watching TV with hubby, so she just walks into the bathroom, pushes that baby out without a groan and goes back to watching TV leaving the baby in the tub.

Her hubby goes to use the bathroom later to find a whimpering new born, yeah there where fireworks and they ended giving up the baby for adoption, but I still shake my head in confusion how that angel survived such an ordeal, just weird.

I had an epidural during my first delivery and it went off without a hitch the second delivery really has me scared about asking for anesthesia this time.

My water was broken around 7:30 pm and I started active labor (without pitocin, thank goodness) around 9:00pm and asked for an epidural and it all went downhill from there.

Every time I’d get a contraction my back and left leg went numb with pain, if that baby hadn’t come out 15 minutes later I would have gotten upset with someone in that room.

The anesthesiologist was in the room the whole time and kept telling me “it’s not supposed to hurt….. blah blah” and with the pain I’ve been having in my back recently I’m really considering not asking for an epidural at all.

I am thinking of alternative methods this time around; aromatherapy, homeopathy, hypnobirthing and water birth.