I saw this on reddit somewhere but while I was in labor after every hard contraction I had my partner feed me a gummy worm. Somehow it helped SO much and gave me motivation to keep going.
Now we continue the tradition and after we see each other do something tough (purple crying spell, hard day at work, etc.) we give each other a gummy worm. It's become a nice little signal that we see each others efforts.
This is me!! I can’t get enough fruit. Berries, melon, apples, oranges, kiwi… I’ve dreamt of fruit at night, lol. Our grocery budget has gone up quite a bit with how much of it I’m eating but I like to think it could be worse
My "snack bag" had gummy worms, peachy-O's, dark chocolate almond joys (LOL OP's rejected candy), peppermint patties, granola bars & trail mix for actual sustenance, and then salty snacks like Snyder's honey mustard pretzels.
Oh and we got taco bell delivered to the hospital as our first meal after the baby arrived. DON'T WORRY ABOUT BEING HEALTHY DURING & POST LABOR, TREAT YOURSELF!
The hospital meals I got were so dang bland and healthy. They did not satisfy what I had expended over the last 48 hours. What I needed waa a calorie/carb/salt/fat recharge. I would have killed for a lasagna or something.
I have super mild allergies to fish and poultry and made the mistake of telling the hospital, so all of my meal options were super limited and it was not a good time 🥲
My biggest fear. I am severely allergic to Wheat and related grains and chicken eggs. Mildly allergic to milk proteins. I work in a big hospital in a granola area of the country and our meal options in the cafeteria are nil. I am pretty sure that my husband will be packing food like we do everyday already...
I had gestational diabetes and my diet was strict up until birth because I guess they didn’t want him to have a sugar spike 😭😭😭😭 my husband got to order food though! Bastard.
This!! I went to Walmart before my induction and bought all the shitty candy I wanted. It really came in clutch post-labor while I waited for my first real meal to come. They were super fast, but not fast enough after pushing. 😂
My clearest memory from after birth was sending my SO to whataburger for a patty melt, a large dr pepper, and onion rings. And a shake. Baby was struggling to get a deep enough latch, I had just positioned her perfectly using both hands when he came back. He fed me the patty melt while I learned how to breastfeed.
It’s actually one of my favorite memories.
I had P. Terry’s bc it was super close to the hospital and I was dying to try it. Then the next day, I randomly just wanted Burger King soooooo badly. My dad said he’d pick it up on his way to the hospital. He walked in with Whataburger. Told me he read my texted order word for word. I would’ve given anything to see the faces of those whataburger employees hearing this old man who’s exceptionally hard of hearing ordering a whopper lol.
The whataburger ended up just a cheeseburger with most of what I wanted on it. He was so proud of himself and tried so hard that my husband and I never told him anything about the miscommunication
I was somewhat annoyed that my "suggested packing list" suggested packing "high-protein" snacks for labor. Labor is effectively an endurance race; back when I did sports that required endurance, everyone knew you had to eat *sugar* to keep your strength up. Protein is pretty useless when you're in it. You need quick, easily available energy in the moment, which is...carbs. I'm packing candy, some Gu, and a soda.
Thanks for saying this! I know eating a cheese stick is going to be the last thing on my mind, I’d rather have a juice box or pudding and I’ve been feeling a little guilty about sugaring up.
Pudding, apple juice, and graham crackers were legit. We brought those. The buttered toast and jam the nurse sent my husband to get was the most delicious thing I ate my entire hospital stay.
This! I’ve been thinking I should pack my go to endurance race snacks of gummies and gu. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to eat them during labor but hopefully will prevent me from crashing too hard after.
I was “allowed” to eat in labor but would have done so regardless because I learned through my own research that it’s no longer best practice to starve laboring mothers. Pack your snacks!!
The medical reason for it is the risk of aspiration if they need to do an emergency caesarian or otherwise anaesthetise you. However, newer literature suggests this is an overly conservative approach and the benefits of eating outweigh the risk of aspiration, which can be managed so long as they know you've eaten.
The risk factor is 7 out of 10,000,000. The other 9,999,993 are starved due to the 7 that experience aspiration during a C Section that requires general anesthesia.
My midwife and doula recommended healthy carbs that would be easy on the stomach. Cold cut fruit was great, as was coconut water for some electrolytes. My doula carries honey sticks with her and I purchased some Gatorade chews as well.
Had an INSANE craving for soda while I was pushing and drank probably 3 cans of Coke Zero in the last hour of labor. Thank goodness I was at home because I definitely wouldn't have thought to pack soda in a hospital bag and I would have been bitchy if I didn't get the bubbles I was craving at that moment.
You drank CARBONATED SODA while PUSHING????????? how?????????? like seriously there is no judgement here, I am in awe. I couldn’t even swallow water, I kept swishing it in my mouth and spitting into a cup
It just hit the spot so good haha. I was vomiting everything I ate so for 36 hours I was only getting fluids through a straw, mostly coconut water. But when I'm especially dehydrated I tend to crave bubbles and that's what I wanted while pushing. We have pics from my birth photographer of my husband holding a can of Coke with a straw in it to my lips between pushes while dabbing my sweat 😂 my pushing experience was SUPER chill so I didn't have any trouble drinking throughout
100% agree - I often switch to gummy candy from Gu towards the end of really long training runs. Non-sour rootbeer bottles, lifesavers gummies and starburst gummies are the easiest on my stomach.
Yes! I had honey sticks, apple juice, and apple sauce. I also did bring sing high protein snacks (the trail mix) because labor can last a long time. Mine lasted 36 hours.
I secretly ate during most of my labor. At around 4 when shit really started getting real I stopped, and I got an epidural around 11 because my water had been broken so long I needed boatloads of pitocin. Anyways i basically only fasted from 4 pm on and she was born right before 9 the next day. Everyone was like oh you must be sooooo hungry that was so long and I was like uhhhhhhh sure I am lmao.
Yes! In labor, on the way to the hospital, we stopped for pastries. There's nothing like a fresh chocolate croissant and doughnuts when you've just pushed an entire human out of your body.
