I have started to think about what I need to pack for the hospital. We’re almost 7 weeks out, but E was a week early, exactly, and I am starting now so that as I remember things, I have plenty of time to add them. That second part is probably most important, since my ability to remember how to do just about everything–including think coherently–is rapidly plummeting. For example, not even an hour ago, I told S I had made homemade pumpkin creamer for my popcorn.
I don’t even know.
Well, my first hospital bag experience was an epic fail. I way over-packed things that I didn’t need and didn’t pack things I should have packed. It was brutal, and after a little more than 48 hours at Northside Hospital Atlanta, we left with almost more stuff than we could fit in the car. The post-delivery rooms were more like incredibly sterile hotel suites than hospital rooms–there was a hair dryer, soap, toothbrush, tooth paste… Pretty much anything I could possibly need. Rather than subject my own clothes and pajamas to the carnage that was my post-partum body, I lived in the hospital gowns and mesh panties provided.
That was a civilian hospital though, and I would be blown away if any of the above was provided (well, I am going to go out on a limb and guess they will have plenty of ugly hospital gowns and mesh panties on hand), but I still plan to be smarter about what I pack this time. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, though.
So, probably the most fun thing to pack for the hospital is the “coming home” outfit. I have never really believed in making said outfit some beautiful, $100 boutique outfit, but rather something comfortable for the new little person. E wore this particular little blanket sleeper home:
It was the only newborn thing we owned, except for a pack of onesies I got on clearance from Carter’s “just in case.” I never for a second thought I would have a baby under 8 lbs, much less one that left the hospital under 7 (remember, they lose a little bit those first couple of days), so buying “newborn size” was something I just never did. I told myself we had more than enough in the 0-3 size, and that would do her.
Wrong.
That little blanket sleeper up there? It swallowed her whole. A couple of days after bringing her home, we were scouring all of the baby stores, looking for something in a newborn–or even preemie!–size. We eventually were able to round out her wardrobe, and 5 weeks after her birth, she was finally able to wear those cute 0-3 outfits I had sitting around, collecting dust.
And I have some really cute things, now, for this one (as long as baby girl isn’t ginormous). But I wanted her to have her own coming home outfit. As you may or may not remember, I bought her a really cute outfit at Gymboree when I was home visiting my parents a month and a half ago, only to have said outfit bleed red all over itself. I was never able to get it out, and have since been waiting for Gymboree’s new fall line to come out so I could get her something else fall-ish.
That day finally came. Last night, I dragged S to the store and we came home with this for baby girl:
And these for her big sister, E:
(Sorry the pictures are kind of dark–I used my phone instead of the good camera).
I took everything upstairs to put with the things I need to ready for the hospital (and hang up the big girl outfits in the closet), and decided to pull out something from the pile of new 0-3 sized things I bought a few months back (also last year’s fall line) to pack just in case this one needed something bigger:
I ask S which he likes the best, and he says the fox. I pick it up, look at it for a minute, and think out loud, “that just looks so big!” And it does. It looks much bigger than the newborn outfit, and even the little orange top. So, I start to do some comparing.
The orange top vs. the newborn outfit
The fox onesie vs. the orange top.
Keep in mind, the fox onesie and the orange top are the same size. There is a very, very noticeable difference between the two, and the difference between the fox and the new owls outfit is even larger–but it should be.
At this point, I am really confused. I think to myself that maybe I was wrong and Gymboree’s 5lb-9lb size isn’t really a newborn size. But I also knew that that 0-3 fox onesie was going to be HUGE on a normal-sized newborn. This confusion was only quadrupled when I compared the new outfit with E’s coming home outfit.
What in the sam hell is going on here?!
Granted, Baby Girl’s new outfit is probably what E needed when she came home. That purple thing, even though it is newborn size, was huge. But what if this new baby is bigger than E?!
I am packing all 3 new outfits.
I am going to look like I am a first time mom. Sigh. Over-packing, here I come.
P.S. I kind of feel like we should make it interesting and start a poll.
P.P.S. I can actually do that!
P.P.P.S. Here’s the poll:
