deeply silly

[flea]

...or a sign of the coming consumer apocalypse?

I present to you "Dear Johnnies," (http://www.dearjohnnies.com/index.php) fashionable versions of hospital gowns designed for delivering mothers. Because "having a baby is an extraordinary experience, and moms deserve to wear something better than an ordinary hospital gown." They run $65.

Now, I've delivered two babies. The first time I was buck naked for at least the last 3 hours of the process. The second time I barely made it into the hospital gown. In neither case did I give a rat's ass about the thread count of the fabrics involved, or the cuteness of the print. Dear Johnnies are available color-coordinated so you can match the gender of your baby. They are 100% cotton, so I suppose if you wanted to you could launder them thoroughly to get out the sweat, blood, and other possible bodily fluids out of them afterwards. Me, I'm happy to have the hospital do that job, and then simply put on my own bathrobe from home for the period after the baby is born.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Okay: the whole point of hospital gowns is that they are disposable. When they get wet with blood or amniotic fluid or breastmilk or sweat you just strip them off and they bring you an endless supply of clean ones.

Would one plan to buy, like, ten "Dear Johnnies?" If not, how utterly useless.

[zonewombat.livejournal.com]

Uh....wow. What a bad idea. I guess they are trying for the "what do I get the expectant mother for the baby shower?" crowd, at least the part of it that intersects with the "giving birth is clean and peaceful just like on TV" crowd.

Also, why "Dear Johnnies?" A reference to a Dear John letter combined with giving birth seems callous.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Hospital gowns are traditionally called johnnies, but I agree about the infelicity of the "Dear John" connotation!

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

So funny...I guess it's one more "necessary" item to pack in the bag.

[vwbug.livejournal.com]

I ran into these when I was looking for maternity clothes for my SIL at the end of her pregnancy. I was like, "WHA?" SO stupid. SO!

And for $65 it should be a hella lot cuter than that.

[serrana.livejournal.com]

And like the hospital's going to let you wear your own gown, anyway.

No, thanks.

Although I did learn the hard way that if you show up with a duffle full of old geek t-shirts, nobody at the hospital will take you seriously afterward (hey, I wanted something comfortable and disposable, and was stupid enough to think that nobody would care what I looked like after giving birth, so I could wear C's old t-shirts. Silly me: it's critical in the hospital to telegraph your social status via your clothing. *sigh* We did much better the second time.)

[libkitty.livejournal.com]

Dear John was my first thought too. These are just wrong on so many levels.