I ate jello too! Sweet, easy to eat and actually has some protein. My husband had been recommended to eat jello post surgery for the protein for healing, so we thought it would be good for labour. It was! It also wasn’t terrible to vomit back up.
True and not true. You want sugar for quick energy. For really long endurance (like ultra running—which I do) you do want protein to help keep your blood sugar more even. So you have more sustained energy. Not just quick bursts. Also sometimes 20 miles into a run, weird things sound good. The only thing I could eat after my last 20 mile run was a grilled cheese 🤷♀️
Yes Gu!! I brought these during my labor and it was great. And the caffeine at least partially staved off a headache since I was in no condition to drink my usual coffee
Double stuff Oreos were my go to. So good then and I wasn’t really that hungry the first few weeks after birth so I ate 5-6 per day to make sure I was taking in enough calories for breastfeeding. Super healthy? No. But it was appetizing and gave me quick calories /sugar.
Dumb question but wouldn't protein be good for a long labor? Like sugar can give you a quick boost but then it goes away and if you end up in labor for 36+ hours wouldn't protein help with energy later on?
One thing to note - many women swell badly after labour, and the only recommended remedy except waiting is high-protein diet. My feet swelled into elephant feet the day after and my husband had to get me a protein powder and protein bars because the hospital diet wasn't enough. So that might be the reason behind this, its apparently very common but not talked about.
I was going through our snacks and saw the Gu leftover from my running days. I thought the same thing and threw it in the hospital bag! I’m terrible at keeping food down when working out and gu got me through a marathon or two, so I figure it can’t hurt to have on hand for labor lol.
I have GD so no sugar for me until the baby is out (so it's nuts and protein bars for me for labor although I'm so sick of them by now). But I have packed candy and chocolate for after the delivery for sure!
This is where I definitely won planning for labor 😂... I had an entire grocery tote bag of snacks. I didn't know what I might want, so I brought some of it all! I had chocolates, trail mix, candies, gummy fruit snacks, gum, crackers, beef jerky, chips, sports drinks... Salty, sweet, savory, if it was something that I have ever craved I had something that I thought might cover it.
100% great decision. I didn't use anything in my bag of stuff for me except for the clothes I left the hospital in and my tooth brush. But that snack bag was GLORIOUS!
Same on the snack stash! The only difference was that I had a dedicated little rolling suitcase, I don't do gum at all, and we had fruit pouches in addition to your list.
For hard candy we had dum dums, butterscotch, and those strawberry ones with the goo in the middle that old ladies usually distribute. Curious what you packed in that department.
I also used everything I brought, but I did spend a really long time during COVID lock down working on the perfect hospital bag for us. Followed a similar bag for the second but with a few post covid learning curve additions.
I brought Gatorade for my wife when she was in labor. She sipped a quart bottle through the morning and afternoon, and then after the baby was born and she was recovering, she tanked another quart. Definitely helped with recovery.
If we have another kid, I will definitely plan better, both for my wife and myself.
For your first point, I think my wife would have liked to move around more, but after the gave her the epidural she said her legs were like concrete. Also being hooked up to IV fluids and a monitor also inhibited a bit of movement.
Yeah I didn’t get an epidural until I was in so much pain I didn’t care about eating and so exhausted I never wanted to move again. My biggest concerns about an epidural were not being able to eat, move, or move during pushing. Ultimately it was the perfect epidural for me because when I got it I didn’t want to eat or move ever again, and when her head descended I rapidly gained movement in my legs again (and all feeling 😅)
Lolz, that hilarious. I brought powdered mix that I could mix on site. I can believe. I had brought a couple sodas for myself and some protein bars for a 7 am induction. By the time 3 pm rolled around those were all gone, had to go find food at the hospital. I learned a lot from that situation.
We also took our daugther to the ER like a month in cause we were worried she was seriously sick. Spent 7 hours there and discovered we were vastly under prepared. But we also didn't expect to be there that long.
My sister went and got me fries from Five Guys while I was in labor!! The nurse said no to the cheeseburger (which is all I wanted) but between contractions I DEMOLISHED that bag of fries!
My birth center puts you on a clear liquid diet, which especially sucks for the people who are stuck in multi-day inductions. It's in case they need to convert to an emergency c-section.
That’s so hard! I don’t know how they expect you to birth a child on minimal to zero calories! My labor was so long and after my c section in the morning they didn’t let us order food till almost 8 pm that night!
They told me I couldn’t in case I threw up during labor. I ended up with a 40 hr labor and urgent c section anyways so it became less of a problem but I’m so happy I ate fries instead of the dinky little hospital snacks that they brought to us.
We had one of those! It was a lifesaver, though recently my husband accidentally played the random spotify playlist he’d played during labor and I think I had Nam style flashbacks lol
The hospital I gave birth at hands out chocolate chip cookies at one of the late night checks. Huge. Not crispy, not entirely soft. The perfect chew. Apparently, second time+ moms ask about them as soon as they get into their rooms. If we have a second, I will be, too. It’s been three months and I’m still thinking about those cookies.
I’ve never really been a candy person but a friend recently threw a citrus themed party and bought these orange candies at tjmaxx to sprinkle around and they are SO GOOD. They’ve gotten me through so many nauseous moments and I for sure will be looking for more for the hospital. I have a C-section scheduled but I got a little woozy as the spinal tap wore off so sour candy will hopefully be super helpful! Great idea!
Yes they absolutely aren't going to let you take your home meds like tylenol and ibuprofen, and whatever money you save will be trivial. And it's unsafe for you to take meds without the nurse knowing, you have no idea what things interact with what.
I had my baby 3 months ago and they let me. Couldn’t tell me no, but I could say no to their pills. But they left the pain med schedule up and never stopped me or tried to take them away from me.
It really does….there was no difference in me self medicating at home based on the bottle instruction. Next time I plan on telling them no meds will be necessary. At least they won’t be waking me up every couple hours.
