March 29, 2020

What I'm Packing for Labor & Delivery During the Covid Pandemic

March 29, 2020/ Colleen Marie

I’m finally sharing everything I’ve rounded up for my hospital bag for delivering our first babe! I researched so many ideas from some of my favorite bloggers and then refined what would work best for us living in the city. It’s without a doubt a very scary time preparing to deliver during a pandemic, especially in such a dense place like NYC. In truth, I’ve had my bag packed for quite a while, but then have revisited it several times. This was to add something for my own personal comfort or remove items thinking about the risk of exposure.

We also were made heartbroken earlier this week when we were notified that our hospital was banning spouses and birth partners from the labor and delivery room. I was absolutely crushed that Kevin would not be part of one of the most important experiences of our lives together. Through many tears we tried to accept the current reality, which is just terrifying, though hopeful. We understood why such a protocol would have to be put into place to protect the many babies, mothers, and hospital staff risking their lives each day for their patients. All we want is to bring a healthy baby into this world so whatever way that would happen is what we were prepared to do.

(Update: On Saturday March 28 Governor Cuomo of NYS announced that birth partners without a fever would be allowed to be part of labor and delivery through both private and public hospitals in New York. It was announced there would be an executive order put into place to enforce this updated policy. You can read more about that here. We’re still finding it hard to believe, because we had spent all week accepting the fact I would be giving birth alone. So we are relieved, though still cautious about this new policy change.)

We can’t thank the amount of friends and family enough who have reached out to us all month with their support and positivity during this uncertain time. All of the virtual love, phone calls, and texts are giving us the strength to get through the end of this last trimester.

When it comes to packing you may be either the minimalist or over packer. If any advice I’ve taken it’s to do whatever works best for you, that will allow you to feel comfortable, prepared, and secure. Packing your overnight bag for the hospital really depends on what you know you’ll utilize the most. I’m usually more on the over packer side for sure but with everything that has been going on in regard to Covid 19 I want to make sure we’re best prepared since so much is an unknown right now. I’m actually planning on bringing my small wheelie suitcase so I don’t have to carry anything on my shoulder and can just toss it out after. Even though we’ll be on it’s own locked floor this virus is spreading so quickly so I’m trying to rethink what I packed and not bring anything valuable.

Preparing for Birth During a Pandemic

As part of our birth plan relaxation techniques and hypnobirthing is an approach I’ve been focused on. We had discovered the Positive Birthing Company. and purchased the digital pack. ( I definitely tend to get very anxious in unpredictable situations where I have little to no control, especially ones as life changing and new as child birth.) I’ve been thinking of different ways I can create the labor and delivery space that would be best relaxing for me. I know the environment will impact how I’ll be feeling so creating a space where the lighting, visuals, smells, sounds bring about a sense of calm are important to me.

We also have worked alongside our virtual doula from Monarch Parents to prepare us for birth. I can’t recommend these helpful resources enough during this Covid 19 pandemic as hospital policies change. Many in person birthing classes have now been canceled so these resources have been very helpful. We have created a birth plan, but are extremely flexible in trusting our doctors to make medical decisions with our input for a healthy mom and baby. The extra resources lately from our parent group membership have been a great way to stay connected with parents going through similar struggles and worries leading up to their child’s birth.

I’ve rounded up everything I’ll be bringing with us to the hospital for our delivery below!

Mama’s Items

Button Down Pajamas I’m one who prefers a top and bottom especially if I’m not sleeping at home. I chose this set because it’s super soft, stretchy, warm, and has buttons down the front for feeding. I’m keeping with black for obvious reasons.

Nursing Gown & Robe I heard some people prefer a robe and nursing gown so I did throw one just to have another option for another night’s stay.

Briefs & Always Discreet Underwear I’m being practical about all the feedback about under garments and I’ll spare the details, but I know I won’t be in regular panties for a while after this so I’m packing some come comfortable boyfriend briefs from H&M. Target also has this great soft brand and I’ve heard good things about Kindred Braverly for postpartum too. I’m just packing some of the darker briefs and the always brand disposable underwear. I’ve heard the hospital will supply me with tons so not over packing these items.

Nursing Bras Packing 1 nursing bra, 2 sleep bras, and a nursing camisole. There’s more below on self care for breast feeding if that starts in the hospital and I had a very generous friend gift me a ton of useful items for that stage.

