What should i pack in my hospital bag?
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What should I pack in my hospital bag?
Are you pregnant?
Are you giving birth soon?
Are you giving birth in a hospital or birth centre?
Have you packed your bag yet?
You may already have some idea of what to pack. You may already have packed your bags in eager anticipation and they’re waiting in the baby’s room near the door.
You might not have packed them at all because you’re waiting to the last minute, you’d like to pack during early labour because it will offer a distraction.
You’ll need stuff for the baby, but
what about you ?
What do you need? The hospital will have probably given you a handout with a little checklist of all the practical things they say you need, but they certainly haven’t thought about all the nice little things that will make your stay more comfortable. The things you wouldn’t have thought of.
So I asked on my Point Specifics community on my facebook page, exactly this. I put the question out to all the mums,
what was the one thing they
packed in their bag (or wish they
had packed) that made their
stay more comfortable?
Real advice from real women who’ve done it before.
Here’s what they had to say:
My pillow from home. Nothing worse than plastic pillows.
My pregnancy pillow! And my doula!!!
Toilet paper, the softest you can buy! Snacks especially fruit.
Extension cord for the phone charger.
Forget the maternity pads and get the “Depends” disposable undies.
Lip balm, lactation cookies and water!
Moisturiser – for some reason my skin was sooo dry on day 2 post birth.
100% the depend incontinence undies with maternity pads.
Nothing better than a shower and lovely indulgent lotion to feel (almost) human again.
My mother-in-law made me some gourmet sandwiches and when I was breastfeeding at 3am in the morning and suddenly ravenous they were a godsend!
A cheeseboard for the day after
High waisted underwear.
Coloxyl and senna for the first “number 2” that was literally almost worse than giving birth. Thongs to wear in the shower, nice body and face wash, and a dressing gown.
A play-list on my phone, guided birth relaxation/breathing audio that I’d practised beforehand and ambient music. Heat pack and extra blanket. Also, I had a couple crop tops for use in or out of bath while labouring. Everyone is different, but I was more comfortable keeping boobs covered, until my baby was born and we could be skin to skin.
A small speaker for the room to drown out the npise on the ward when you don’t want the tv on. I also packed a pillow and small doona.
I wish I’d had a dressing gown for skin to skin time
I forgot to take my book and I stayed longer than expected.
Those surfboard pads really did nothing for me, I wish I’d packed disposable underwear.
Heat pack and magnesium for recovery!
SNACKS!!!! And a cozy warm blanket from home because it’s always freezing cold.
Heat pack. Snacks.
Slippers for those middle of the night feeds.
Heat pack, warm socks, some nice smelling lotion.
Make your own ice packs for down below. It’s a godsend!
Pilllow, something warm, yummy snacks
Snacks, snacks and snacks!
I enjoyed having my own towel and face washer.
A doula! Seriously, dressing gown and socks, they always have the air con full blast.
So there you have it! I hope some of these suggestions have helped you pack things you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.
Consensus is in and it seems that the common thread is, take things to keep you warm, take your pillow, take your heat pack and snacks snacks snacks!
Good luck for your birth xxx