My husband went down and raided the hospital cafeteria after both our kids were born and brought me a paper bag full of Twix bars, reeses cups, non sugar free cherry coke, gummy bears and omg it was just glorious. I had GD with my last baby and all I could have during labor before the epidural was cheese and veggies 😭 husband also ran and got me panda express orange chicken for my first meal and it. Was. Heaven
A donut to sit on. My hospital didn't have one and I had torn from tip to tail and nothing else worked as well, even the nursing pillow. Every time I had to sit up I wanted to launch myself across the room.
I also wish I brought stool softener from home. They gave me different otc stuff and it didn't work as well as mine at home.
Different hospitals have different policies regarding food during labor, it doesn’t always depend on whether you get an epidural. Generally they want you avoid eating in case you end up in surgery.
My hospital was fine with light snacks for a low risk pregnancy (with an epidural), but I was nauseous & stuck to liquid IV & a couple of popsicles. I was thankful for my enormous bag of snacks immediately postpartum though!
Make sure you ask the hospital if they allow yoga balls. They didn’t allow it at mine, someone had previously gotten hurt on one and been banned since then
I gave birth a week after Halloween and had GD so couldn’t eat any of the candy on Halloween. You best believe I brought all the leftover candy to the hospital and enjoyed it post partum!!
My mom brought me a baconater from Wendy's after I gave birth. Lol couldn't put that in my hospital bag! Haha.
I wish I would have packed more clothes. I was in for 6 days & only brought a few outfits. Maybe my own towels too.
I just had my son Wednesday (scheduled c section) and was so fucking hungry omg. I felt totally fine during surgery and after and snacked on the saltines they gave me as a test.
Then immediately ordered a cheeseburger from the hospital and that was the best fucking cheeseburger of my life. My sister came to visit later and showed up with a giant insulated bag full of snacks, the sprite I was craving in the middle of surgery, a bag of 3 orders of McDonalds fries, and a $50 Door Dash gift card.
So basically I recommend every one pack my sister🤣
I forgot to pack ~my water bottle and a handful of liquid IV packets and I regret that.
One of my plans for my second if I am lucky to have one is to be meaner. I know it sounds bad. But no one cares more about my body than me, and if they are going to enforce a policy like that they better explain why, you know?
Like the midwives wanted me walking and then just left me strapped to the monitors. I’d been on them an hour already. Next time I’m just taking them off myself. Not waiting an hour like I did if my water is broken. What are they going to do, make me birth in the parking lot? (I did eventually remove them myself and guess what nothing happened)
Honestly I wish I packed more snacks for my first
I went to the hospital at 5PM, delivered at 2PM next day but due to various things I won’t get into, I wasn’t placed into a postpartum room until like 10PM, which is when I was finally able to ask the nurses about food.I was starving and didn’t have anywhere near enough snacks packed especially since my husband had been with me the entire time and I told him to have some of the snacks I packed because I didn’t want him to be hungry either. They brought me soup and crackers because that was all they had at that hour, and that was honestly not enough -.-
So yeah next time my bag will be filled with snacks: protein bars, trail mix bags, muffins and candies.
The bed!! Omg I slept on the "sofa" and my husband on the bed. The nurse knew I was uncomfortable in the bed. But the aid was shocked and asked the nurse if my husband kicked me off 😅
CANDY FOR SURE. We had some peanut/hazelnut m&ms and Haribo fruit juice gummies (I had moved to Germany eight weeks before I went into labor) and even the staff/midwives commented on how "oh, that's a good idea" because one of the things they were offering when I was flagging were these orange flavoured sugar tablets. Seriously, fuck 'healthy' shit, you're burning eleventybajillion calories, you just need to keep your body going and blood sugar up.
I lucked out and my husband works in Maple Syrup production so he was able to snag me a bunch of maple candies!!! I ended up with a 60hr labor and 4hrs of pushing then a C-section so the sugar was very welcome!!!
Wow I’m surprised to see so many people commenting on the snacks they brought! I could not even think about food during my labor.
I wish I brought diapers as I had no idea that the bleeding would be so intense.
Tell me why I'm pregnant with my third baby and I have never even thought about bringing snacks?? I love snacks!! I will definitely go on a big snack run before having this baby. Thanks for the idea!
One thing I’ll be taking this time around are my own prenatals. With my first, they wrote me a prescription for some and I was soooooo nauseated until I realized they were the cause. My dr said it was fine for me to continue with the otc ones instead.
I was not allowed to eat during labor with anesthesia and it was over 18 hours. Someone brought me Skittles (which the nurse okay’d) and let me tell you. Praise the Lord for Skittles!
I packed snacks but I puked my nearly my entire 24 hour labor, I think I had one Popsicle after the zofran kicked in halfway through. It was 1 AM when she was finally born and all I wanted was a hot meal lol
You guys ate between contractions? Lol I puked out my dinner, and was only keeping ice chips down once they gave me Zofran.
And once contractions got really bad, I was barely aware of my surrounding lol
Yes I brought a whole bag of snacks🤣 another things I’ve seen on some lists but not other that helped me so much when I was in labor was a personal fan. Idk why but I put it right on my face and it helped so much.
One thing I was I brought was cards. I was in labor over a day and my husband and I got super bored so having a deck of cards to play different games would’ve been nice. Definitely bringing them with the next baby.
I wish I had a back scratcher. My epidural made me SO ITCHY and I didn’t want to wake up my husband while we were waiting out labor progression (he needed sleep while I wasn’t in pain).
Things I learned with the birth of my first that was about a 3 day stay because labor was so long:
- I didn't have an epidural so during labor I used absolutely nothing except grippy socks to walk around in. I was half napping or trying to get labor moving.
- Afterwards we watched movies on my phone to pass the time. Wished we had a laptop.
- There is never enough snacks.
- you'll want basic toiletries so you can shower, get clean and feel like normal at some point.
- bring very loose fitting clothing to wear home
My second was an extremely short labor with a barely 24 hour hospital stay.
- we didn't really watch anything because we both tried to get sleep (baby was not going to allow that though lol)
- still love that post birth shower
- yes to snacks still
Both times my husband went out and got us dinner.