Nursing Pullover I love this lounge set in this color! I also think this tie dye option is great too. The pants are like buttery soft too. I’m packing that in addition to my maternity/postpartum black leggings

Button Down Thermal This top is perfect for comfort and for breast feeding so packing it to go with my leggings.

Barefoot Dreams Cardigan I plan on bringing this to wear if it’s chillier and on the way home. It’s super soft and I wear it non stop around home.

Slippers Packing a pair of slippers that I can just toss along with flip flops for the shower. No need to say more here but I’ve heard snagging a cheap pair of hotel slippers are the best way to go. If you can’t grab those I found these on Amazon as a 5 pack.

Grippy Socks My feet are always cold and the anti slip grip on the bottom will work great for walking around during labor or after delivery. My friend gifted me a cute girl? or boy? pair!

Tech Tools

I plan on bringing Baby S’s night light with me to help with night feedings so I don’t have the harsh hospital ones, along with the battery operated string lights. They’re both something I’m used to at home that bring about comfort. I recently added on this phone stand clamp when I was going to be in L&D solo and still packing it to play music/watch movies. I’ll get more use out of it later for recording my lesson plans/tutorials. I’ve also added a mini essential oil diffuser so I can have some calming lavender during recovery and not have the hospital scent that is overwhelming to me. Kevin recently purchase the portable Bose speaker that I intend on playing some calming music from our Spotify playlist during laboring. I’ll be deflating my birthing ball and bringing it along with the electric pump to help with laboring since I’ve been doing most of my workouts with it. Most importantly we are packing two 10ft long phone chargers that will come in good use for charging our devices.

Toiletries

I’m bringing my toiletries pouch with tooth brush, tooth paste, contact solution and case. Hospitals can be very dry so I knew I’d have to pack hand face/body moisturizer and chap stick. My skin has been so dry and itchy lately! I don’t know if it’s staying in quarantine or the lack of sun but it’s tough! I also packed travel sized shampoo/conditioner, body wash, hair scrunchi, and deodorant. I also added face wipes to cool down as needed and my facial fan.

Additional items would be a hair brush and breath mints (in case you were to get sick during labor) I know most hospitals will provide a toiletries case for you too so these are not necessities.

I had originally planned on bringing my boppy pillow to help with support for myself to establish breast feeding which is a good idea but due to wanting to limit the amount of germs I could be bringing back home with us I’m going to skip out on this. Keep in mind there may be some things you could opt to leave behind which I plan on doing. I had grabbed a c heap dark towel & wash cloth from Target for showering since hospital ones tend to be small and super dry. I’ll probably leave that behind along with a cheap pillow.

Snacks

We’re also packing some easy snacks and drinks for pre and post delivery. I can have clear liquids so packing my yeti, coconut water, and gatorade to stay hydrated, I also tossed in some trail mix, gummies, pretzels, and granola bars for once I’m into recovery. I know the hospital will have meals and we originally planned on take out, but I’m betting on spouses not being able to leave then return so we’re planning ahead.

Postpartum Care

The hospitals will most definitely provide all mamas with plenty of postpartum care products throughout your stay. Everyone recommends taking advantage of these products and bringing them home with you to help in the days of recovering from child birth. I recommend bringing home the mesh undies and anything else they supply you with. My good friend gifted me a postpartum kit for the days and weeks following and recommended the following items. I also like this Frida Mama Postpartum kit.

Dermoplast Spray- Can help ease burning and pains in the nether region.

Tucks Cooling Pads- Witch hazel cooling pads

Always Postpartum Underwear

Personal Perineal Body Washer

Baby Items

I’ll be packing our diaper bag for this little one with a few different items for our stay at the hospital then coming home. The following items are what I packed for baby:

March 18, 2020

Baby Shower Maternity Dresses

March 18, 2020/ Colleen Marie

Thought I would put together some of the dresses I had been eyeing for my gender neutral baby shower. Sadly with all of the progression with this coronavirus I’m hearing so many people are postponing, canceling, or figuring out creative alternatives to their planned baby showers. I’ve rounded up some dresses that I had checked out while preparing for my own. Stay positive mamas and stay safe most importantly!

Honestly, at first it was a little tough for which color I’d like to wear or if I should just go with a print, not to mention it would be in our cold hometown of Buffalo. I loved the idea of a long sleeve and longer dress for this reason. I ended up ordering a few that I’ve linked below to try on for options then will narrowed it down once I see how everything fits. I loved ASOS quick shipping & returns were super easy and so was Nordstrom with this. I like how Asos offers talls in materity wear so it’s been my go to for more casual pieces.

