Erin! ::hugs you::

I would stay away from pajama bottoms of any kind, actually. Just wear a big T-shirt.

And I discovered, after a C-section, that the first time I stood up I bled all over the place. No one told me that would happen, so I was sort of appalled. I have no idea if that's strictly a childbirth thing and won't apply to you, but I had kind of assumed with a C that bleeding wouldn't be an issue, so. Don't peek if you're squeamish.

Good luck, sweetie. We'll be thinking about you.

Drawstring PJs should be fine, Erin, as long as the knot isn't right over the incision. (And even then, it's not going to be *painful* just kind of sensitive.) I found yoga pants with a wide waistband to be the most comfortable things to wear - clingy enough to be a little supportive, but not pinchy at all.

I can't answer the second question, unfortunately. (I mean, after giving birth, you pretty much leak constantly for the next 2 weeks, and they send you home from the hospital with "maternity pads" which are the most uncomfortable ginormous maxi pads in the universe. But I'm not sure how analogous the situations really are since the post-birth discharge is 9 months of uterine lining being flushed away.) And boys, I whitefonted that for a REASON. Fair warning.

Erin, in answer to your second question, absolutely.

Erin, in answer to your second question, absolutely.

Seconding.

"Is that's the way this is going to be?"

Argh! Last show I stage-managed for student theatre, there was one scene where we really couldn't block it until we were on the actual stage, which was a few days before opening night. (Brighton Beach Memoirs. One character is talking to the audience, while everyone else is setting the table, getting all the food on the table, sitting down, and starting to eat. Tiny stage, so we had a table with folding leaves, and five chairs had to get from offstage to onstage in this time, and to get onto the stage, people had to walk up a stairway with no railing, in the dark, while carrying a whole bunch of stuff.) The first few times, it was a mess -- stuff didn't get there on time, stuff got dropped, people or things ended up in the wrong places, people crashed into each other, etc. I eventually had to draw a diagram showing exactly where each person, plate, glass, and chair should be at any given moment, and write up instructions for each person, like, "Stan: come down stairs, move chairs 6 and 7 from behind couch to table, take two plates from Blanche and put at far end of table, pull out chair 5 for Laurie, move three sets of knife/fork to far end of table, take one plate from Kate and put at chair 4, sit in chair 3."

Took something like five tries before we figured it out. After every single try, someone would ask, "I don't have a chair/plate/glass. Is this the way this is going to be?"

Also. I was going to bake bread today. Types of flour available at the Watergate Safeway: spelt flour, rice flour, soy flour, bread flour, white flour, unbleached white flour, cornmeal, pastry flour, dark rye flour. Type of flour not available: whole wheat.

Thanks so much for the info, guys. Check, old cotton slipdress for home-from-hospital wear y nighties.

And thanks for the answer to the 2nd q. Not being a pad kinda girl, I'll have to tell my mom to buy me some from the store. Uh. Pads. Insult to (literal) injury.

I think my suitcase (for home) and overnight bag (for le hopital) are 1/2 clothes, 1/2 books.

And mascara, lip glosss and perfume. I may have visitors!

I'll trade you some wholewheat for some soy flour, Hil? Can't find it anywhere. I'm sure it's available, probably right under my nose and labelled in Thai. But find it I cannot.

Mmm, bread. I'll have plenty of time on my hands in the next 4 weeks. Maybe I'll totter about and make some zuchini bread. It's nutricious, right?

I still haven't figured out who they've got in mind when they stock the Watergate Safeway. Every kind of flour except whole wheat. Every flavor of oat milk except plain. About 30 different kinds of rice. Generally horrible selection of vegetables, but today they had a pretty decent assortment of stuff, including three different kinds of winter squash. In May. No summer squash, though. Lots of different kinds of pasta -- regular, whole wheat, whole wheat with flax seed, rice, and I think I noticed spelt. They've always got grapples, but don't always have grapes.