Clothing Options for Labor & Delivery?

Felicitaciones on your pregnancy and impending new baby. I just delivered 1 month ago here in NYC as well, and I can tell you that the nurses and drs will want you to wear the hospital gown. It allows them easy access to give you an IV, an epidural if necessary, gain easy access between your legs, etc. Plus, we are not lying when we tell you that you will not care one bit about what you are wearing during delivery. What I did instead was make sure that I had my hair up in a tight pony tail (I have long hair), I had small earrings on (so that I could look cute for post-partum pictures), and I had a manicure done a few days before delivery (oh yeah, and I shaved my legs!). I also had comfortable and more flattering outfits for after delivery. That's when you'll appreciate the comfortable clothing and when you'll actually care about what you are wearing. Best of luck to you, and I'm sure you'll look fabulous with your newborn in your arms.

Hi J.

First of all congratulations on your upcoming delivery.
Yes you can bring your own clothes but I also agree that I do not believe the hospital will let you wear your own clothes during delivery. Trust me during delivery the last thing you will be worrying about is what you are wearing.
But after delivery they will allow you to change after a few hours or recovery.

If you like, you might want to bring a light weight sweater or a robe jacket..some short...you can throw that on top of your hospital gown and easily slip it off if necessary. During the actual labor you wont really be thinking about wearing it.

Just a word of advice...even after you deliver, you may want to bring some pants and old underwear that you can trash if necessary. Some women bleed alot after birth and its better if you wear some bottoms that u can trash if needed....at least for day 1 or so....its not that bad but you never know.

Good Luck and Congrats again.
Linda

Having gone through two deliveries, let me just say..it's not worth getting any clothes for that purpose - maybe just an outfit for the trip home. To put it delicately, things are bit "messy" for a while and there's no reason to mess up new pajamas, clothes etc. My recommendation is to wear their gowns, but be sure you always get two - one for the front and the second for your back (wear it as a robe). Then, over that, you can wear a robe from home if you really want to. You may find yourself going through quite a few sets of robes the first two days after the delivery and it's better not to ruin your own clothes - just use the gowns - it's what they are for...If you must bring your own clothes, I'd find super comfortable cheap clothes...but it's not even worth doing that in my humble opinion. Good luck with your delivery! Enjoy every moment of this precious time in your life!

I also bought new gowns for the hospital but the nurses there advised me not to use them. They were right. You are going to get very messy and the last thing you want to think about is ruining your outfit after spending money on it. Spend the money on yourself after the birth; you'll appreciate it more!

Well, I gave birth twice and I am from NYC as well. I dont believe that you can wear your own clothes while in labor in the hospital. They like to have you wear the gown so that they can administer, things to you such as pain medication. You can wear your own clothing afterwards, while your all washed up, so you can bring a nice gown, rope and sleepers. Good luck upon your labor & delivery.