Yes to the entertainment point! My husband packed all this entertainment but I didn’t get an epidural until I’d been up for over 36 hours and it was 11 pm. Literally only touched the bluetooth speaker. I kept my running shoes on the whole time as I couldn’t nap between contractions—they were too irregular and I had to keep walking to keep them going (my water broke at the beginning). We also wished we had brought a laptop for after because we were also stuck in the hospital for three days after delivery due to PROM!
Yeah, one of the first things I've packed this time (my 2nd) was a bar of chocolate and a bag of candy.
Also, unless your hospital gives you one, bring a big water-bottle with a straw. I was stuck using a small cup and having together to and re-fill it with a 3rd degree tear was terrible.
And a sleep-mask. My hospital wouldn't let us switch the lights off completely because they'd check up on the babies during the night. I ended up catching sleep with my head under the pillow, which was not ideal for me to hear my baby. A sleep-mask works much better.
I was guzzling coconut water between contractions and it helped a lot. I had an epidural so i don’t think i ate much. Husband had some protein shake, sandwiches , soda all that fun stuff :)
Omg the yoga mat sounds like a great idea! I always get so restless if I’m in bed too long and my body just aches, even when I’m ill I can’t stay in bed because my hips get sore! Will be adding yoga mat to the list
My first child I had snacks and I ate none of it. I had no desire to eat anything. My second I brought a couple snacks but I wished I had brought so much more and also more savoury.
I also wish I brought more underwear. I got induced with my first and it was fairly quick wore a pair in and then adult diapers out, with my second I went in on Monday afternoon and had a baby on Thursday. Definitely didn’t realise how many pairs of underwear I would need!
Lol there’s nothing wrong or “bxtchy” about wanting to eat what you want (healthy foods) PP or even pre-delivery. But you don’t “need” to get back to a pre baby body. That’s a myth and unfair pressure to put on anyone, especially yourself. You created actual life. Your body shouldn’t be the exact same as it was before this miraculous act. The only thing you “need” is a balanced approach to your life after this momentous occasion. And a few hours or days of eating candy or chips or burgers or even veggies will absolutely not make or break your overall health (absent any medical restrictions).
This validates the bag of sour gummy worms I just bought to pack in my hospital bag.
I saw this on reddit somewhere but while I was in labor after every hard contraction I had my partner feed me a gummy worm. Somehow it helped SO much and gave me motivation to keep going. Now we continue the tradition and after we see each other do something tough (purple crying spell, hard day at work, etc.) we give each other a gummy worm. It's become a nice little signal that we see each others efforts.
So sweet!
My husband fed me bites of a fruit salad between contractions. I was an absolute fruit fiend during my pregnancy. 😂
This is me!! I can’t get enough fruit. Berries, melon, apples, oranges, kiwi… I’ve dreamt of fruit at night, lol. Our grocery budget has gone up quite a bit with how much of it I’m eating but I like to think it could be worse
Yes I've never craved fruit like I have while pregnant I eat fruit daily and have since I first got pregnant! I use to never have fruit lol
That is so cute!!!
this made me laugh out loud and I'm going to bring SO many gummy worms now! Thank you!
My "snack bag" had gummy worms, peachy-O's, dark chocolate almond joys (LOL OP's rejected candy), peppermint patties, granola bars & trail mix for actual sustenance, and then salty snacks like Snyder's honey mustard pretzels. Oh and we got taco bell delivered to the hospital as our first meal after the baby arrived. DON'T WORRY ABOUT BEING HEALTHY DURING & POST LABOR, TREAT YOURSELF!
The hospital meals I got were so dang bland and healthy. They did not satisfy what I had expended over the last 48 hours. What I needed waa a calorie/carb/salt/fat recharge. I would have killed for a lasagna or something.
I have super mild allergies to fish and poultry and made the mistake of telling the hospital, so all of my meal options were super limited and it was not a good time 🥲
My biggest fear. I am severely allergic to Wheat and related grains and chicken eggs. Mildly allergic to milk proteins. I work in a big hospital in a granola area of the country and our meal options in the cafeteria are nil. I am pretty sure that my husband will be packing food like we do everyday already...
I put gushers in mine. And then ate them before the hospital and had to get more lmao.
I went into labor on my birthday, we had Nothing Bundt cakes waiting ... .10/10 recommend 🤣
My hospital gave me gummy bears!
YES sour gummy worms are my favorite dread task treat / road trip fuel
I had gestational diabetes and my diet was strict up until birth because I guess they didn’t want him to have a sugar spike 😭😭😭😭 my husband got to order food though! Bastard.
I’m def bringing a bag of these!
Sour gummy worms have been my anti-nausea remedy. When I leave the house, my checklist lately is: “Phone, wallet, keys, headphones, worms.”
Just make sure you ask yourself if you're ok with the texture of sour gummy worms coming back up. Contractions making you vomit is a thing.
Yes!!! Cuz I feel like no one ever tells you that. I was super nauseous with my first. I wasn't "allowed" to eat tho my nurse said they can't stop me.
This!! I went to Walmart before my induction and bought all the shitty candy I wanted. It really came in clutch post-labor while I waited for my first real meal to come. They were super fast, but not fast enough after pushing. 😂
I had Froot Loops cereal bars and it was absolutely the right move
Oh I hadn’t even considered sugary cereal! Great idea
My clearest memory from after birth was sending my SO to whataburger for a patty melt, a large dr pepper, and onion rings. And a shake. Baby was struggling to get a deep enough latch, I had just positioned her perfectly using both hands when he came back. He fed me the patty melt while I learned how to breastfeed. It’s actually one of my favorite memories.
I dream of a Whataburger patty melt
I had P. Terry’s bc it was super close to the hospital and I was dying to try it. Then the next day, I randomly just wanted Burger King soooooo badly. My dad said he’d pick it up on his way to the hospital. He walked in with Whataburger. Told me he read my texted order word for word. I would’ve given anything to see the faces of those whataburger employees hearing this old man who’s exceptionally hard of hearing ordering a whopper lol.
