I was asked to bring nothing. Lol. Everything, every single thing was provided by the hospital. I only needed my makeup purse and my laptop. I did take a nice outfit for me and my son. That’s it. Which hospital doesn’t provide towel or blankets to wrap newborn 
Re: Towels in the Hospital bag ..
hmm, i gave birth in canada a few months ago, and was provided with everything, even though health care is free here. i would be very surprised to know if women in Uk dont even get towels to shower. I was asked to bring stuff for myself and baby like pads and and diapers , but i was provided with everything anyway. they gave me newborn diapers (an extra pack before leaving), even a baby onsie with 2 hats and socks. an extra wrapping blanket (although we left it at the hospital before leaving), pads for me because the ones i had werent working with my heavy flow. the baby didn’t need a towel because the nurse bathed him herself and had a towel , she even gave me a comb and baby shampoo to take home.
i think hospitals ask you to bring stuff, but if you don’t have it, they always provide you with the basic stuff you need anyway.
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It’s not that they don’t provide towels,blankets etc in the UK, but just that the NHS encourages mums to be to bring as much of their own stuff as possible to save on their costs. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to use a hospital towel or have my baby dressed in hospital clothing so it wasn’t really a big deal to take stuff that I would’ve taken anyway. I ended up having my own pillows bought in too as the hospital ones were paper thin. My baby was born during a very hot week and the ward didn’t even have even fans - I had my own one bought in from home and even that was taken away during the middle of the night by a nurse who thought it was a hospital issued fan and given to another lady.
That was the final straw for me and I ended up paying for a private room for the remainer of my hospital stay which was worth every penny.
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i know this thread is about towels but is this true that hospitals no longer give ur baby a wash when its born? because when my cousin had her baby last year they said to her we dont do it..
Horror. All I wanted was a good hospital stay. Living in the US that’s what I got. I had such a good experience. I guess that’s because we pay for our own insurance but a far as I know ppl on medicaid get equally good treatment.
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Agreed Spiral! I had nice comfy private rooms both times (they had pull out sofa beds for my hubby!) We had pretty good insurance through my husbands job (PPO plan), we still pay a hefty amount each month, but at least I’m satisfied with the care…these UK stories sound downright scary! I guess the flip side though is when you don’t have any insurance and can’t qualify for Medicare/Medicaid (like in my Ammi’s case when she was diagnosed with end stage cancer)…then you’re SOL.
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Yes it’s true, they don’t give your baby a bath as a matter of routine anymore (maybe they do if you’re staying for a few days though as surely baby would be a bit grubby by then!) but if you ask/insist then they have to bath baby.
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Private healthcare in UK seems to be a bit different to the US…I have private healthcare but for some reason it doesn’t cover maternity care or delivery. As far as I know, none of the major private healthcare providers here do which seems strange to me. My monitoring of gestational diabetes was covered privately luckily. There was certainly a marked difference between my pregnancy care and the actual delivery on the NHS.
Anyway, sorry to derail thread CB. Hope you’ve packed those towels!
Re: Towels in the Hospital bag ..
Hi CB!!! hope you’re ok----- relax!! just to give my two pennies worth - I’m in the UK too (northeast so not to far from you!) and give birth last year. I took one towel for me and one for baby. I used mine when I showered, baby’s wasn’t used at all (hosp used their own to clean him up). As Britchick mentioned it isn’t policy to bathe babies straightaway- normally advise leaving it a day or two- apparently it is good for their skin to leave them for a day or so.
If memory serves correctly my hosp bag contained: nappies, nappy cream, cotton wool, 3x bodysuits, 3 x babygrow’s, 3 xhats, gloves and socks for baby in hosp- plus coat and going home outfit.
for me- towel, toiletries/ makeup, maternity pads (I actually found nighttime kotex ones were better than the standard maternty ones- thicker and softer- sorry if tmi!!), disposable underwear alongside normal underwear (i actually brought some from primark so could chuck them if needed!), pyjamas/nighties 2 sets in total, dressing gown, slippers (also had fliplops for when i showered as didn’t really want to go barefoot in the shower- but thats just me!). an outfit to go home in. also had some snacks and drinks in there!
I had a separate labour bag- smaller- this had a change of clothes (nightie for labour) socks as I’d been told feet can get cold! hair bobbles and hair bands, disposable underwear- I also packed some snacks- lucozade sports x 6- drank loads of the stuff during labour to keep energy levels up- I also took some drinking straws in- made it much easier to drink when in labour (plus a job for hubby to do- kept making sure i drank and held the bottle/ straw for me) definitely pack some straws!, took some chocolate and glucose tablets but didn’t use them.
I was lucky enough to have a room with a birthing pool (prior to being in labour really didn’t think I’d use one but I did (mum told me to!) but it was brilliant! and I had a couple of vesttops and underwear as noway was I getting in there naked! plus my waters hadn’t broken otherwise I probably wouldn’t have).
i knwo in another thread you were asking about breathing techniques etc and classes-- don’t worry!! I didn’t go to any, I subscribed to the ‘ignorance is bliss’ school regarding labour and still had a positive experience- infact I think I had a good labour prob cos I expected it to be much worse and it wasn’t. the midwives will keep you right!
my last piece of advice would be to take it as it comes and don’t worry!! Inshallah all will go well and you will have a gorgeous bouncing baby by jan!
Sorry for the long reply!!
please feel free to inbox me if I can help any more!
Take care! xxxxxx
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Brit, no worries at all , I am enjoying reading all the stories , anything related to baby is “learning” for me 
Saheli, that is pure awesome post, loved it to bits and thank you so so so much .. I am going to pack my hospital bag now In shaa Allah and feel so comfortable knowing that I am not going in point blank ! alhumdullillah all these wonderful things friends have mentioned here , is really helping me remain calm and in control 
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I’m another graduate from the ‘ignorance is bliss’ school of thought…it worked very well for me. I do believe that you can sometimes over-research and over-plan, which is all very well but when it comes to something like giving birth, I think it’s safe to say that it’ll never go according to how you plan/envisaged it to so better to just go in with no pre set ideas.
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I was told that they won’t give baby a bath if it was delivered normally but c section babies do get a bath in recovery room after the quick wipe down in the OR. I wish I had seen my baby’s first bath to see how he reacted to water etc but Nopse I wasn’t even back in my conscious and he was all washed up!
I delivered on HMO insurance( vs PPO) and everything was great. We never paid a penny for any hospital expenses and I m sure they were huge..they provided a bed for my husband and brought in a sleeper sofa once they realized my mom was staying overnight as well after delivery. And they had bfast, lunch n dinner for all three if us everyday..is it just me or hospital food is actually good? Even their apple juice was the best I ever had! Ok I m ready to have another baby in that hospital 
Ps! Now that’s besides the point that we pay 300-400 every month for insurance(it’s only z50%) while my employers picks up the rest of 50%..no wonder they insist we Jon walking clubs so less people go to the hospital.