My mom, mother in law, and nana had planned everything with a surprise gender neutral theme so before the day I didn’t know much about what to expect. Looking back on it afterward, it was just perfect and I was a lot more at ease not knowing. I had already gotten used to this surprise element with choosing to not find out baby S’s sex.

I was just 34 weeks for the shower and while we were home we also took our maternity photos. I’m looking forward to using this platform to share those in the near future too. I’ll be doing a full post on our baby shower later this week, so stay tuned.

We’ve been getting everything cleaned out and organized to make room for baby S since he or she will be rooming in with us for the first few months. This last trimester is flying by and going slow all at the same time!

Now that there is more social distancing and everyone is staying in is anyone canceling or delaying their showers? What about a more virtual approach? I’m seeing a lot of registry companies are offering extensions on discounts and being very flexible. If you’re using Babylist they just issued a statement regarding extending discounts and other items for registries since stores are selling out of things like wipes and diapers. If you’re a soon to be mama you may want to look into these new procedures going into place or question further.

Hope everyone is staying healthy and making safe choices for themselves and loved ones during this uncertain time!

January 13, 2020

Surprise! We're Expecting!

January 13, 2020/ Colleen Marie

Finally sharing this much over do post of our pregnancy! As I’m writing this at the end of my 2nd trimester I’m in awe of how fast time is flying by and in a few short months we’ll be bringing home our sweet baby! I’m over the moon excited to be experiencing a healthy pregnancy and couldn’t wait to share the news back in the fall with our closest family and friends. It was so hard keeping it a secret, we didn’t share with our families until I was 16 weeks and could make the trip upstate to share in person.

Shortly before our summer vacation to Bermuda we found out we were expecting! It brought a whole new meaning to our trip together. And in all honesty, it was an emotional relief. We had been trying to conceive for about a year and were becoming concerned that something may be off. I may have been naive but I really thought being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle wouldn’t create any issues with conceiving. We didn’t have to start further further fertility testing, but that was our next step after meeting with our doctor to discuss our options. Conceiving definitely took longer than we both first thought. There were a plethora of steps we started to take to prepare both our bodies for pregnancy the moment we knew it was taking longer than expected. I had already been taking pre natal vitamins, exercising, eating healthy all around so we started doing our research into some other life style habits for both of us. There’s more to share in this area (in a future blog post on our journey toward pregnancy)

I know everyone’s situation is different, and everyone’s body is different but I wanted to normalize how common it is to face challenges with fertility and it’s not something everyone talks about enough throughout their experience.

Rewinding back to the earliest moments before actually becoming pregnant Kevin and I knew we always wanted to be parents. We’ve been together for 10 years and close to that time we started getting more serious about our family planning. Our last biggest change was taking the risk of leaving our hometown of Buffalo, NY and chasing our dreams in New York City. The past 8 years in New York have been some of the best experiences for both of us both personally and professionally, where we’ve grown so much as individuals and in a partnership together.

We’ve had phenomenal experiences traveling allover the world together before and during our married time and knew we wanted these experiences before starting a family.

Choosing a career devoting myself to the lives of children I have always been passionate in that area and knew early on and always dreamed of a family of my own. My earliest days in college and beyond I had baby sat and nannied, loving every aspect of working with children. I cannot wait to see Kevin in his new role as a father. Growing up as the oldest brother of 4 boys he’s always demonstrated an incredible amount of patience and support to his entire family.

One of my biggest fears aside from the typical early pregnancy concerns and paranoia (thanks crazy hormones) where I knew my identity would change and I’d miss our old lifestyle and relationship as just the two of us. We knew that becoming a family of three would change most parts of our lives, and we knew we wanted that change for the better. We can’t wait to welcome baby Siskar this April 2020! It will be the greatest surprise yet for us as we’re waiting until delivery to find out the sex.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have already been so supportive throughout our journey thus far, from both near and far! Can’t wait to keep you all updated on some motherhood posts soon to come.

Huge shout out and thank you to @CailtynReilly for our gorgeous winter bump pics! If you’re in the Buffalo area I highly recommend booking an appointment with her for a special family or couples shoot. She is so talented and so down to earth to work with!