"I hate the standard hospital gowns so I teamed up with my friend 'Google' and found a pattern to make my own! I just hope the hospital doesn't burst my bubble and not let me wear it (since I'm having a photog spend the day w/ me while giving birth I want to look cute)."
And this is the picture:
Now, if you've ever read Robbie Davis-Floyd's Birth as an American Rite of Passage (oh heck, even if you haven't), you'll know where I'm going with this...but I'm trying to decide if I'm being a little psycho or not LOL.
See, the whole hospital-gown (whether given by them or made at home) really encourages you to be a patient. Birth is not an illness, not a disease, not something to be treated. The donning of the old gown helps imply that you are sick, and must dress the part. I don't care how pretty it may look - the addition of the ties and shoulder snaps means you're expecting IVs, wires, tubes, and other strange contraptions while birthing.
I know three times now, I've stripped to my own birthday suit for birthing...and I simply can't imagine somebody telling me to put on some strange garment like that. Of course, there's a lot about birthing in the standard American way I don't understand, but...
I'll stop now and wait to see what all my wise readers have to say. Obviously, it bugged me. Saddened me? Disappointed me? All true. You?
oh, and p.s. can I just say "not LET me wear it"??!!??!!?!! Whose birth? Whose body? Grrrr.
5 comments:
I agree with you Jen--it you aren't going to wear the standard hospital issue, why make a hospital gown with prettier fabric? It still looks frumpy and institutional because of its very design. How about wearing a fire red silk nightie, or a tank top and pareo? Or nothing at all--that's what I did the last half of my labor!
Yeah, if I wanted to wear something different, I would wear, well, SOMETHING DIFFERENT. I too, ended up in nothing though, MUCH easier access.
Of course, I agree. This is where the mantra, "to each their own," comes in handy. I'm more sidetracked by the day-with-the-photog...is she making a documentary?
*sigh*
It makes me sad how brainwashed women have become about birth and their own role in it. It's an interesting idea to make your own, but as everyone said, why bother with making some so yucky? Besides, when would she ever use it again except when having her next baby?
Personally I intend to wear almost nothing for our baby's birth. It's easier, there's nothing in the way, and who cares anyway? Hey, I even showed up at the hospital with my last birth wearing nothing but socks! Worked fine for me, though the nurses were a bit surprised when they opened the car door. :)
You gotta admit it is a pretty fabric tho. Each to their own indeed -- I think RDF needs to expand her model to include some flora or paisley custom gowns. It is some sort of a synthesis of technocratic and... hm, not sure what... kind of like What to Expect meets designer birth, you know what I mean? I think this woman is, in her way, fighting the institutionalization of childbirth. Only not all the way. But the paisley pattern and her makeup will reaffirm that she is making her own choices here. Assuming they'll "let her", of course, LOL!! Please keep us updated as to how her birth turned out!
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