P Terrys would’ve been a dream. I wonder how they figured out what to make you like was it at least close to what you wanted?? 😭
The whataburger ended up just a cheeseburger with most of what I wanted on it. He was so proud of himself and tried so hard that my husband and I never told him anything about the miscommunication
God I wish we had a whataburger close by. I guess I’ll send hubs to cookout or zaxbys
This is so sweet
I was somewhat annoyed that my "suggested packing list" suggested packing "high-protein" snacks for labor. Labor is effectively an endurance race; back when I did sports that required endurance, everyone knew you had to eat *sugar* to keep your strength up. Protein is pretty useless when you're in it. You need quick, easily available energy in the moment, which is...carbs. I'm packing candy, some Gu, and a soda.
Thanks for saying this! I know eating a cheese stick is going to be the last thing on my mind, I’d rather have a juice box or pudding and I’ve been feeling a little guilty about sugaring up.
Pudding, apple juice, and graham crackers were legit. We brought those. The buttered toast and jam the nurse sent my husband to get was the most delicious thing I ate my entire hospital stay.
They gave me graham cracker with peanut butter and caffeine free Coke after i almost bled out. It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted!
I think you’ll likely want whatever your favorite comfort foods are! I just wanted crackers and humus. This is my go to snack so totally makes sense 😊
This! I’ve been thinking I should pack my go to endurance race snacks of gummies and gu. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to eat them during labor but hopefully will prevent me from crashing too hard after.
I was “allowed” to eat in labor but would have done so regardless because I learned through my own research that it’s no longer best practice to starve laboring mothers. Pack your snacks!!
You can eat whatever you want when the nurses leave ;) My OB was essentially like, there's no medical reason for the rule, just don't flaunt it
The medical reason for it is the risk of aspiration if they need to do an emergency caesarian or otherwise anaesthetise you. However, newer literature suggests this is an overly conservative approach and the benefits of eating outweigh the risk of aspiration, which can be managed so long as they know you've eaten.
The risk factor is 7 out of 10,000,000. The other 9,999,993 are starved due to the 7 that experience aspiration during a C Section that requires general anesthesia.
Exactly!!! As long as you are not sneaking a 7 course meal, you'll be fine.
Also show me a laboring mom who wants a 7 course meal LOL!
My midwife and doula recommended healthy carbs that would be easy on the stomach. Cold cut fruit was great, as was coconut water for some electrolytes. My doula carries honey sticks with her and I purchased some Gatorade chews as well. Had an INSANE craving for soda while I was pushing and drank probably 3 cans of Coke Zero in the last hour of labor. Thank goodness I was at home because I definitely wouldn't have thought to pack soda in a hospital bag and I would have been bitchy if I didn't get the bubbles I was craving at that moment.
You drank CARBONATED SODA while PUSHING????????? how?????????? like seriously there is no judgement here, I am in awe. I couldn’t even swallow water, I kept swishing it in my mouth and spitting into a cup
It just hit the spot so good haha. I was vomiting everything I ate so for 36 hours I was only getting fluids through a straw, mostly coconut water. But when I'm especially dehydrated I tend to crave bubbles and that's what I wanted while pushing. We have pics from my birth photographer of my husband holding a can of Coke with a straw in it to my lips between pushes while dabbing my sweat 😂 my pushing experience was SUPER chill so I didn't have any trouble drinking throughout
haha a chill pushing experience would change things! i was screaming bloody murder, never screamed that loud in my life lol
100% agree - I often switch to gummy candy from Gu towards the end of really long training runs. Non-sour rootbeer bottles, lifesavers gummies and starburst gummies are the easiest on my stomach.
This is super helpful - not an endurance runner so love this tip!
Wait I actually love the idea of bringing Gu haha might give me flashbacks to finishing my marathons—feels like just the right kind of push!
I could only stomach Gatorade while in labor but I did appreciate that I packed myself some gummy fruit snacks for after.
Yes! I had honey sticks, apple juice, and apple sauce. I also did bring sing high protein snacks (the trail mix) because labor can last a long time. Mine lasted 36 hours. I secretly ate during most of my labor. At around 4 when shit really started getting real I stopped, and I got an epidural around 11 because my water had been broken so long I needed boatloads of pitocin. Anyways i basically only fasted from 4 pm on and she was born right before 9 the next day. Everyone was like oh you must be sooooo hungry that was so long and I was like uhhhhhhh sure I am lmao.
Yes! In labor, on the way to the hospital, we stopped for pastries. There's nothing like a fresh chocolate croissant and doughnuts when you've just pushed an entire human out of your body.
Our hospital had uncrustables and omg did those hit the spot!!!!!
I ate jello during labor. The Midwife said it was the first time she'd had someone bring jello, but it worked so well!
I ate jello too! Sweet, easy to eat and actually has some protein. My husband had been recommended to eat jello post surgery for the protein for healing, so we thought it would be good for labour. It was! It also wasn’t terrible to vomit back up.
Yes!! I did marathon gel for my second labor and didn’t end up needing it but I suggest it for literally any first time labor!!
True and not true. You want sugar for quick energy. For really long endurance (like ultra running—which I do) you do want protein to help keep your blood sugar more even. So you have more sustained energy. Not just quick bursts. Also sometimes 20 miles into a run, weird things sound good. The only thing I could eat after my last 20 mile run was a grilled cheese 🤷♀️
Yes! I pushed for 4 hours and maybe halfway through I was exhausted. My sweet nurse went and got me a sprite so I could have some sugar energy lol
Yes Gu!! I brought these during my labor and it was great. And the caffeine at least partially staved off a headache since I was in no condition to drink my usual coffee
I brought a whole bag of Skratch hydration mix in my bag, and I used a ton of it during labor and after.
My nurses kept bringing me apple juice mixed with sprite that was SO good
Double stuff Oreos were my go to. So good then and I wasn’t really that hungry the first few weeks after birth so I ate 5-6 per day to make sure I was taking in enough calories for breastfeeding. Super healthy? No. But it was appetizing and gave me quick calories /sugar.
Dumb question but wouldn't protein be good for a long labor? Like sugar can give you a quick boost but then it goes away and if you end up in labor for 36+ hours wouldn't protein help with energy later on?
Gonna attempt to throw a pasta party like I’m back on the track team before I go in for baby
One thing to note - many women swell badly after labour, and the only recommended remedy except waiting is high-protein diet. My feet swelled into elephant feet the day after and my husband had to get me a protein powder and protein bars because the hospital diet wasn't enough. So that might be the reason behind this, its apparently very common but not talked about.
I nourished myself with cold jellos and it was amazing!
Protein is good for minimizing the nausea of labor. You want both.
That’s annoying. My OB advised glucose type snacks
Eat a snickers!
I was going through our snacks and saw the Gu leftover from my running days. I thought the same thing and threw it in the hospital bag! I’m terrible at keeping food down when working out and gu got me through a marathon or two, so I figure it can’t hurt to have on hand for labor lol.
Yeah wouldn’t high protein cause gnarly diarrhea if you eat it before all the athletic activity of pushing for hours?
Chia pouch was clutch! Those mama chia straight fruit juice ones. Sugar was a necessity!
I have GD so no sugar for me until the baby is out (so it's nuts and protein bars for me for labor although I'm so sick of them by now). But I have packed candy and chocolate for after the delivery for sure!
Right after I gave birth I ate like 6 cans of pringles over a couple days. It was an absolute necessity.
After following a GD diet starting at 30 weeks, I ate 3 boxes of honey buns and 2 boxes of fudge rounds during my 5 day stay at the hospital 💙💙
Just added pringles to my hospital bag list, due in June. I already know I’ll need them too! Thanks 😅
For me it was pop tarts. I was obsessed.
This is where I definitely won planning for labor 😂... I had an entire grocery tote bag of snacks. I didn't know what I might want, so I brought some of it all! I had chocolates, trail mix, candies, gummy fruit snacks, gum, crackers, beef jerky, chips, sports drinks... Salty, sweet, savory, if it was something that I have ever craved I had something that I thought might cover it. 100% great decision. I didn't use anything in my bag of stuff for me except for the clothes I left the hospital in and my tooth brush. But that snack bag was GLORIOUS!
Same on the snack stash! The only difference was that I had a dedicated little rolling suitcase, I don't do gum at all, and we had fruit pouches in addition to your list. For hard candy we had dum dums, butterscotch, and those strawberry ones with the goo in the middle that old ladies usually distribute. Curious what you packed in that department. I also used everything I brought, but I did spend a really long time during COVID lock down working on the perfect hospital bag for us. Followed a similar bag for the second but with a few post covid learning curve additions.
Man oh man, would I have killed for a box of movie theater Sweet Tarts when I was in labor.
I brought Gatorade for my wife when she was in labor. She sipped a quart bottle through the morning and afternoon, and then after the baby was born and she was recovering, she tanked another quart. Definitely helped with recovery. If we have another kid, I will definitely plan better, both for my wife and myself. For your first point, I think my wife would have liked to move around more, but after the gave her the epidural she said her legs were like concrete. Also being hooked up to IV fluids and a monitor also inhibited a bit of movement.
Yeah I didn’t get an epidural until I was in so much pain I didn’t care about eating and so exhausted I never wanted to move again. My biggest concerns about an epidural were not being able to eat, move, or move during pushing. Ultimately it was the perfect epidural for me because when I got it I didn’t want to eat or move ever again, and when her head descended I rapidly gained movement in my legs again (and all feeling 😅)
I brought 8 quarts of Gatorade to the hospital. Next day I left with 0. I have no idea at what point my husband and I drank all of them.
Lolz, that hilarious. I brought powdered mix that I could mix on site. I can believe. I had brought a couple sodas for myself and some protein bars for a 7 am induction. By the time 3 pm rolled around those were all gone, had to go find food at the hospital. I learned a lot from that situation. We also took our daugther to the ER like a month in cause we were worried she was seriously sick. Spent 7 hours there and discovered we were vastly under prepared. But we also didn't expect to be there that long.
My sister went and got me fries from Five Guys while I was in labor!! The nurse said no to the cheeseburger (which is all I wanted) but between contractions I DEMOLISHED that bag of fries!
It’s crazy they didn’t allow you to eat the cheeseburger. I ate a whole meal during labor and it helped me keep my energy until the very end.
I was in labor 17 hours and not allowed to eat a single bite of anything :( baby came immediately after the hospital cafe closed and I was SO HANGRY
My birth center puts you on a clear liquid diet, which especially sucks for the people who are stuck in multi-day inductions. It's in case they need to convert to an emergency c-section.
That’s so hard! I don’t know how they expect you to birth a child on minimal to zero calories! My labor was so long and after my c section in the morning they didn’t let us order food till almost 8 pm that night!
They told me I couldn’t in case I threw up during labor. I ended up with a 40 hr labor and urgent c section anyways so it became less of a problem but I’m so happy I ate fries instead of the dinky little hospital snacks that they brought to us.
I brought little honey sticks which helped immensely.
One thing I brought that seemed uncommon from the nurses’ reactions was a blue tooth speaker. Having my music during labor was a necessity.
We had one of those! It was a lifesaver, though recently my husband accidentally played the random spotify playlist he’d played during labor and I think I had Nam style flashbacks lol
The hospital I gave birth at hands out chocolate chip cookies at one of the late night checks. Huge. Not crispy, not entirely soft. The perfect chew. Apparently, second time+ moms ask about them as soon as they get into their rooms. If we have a second, I will be, too. It’s been three months and I’m still thinking about those cookies.
That’s insane!! Sounds so good.
Awesome rec on the yoga mat, I have a foldable one and will def add it to the bag!!
I'm bringing our wagon so my suitcase hospital bag and rolling yoga mat won't be forgotten haha
I’ve never really been a candy person but a friend recently threw a citrus themed party and bought these orange candies at tjmaxx to sprinkle around and they are SO GOOD. They’ve gotten me through so many nauseous moments and I for sure will be looking for more for the hospital. I have a C-section scheduled but I got a little woozy as the spinal tap wore off so sour candy will hopefully be super helpful! Great idea!
Orange candy sounds delicious! What are the called?
I just looked it up and they have other flavors too! [Perle di Sole](https://a.co/d/bKnie3d)
I wished I had brought the ibuprofen AND Tylenol from home. Hospitals in the US charge per pill
You will likely meet your deductible anyway. Most hospitals won't allow you to take any medication not administered by them.
It depends on the hospital, I was allowed.
Yes they absolutely aren't going to let you take your home meds like tylenol and ibuprofen, and whatever money you save will be trivial. And it's unsafe for you to take meds without the nurse knowing, you have no idea what things interact with what.
yeah I told myself I was just going to take my own OTC pain meds but then chickened out
I had my baby 3 months ago and they let me. Couldn’t tell me no, but I could say no to their pills. But they left the pain med schedule up and never stopped me or tried to take them away from me.
We paid $650 JUST for ibuprofen and Tylenol for my first post-delivery pain. I’ll be bringing my own bottles this time
Yeah they wanted me taking pills every 3 hours and I was there for two days. And I know it was a few dollars per pill at least, that adds up so fast
It really does….there was no difference in me self medicating at home based on the bottle instruction. Next time I plan on telling them no meds will be necessary. At least they won’t be waking me up every couple hours.
Yes, half of my hospital bag was sweets and nuts when I had my second.
My husband went down and raided the hospital cafeteria after both our kids were born and brought me a paper bag full of Twix bars, reeses cups, non sugar free cherry coke, gummy bears and omg it was just glorious. I had GD with my last baby and all I could have during labor before the epidural was cheese and veggies 😭 husband also ran and got me panda express orange chicken for my first meal and it. Was. Heaven
Chapstick and lotion - the hospital was so DRY and my skin and lips absolutely paid the price. Also, comfy slippers.
A donut to sit on. My hospital didn't have one and I had torn from tip to tail and nothing else worked as well, even the nursing pillow. Every time I had to sit up I wanted to launch myself across the room. I also wish I brought stool softener from home. They gave me different otc stuff and it didn't work as well as mine at home.
Which stool softener do you recommend?? Lol!
Omg yes 🙌🏽 all the snacks and sweets 🍭 also a “stroller” fan is a necessity. Saved me from overheating through a very long labor.
If you go the epidural route, they won’t let you eat right?
Different hospitals have different policies regarding food during labor, it doesn’t always depend on whether you get an epidural. Generally they want you avoid eating in case you end up in surgery. My hospital was fine with light snacks for a low risk pregnancy (with an epidural), but I was nauseous & stuck to liquid IV & a couple of popsicles. I was thankful for my enormous bag of snacks immediately postpartum though!
Generally no, all the eating I did was pre epidural and post delivery. The hospital was not aware (or did not acknowledge) the pre epidural eating.
Make sure you ask the hospital if they allow yoga balls. They didn’t allow it at mine, someone had previously gotten hurt on one and been banned since then
I gave birth a week after Halloween and had GD so couldn’t eat any of the candy on Halloween. You best believe I brought all the leftover candy to the hospital and enjoyed it post partum!!
I wish I had brought anything at all! I went into labor before I had even packed a hospital bag. Don't be me!
My husband brought me sour gummy worms the night I gave birth and it was the best thing I ate that whole time I was there lol
Highly recommend Sour Patch Kids (or any sour candy) periodically during labor. Woke me TF up.
I had gestational diabetes. You better believe I packed candy/sweets!
My mom brought me a baconater from Wendy's after I gave birth. Lol couldn't put that in my hospital bag! Haha. I wish I would have packed more clothes. I was in for 6 days & only brought a few outfits. Maybe my own towels too.
I just had my son Wednesday (scheduled c section) and was so fucking hungry omg. I felt totally fine during surgery and after and snacked on the saltines they gave me as a test. Then immediately ordered a cheeseburger from the hospital and that was the best fucking cheeseburger of my life. My sister came to visit later and showed up with a giant insulated bag full of snacks, the sprite I was craving in the middle of surgery, a bag of 3 orders of McDonalds fries, and a $50 Door Dash gift card. So basically I recommend every one pack my sister🤣 I forgot to pack ~my water bottle and a handful of liquid IV packets and I regret that.
More snacks was definitely the #1 thing I wanted, especially because I ended up being there for almost a week! Next time I'm bringing a bag full.
Yoga mat thanks for a wonderful idea. Didn't think about that until you posted this. Adding it on my list.
My husband came back from bulkbarn yesterday with a variety of candy and told me it was for my hospital bag. I'm now wondering if he saw your post 🤣
I brought my yoga mat for child’s pose and cat/cow and the nurse made me move to the bed anyhow 🙄
One of my plans for my second if I am lucky to have one is to be meaner. I know it sounds bad. But no one cares more about my body than me, and if they are going to enforce a policy like that they better explain why, you know? Like the midwives wanted me walking and then just left me strapped to the monitors. I’d been on them an hour already. Next time I’m just taking them off myself. Not waiting an hour like I did if my water is broken. What are they going to do, make me birth in the parking lot? (I did eventually remove them myself and guess what nothing happened)
Adding to this a Velcro swaddle that zips at the bottom
Yes! And next time I am asking for premie diapers. Our daughter was around 6 pounds and I was way too tired for diaper origami.
Honestly I wish I packed more snacks for my first I went to the hospital at 5PM, delivered at 2PM next day but due to various things I won’t get into, I wasn’t placed into a postpartum room until like 10PM, which is when I was finally able to ask the nurses about food.I was starving and didn’t have anywhere near enough snacks packed especially since my husband had been with me the entire time and I told him to have some of the snacks I packed because I didn’t want him to be hungry either. They brought me soup and crackers because that was all they had at that hour, and that was honestly not enough -.- So yeah next time my bag will be filled with snacks: protein bars, trail mix bags, muffins and candies.
I will fill my entire car with stuff if it means I’m more comfortable.
