What to pack for a loved one’s hospital stay
In the past few years, my partner has had to stay in the hospital twice, and both times, I stayed with them. They have one more surgery coming up which will, hopefully, be the last one. There’s plenty of advice on how to pack for them, but this time, I’m determined to get it right and pack sensibly for my own stay. Here’s how I’m doing it…
Ignoring the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy cost me a Fallopian tube
One Saturday night I was just suddenly extremely sore in my lower abdomen — because of some historical gastrointestinal issues I assumed it was just a really bad case of bloat. Then it went on for the entire week. I made some drastic diet choices. I cut out dairy and anything with bubbles or that’s known to cause gas at all. I consulted Dr. Google and tried every ridiculous thing I found in forum posts or on Web MD. Meanwhile my husband got more worried by the day and gently urged (read: tried to load me in the car while I was sleeping) me to go to the doctor or the emergency room. I was so sure it was something benign that I refused to listen to reason.
How can I make a hospital room feel less like, well, a hospital room?
My mother passed away last month pretty suddenly due to complications of Lupus. I did not realize how much of a difficulty just being in a hospital room would be. As much as I would love to have a home birth, at this point I would say it is just not possible, so I need to make this room seem as “homey” as possible.
Tips for breastfeeding a hospitalized baby
My baby was seven weeks old when he was hospitalized for the first time, and he was either not nursing, or not nursing well for two-to-three weeks. There were many times when he wasn’t allowed oral nutrition at all, and I pumped. The third time he was hospitalized, however, was really difficult.
How my hospitalised, medicated, induced birth experience healed me
When I fell pregnant with my second child, I was terrified of the same experience. I suddenly understood why women would choose to birth at home over a hospital, although this wasn’t an option for me. I did everything in my power to gain knowledge and make decisions about my birth before choices could be made for me. Even though I was birthing in the hospital again, I hoped for this to be the birth I wanted with the elements that were important to me. However, my baby had other plans.
Adiós U.S. health care system: I’m having my baby in Mexico
Molly and her husband have decided to ditch the American health system and give birth to their second child in Mexico.
A birth story in photos
Jessica is the photographer behind JRSD Photography (she’s also written about pre-baby body myths on Offbeat Mama). She’s also a brand new mama (as of October 8), and she shared a few of her birth photos in our Flickr pool. “I scheduled my birth…which is weird as hell to me because I had serious, false […]
What you’ll forget to pack in your birth bag
“As the time draws nearer for my son to arrive and I prepare to go to the hospital I can’t help but wonder what should you really take? Sure the hospital provides you with a list but I want to know what real offbeat mamas say worked for them or what they wish they had when they were in the hospital.”