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You are here: Home / Grief / Somewhere between hope and practical.

Somewhere between hope and practical.

January 18, 2012 by

This has to be the most minimalist hospital bag I have ever packed. Enough stuff to throw in a cupboard without looking if Marmite doesn’t come home, enough stuff to last until someone goes home to get more if he breathes. If he goes to scbu then he won’t need clothes or nappies from home anyway.

 

I need a decent nightie. I might buy one. It’s a damn sight easier to deal with the practical stuff, the pads and the knickers, than it is to deal with hunting out newborn babygros without actually looking at them. The going home coat that all the girls used and Freddie never did is in a bag I can leave at home till later. I’m not making the mistake of taking that with me again. I can handle the irrefutable fact that my body will need certain items afterwards, but not that a baby might.

Somewhere in the breast cream and the toy which I’ve secretly hoarded for 18 months, there has to be some shred of optimism I suppose. It’s just very hard to find it today. With a bit of luck I might even get his other blanket finished in time. He might even get to use it.

I’ve been trying so hard to shop for this baby, but I really just can’t. And we do need things, things I would like to have some excitement choosing. We’ve no crib here, I’ve got no sling, no carseat and nothing to change a baby on. We’ll manage perfectly well without most bits, but trying to have enough faith to buy a newborn baby carseat should not be so troublesome when I only have a 0.5 chance of not needing it. I’m sad not to be able to buy just something as a going home outfit because I really do want to. It shouldn’t be this type of a big deal.

But it just is. So much of all of this is just such a big fucking deal. Packing a hospital bag for the sixth time should not be enough of an effort that I have to write a blog post about it just to give myself enough momentum to actually get through it.

Filed Under: Grief, Pregnancy After Loss Tagged With: 35 weeks pregnant, another bloody mountain, birth, birth after neonatal death, packing a hospital bag for birth, pregnancy after baby loss, pregnancy after infant loss, pregnancy after losing a baby, pregnancy after loss, pregnancy after neonatal death, pregnancy mental health

Comments

  1. Jeanette says

    January 18, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    oh sweetie. xx

  2. emma says

    January 18, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    (((hugs)))

  3. Rich says

    January 18, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    you are amazing. lots of love x

  4. tammy says

    January 18, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    (((hugs))))

  5. Ann says

    January 18, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    ((hugs))

  6. Leslie says

    January 18, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    I understand.. completely. As for the outfit.. maybe go and pick one out and put it on hold. When marmite arrives safely (and he will) you can have your husband pick it up. Just a thought.. xo

  7. Elaine says

    January 18, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    ((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))) nothing really to add but thinking of you on this last few weeks

  8. Naomi says

    January 18, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    I remember that feeling well. I went into hospital to have Willow with a pack of little nappies and a few white sleepsuits and vests. Oh and her monkey, which was the only thing we bought for her. It was too scary to do anything else.

  9. San says

    January 18, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    Hugs to you.

    San x

  10. pixieminx says

    January 18, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    (((hugs))) all perfectly normal for Rainbow Mums I think.

  11. car says

    January 19, 2012 at 2:23 am

    Total normal and understandable. I packed separate bags for me and for baby. Mine was actually rather full, partly because it was originally packed for a second stint of bedrest and partly because I figured if another baby died I would need to be sent to the psychiatric ward for an extended stay. The baby bag stayed in the car until after I had a live baby outside me.

  12. Hannah F says

    January 19, 2012 at 9:53 am

    Hugs to you xx

  13. Sally says

    January 20, 2012 at 4:12 am

    Sending you so much love. It is so hard.
    xo

  14. Cheryl says

    January 20, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    Totally know those mixed up feelings. It just makes it all the more special when it all comes good. Sending huge hugs xxx

  15. northernmum says

    January 23, 2012 at 10:31 pm

    oh poppet, I think of you daily,

    massive hugs x

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