I vividly remember trying to rummage through my newly-delivered Bounty Bag minutes before my newly-delivered son tried his best (again) to wake up every other baby on the maternity ward.
The nurse told me he was the noisiest baby they’d seen in a long while and I hoped she was joking.
Anyway, the Bounty Bag. A corporate free-for-all where baby-related companies give you a whole stack of freebies and booklets in order to entice you into swearing allegiance to them for evermore. Some people sneer at them, but for me, living in London without close relatives nearby or friends who weren’t falling out of nightclubs, the Bag had magical properties. Someone, somewhere had been through it before and thought I might just like a few tips.
Ethics to one side (nice try, flogging goods to women who had just been through the hell that is childbirth), wouldn’t it be great if newly-diagnosed peeps were handed a bag stuffed full of information and a few goodies to see us on our way?
From what I’ve heard, a lot of us are in the dark at diagnosis. We’ve probably googled ourselves silly, gorged on doom and gloom websites and come out the other side crying into our cornflakes.
So, here’s what I would have included in mine:
- Lots and lots of booklets from those lovely people at the MS Society and the MS Trust – sanity in the wilderness.
- A voucher for a months supply of Waitrose ready-meals. And of course, Dominos for The Teenager.
- Some posh pillar candles (red-rimmed eyes magically disappear in candlelight).
- A good few bars of Swiss chocolate. And maybe some jellybeans.
- A large box of very soft tissues.
- An expensive throw for the sofa.
Disclaimer: MS is individual to everyone so it makes sense to offer bespoke bags….
What would you have in yours?