What to Take to Hospital for Labour

by Jay H.
(Long Beach, CA)

Always eat before you go to the hospital!

My husband and I have been married for 10 years and never thought that we would have children. However, it happened and the pregnancy was easy overall. Until the end, that it is. I ended up leaving work for a doctor’s appointment and ended up being instructed to be put to bed rest.

So I never went back to work, leaving a ton of work behind, a new boss loss and projects left without direction. But the upcoming birth of my son was more important. Due to low baby activity and low amniotic fluids, I had to go Long Beach Memorial Hospital twice a week for monitoring. Each visit had gotten pretty repetitive.

My husband and I woke up that morning to go the hospital with plans to grab lunch afterwards. Well that never happened. Halfway through the appointment, the nurse told me she was checking me in and I would have that baby that day.

I was not ready! I asked if I could leave and return later because I was hungry and would be missing lunch. I got a very firm no. Worse yet, the little suitcase that had been sitting in our trunk for weeks was just taken out a few days prior because I wanted to add some of my favorite snacks but never returned it back to the car!

So as I got checked in around 1pm, my husband went home to get my bags, with a special request from me for a cheeseburger. Unfortunately, the nurse overheard me and threatened my husband that he’d be barred from the delivery room if he brought food!

Sheesh! They did allow him to bring a 7-Eleven Slushie though, which I was grateful for. They gave me medicine to induce me at 4pm and the nurse had to break my water to push the labor along.

I was annoyed by the nurse who kept telling me that I was in horrible unbearable pain each time I was have a contraction and offered me ice cubes when all I wanted was a cheeseburger!

I was so glad when she went off duty and she was replaced by someone who had better bedside manners, and had contemplated letting my husband can grab some food from the cafeteria for me before the labor really began. Unfortunately, I was offered a tiny cup of juice instead. Somehow it's not the same!

I was slow to dilate, but had gotten an epidural around 7pm with being at only 4cm. My son’s heart was very slow, and we had to attach an electrode to his scalp to monitor his heart throughout the labor.

Around 9pm, I had finally fully dilated. I was light headed because I was still hungry and also so mentally ready to start pushing, but the nurses could not let me.

Every time I pushed, my son’s heart would stop. Ultimately I had only pushed 3 times before my baby started crowning. They called the doctor, who then came in. I pushed once more and heard someone say “we have a bungee cord baby”. I didn’t realize until much later that it meant that the baby had the umbilical cord around his neck.

With just one more push, my son was finally born on February 2 at 11:37pm, coming in at 19 inches, and 4lbs and 9oz. Small but feisty! And I was still hungry! Around 3am, they had taken my son to the nursery to be washed up and I was checked into my room before they gave me a dry sandwich. After gobbling it up, I quickly threw it back up, thanks to the side effects of the epidural.

My lesson learned is to be prepared by eating before heading to the hospital and always have snacks in my purse!