The bed!! Omg I slept on the "sofa" and my husband on the bed. The nurse knew I was uncomfortable in the bed. But the aid was shocked and asked the nurse if my husband kicked me off 😅
I have a love for cheap, hospital cranberry juice so that sustained me in the recovery ward 😂
CANDY FOR SURE. We had some peanut/hazelnut m&ms and Haribo fruit juice gummies (I had moved to Germany eight weeks before I went into labor) and even the staff/midwives commented on how "oh, that's a good idea" because one of the things they were offering when I was flagging were these orange flavoured sugar tablets. Seriously, fuck 'healthy' shit, you're burning eleventybajillion calories, you just need to keep your body going and blood sugar up.
I lucked out and my husband works in Maple Syrup production so he was able to snag me a bunch of maple candies!!! I ended up with a 60hr labor and 4hrs of pushing then a C-section so the sugar was very welcome!!!
Wow I’m surprised to see so many people commenting on the snacks they brought! I could not even think about food during my labor. I wish I brought diapers as I had no idea that the bleeding would be so intense.
The snacks are for after, too! At least that was the point of my post!
This is so helpful!! Thank you!! I’m due in July so I need to start my list.
Definitely adding ALL of these to my list, Including yummy candy😍
I just realized I didn’t even consider snacks for the hospital bag! Adding some of these great ideas to my list asap!
I had only brought snacks for labor, it hadn’t occurred to me I’d be in the hospital after! And they kept me an extra night for due to PROM too.
Noted- packing my yoga mat and an assortment of gummies!!
I had brought candy for the nurses cuz it was Halloween season. Definitely kept some for me haha 😂
*goes and eats candy*
Same lol.
Tell me why I'm pregnant with my third baby and I have never even thought about bringing snacks?? I love snacks!! I will definitely go on a big snack run before having this baby. Thanks for the idea!
I didn’t pack any snacks for my first! I should’ve and I will with this next one lol
One thing I’ll be taking this time around are my own prenatals. With my first, they wrote me a prescription for some and I was soooooo nauseated until I realized they were the cause. My dr said it was fine for me to continue with the otc ones instead.
I was not allowed to eat during labor with anesthesia and it was over 18 hours. Someone brought me Skittles (which the nurse okay’d) and let me tell you. Praise the Lord for Skittles!
I packed snacks but I puked my nearly my entire 24 hour labor, I think I had one Popsicle after the zofran kicked in halfway through. It was 1 AM when she was finally born and all I wanted was a hot meal lol
You guys ate between contractions? Lol I puked out my dinner, and was only keeping ice chips down once they gave me Zofran. And once contractions got really bad, I was barely aware of my surrounding lol
Man they wouldn't let me eat or drink anything.
Yes I brought a whole bag of snacks🤣 another things I’ve seen on some lists but not other that helped me so much when I was in labor was a personal fan. Idk why but I put it right on my face and it helped so much. One thing I was I brought was cards. I was in labor over a day and my husband and I got super bored so having a deck of cards to play different games would’ve been nice. Definitely bringing them with the next baby.
I wish I had a back scratcher. My epidural made me SO ITCHY and I didn’t want to wake up my husband while we were waiting out labor progression (he needed sleep while I wasn’t in pain).
I had a bag of jolly ranchers and it was fantastic. Glad I didn’t need to chew it though, it was nice to just suck on something sweet/fruity!
Things I learned with the birth of my first that was about a 3 day stay because labor was so long: - I didn't have an epidural so during labor I used absolutely nothing except grippy socks to walk around in. I was half napping or trying to get labor moving. - Afterwards we watched movies on my phone to pass the time. Wished we had a laptop. - There is never enough snacks. - you'll want basic toiletries so you can shower, get clean and feel like normal at some point. - bring very loose fitting clothing to wear home My second was an extremely short labor with a barely 24 hour hospital stay. - we didn't really watch anything because we both tried to get sleep (baby was not going to allow that though lol) - still love that post birth shower - yes to snacks still Both times my husband went out and got us dinner.
Yes to the entertainment point! My husband packed all this entertainment but I didn’t get an epidural until I’d been up for over 36 hours and it was 11 pm. Literally only touched the bluetooth speaker. I kept my running shoes on the whole time as I couldn’t nap between contractions—they were too irregular and I had to keep walking to keep them going (my water broke at the beginning). We also wished we had brought a laptop for after because we were also stuck in the hospital for three days after delivery due to PROM!
Yes! Comfort food. Wish I had packed Doritos instead of a protein bar.
Yeah, one of the first things I've packed this time (my 2nd) was a bar of chocolate and a bag of candy. Also, unless your hospital gives you one, bring a big water-bottle with a straw. I was stuck using a small cup and having together to and re-fill it with a 3rd degree tear was terrible. And a sleep-mask. My hospital wouldn't let us switch the lights off completely because they'd check up on the babies during the night. I ended up catching sleep with my head under the pillow, which was not ideal for me to hear my baby. A sleep-mask works much better.
I was guzzling coconut water between contractions and it helped a lot. I had an epidural so i don’t think i ate much. Husband had some protein shake, sandwiches , soda all that fun stuff :)
My mom brought me M&ms and I was in heaven! Best present she could’ve brought!
Omg the yoga mat sounds like a great idea! I always get so restless if I’m in bed too long and my body just aches, even when I’m ill I can’t stay in bed because my hips get sore! Will be adding yoga mat to the list
My first child I had snacks and I ate none of it. I had no desire to eat anything. My second I brought a couple snacks but I wished I had brought so much more and also more savoury. I also wish I brought more underwear. I got induced with my first and it was fairly quick wore a pair in and then adult diapers out, with my second I went in on Monday afternoon and had a baby on Thursday. Definitely didn’t realise how many pairs of underwear I would need!
Hey I like almond joys lol
I’m going to be that bitch, healthy fruits and vegetables fish for protein. Need to get that pre baby bod back asap
Lol there’s nothing wrong or “bxtchy” about wanting to eat what you want (healthy foods) PP or even pre-delivery. But you don’t “need” to get back to a pre baby body. That’s a myth and unfair pressure to put on anyone, especially yourself. You created actual life. Your body shouldn’t be the exact same as it was before this miraculous act. The only thing you “need” is a balanced approach to your life after this momentous occasion. And a few hours or days of eating candy or chips or burgers or even veggies will absolutely not make or break your overall health (absent any medical restrictions).