Packing The Hospital Bag

As promised, I have updated this to reflect my actual experience. I wanted to do that before I forgot. A note on my experience: I ended up being induced and had a long labor. However, I also had an early epidural, so I was not really up and walking around during labor. That meant I didn't use a lot of things that one might in that phase. Also, I delivered late at night and was moved to post-partum at about 3am. I think the flow of your stay could be pretty different depending on time of delivery. Overall, the approximate timeline:

• Admitted at 8:30pm on Friday, 2/8
• Cytotec and monitoring overnight. After the first 2 hours of Cytotec, I could get up and walk/go to the bathroom, etc.
• Started Pitocin at 3:45am. Could still walk around but had IV pole
• Epidural morning of Saturday, 2/9--no longer mobile
• Delivered at 11:32pm on Saturday, 2/9
• Moved to recovery around 2 or 3 am on Sunday, 2/10--could walk with assistance then and was fully mobile by Sunday day.
• Spent Sunday in recovery and was discharged around 11am on Monday, 2/11

3 nights; 2 days.

This is the current to-do. I am packing for me and baby, and BA is in charge of his own bag (don't worry, I scoured the internet and asked friends for suggestions). The goal is to have them ready by mid-January (34 weeks or so).

The packing lists are based on quite a bit of research and a little bit of making things up. It's probably too much, but that's also probably a rite of passage. I wanted to post my intended packing list here for now--so people can suggest changes before we go, if necessary. Then, after the hospital stay, I will update it with my thoughts on what I'm glad we had, what we could have done without, and what I wish we'd taken instead.

This looks really long, but most of the items are pretty small.

For Me:

• My own pillow. Hospital ones are notoriously thin. This is almost universally suggested.
• Shower shoes (rubber flip flops)
• Slippers
• Socks. Some sites suggest non-skid for the hospital floors, so I found some cheapies on Amazon. [My hospital had these but they were good to have packed nonetheless as I was unsteady on my feet after delivery. As noted, I wasn't up and around much during labor. Wore my own socks then and was fine until I got hot and took them off. Was barefoot for the actual delivery--good thing I got that pedicure!]
• Sports bra, nursing bra/tanks
• Nursing pads, nipple cream [You probably wouldn't use this much at the hospital--at least after a vaginal delivery--as milk does not come in until you're already home, but I still think it's good to have because you just never know.]
• PJs and robe. Some people are sticklers for having their own clothes--I don't really have a problem with hospital gowns and understand the reasons why hospitals keep patients in gowns, so I will probably take minimal clothing for myself. Just enough to make sure I have the option to be warm/covered up for visitors. It's not really that long of a stay, after all. [I wore my own nightgown in recovery on Sunday. It was a nursing gown and nice to have but not essential.]
• Maxi pads. The hospital will have a bunch of these, so I may or may not actually end up bringing any. [Didn't take any...you can't buy at a store the kind of supplies you need right after birth, so you've got to go with the hospital ones. Go home with as much as you can.]
• Towel--for any number of uses, including but not limited to post-shower
• Gatorade. Don't leave home without it. [I was really glad I had this to lend some variety to my Clear Liquid Diet--but it made the bag heavy!]
• Magazines (probably not for me to peruse, LBH) and pens (lots of forms to fill out) [We were glad for both of these...I didn't read any magazines but the peanut gallery had to pass some long hours]
• iPhone and charger. I will say this again later, but seems to fit here as well: in my past experiences as a visitor in this hospital, I have found that cell service--at least on our provider--is very poor if not nonexistent. This is because of all the cables and medical equipment in the ceilings, etc. blocking a signal. Thus, I do not anticipate the phone/texting being our main mode of communicating with friends and family while we are in the hospital. We'll definitely figure something out for the big news, but it's likely I'll use this blog as a quick and streamlined way to get info to the masses. I just want to prevent hurt feelings up front by saying it's not us--it's that there's no service in there.
• Camera
• Going-home outfit--still maternity wear, per the advice of many friends. I'll post more details on what it actually ends up being later. [I wore my Ingrid & Isabel leggings that I'd worn into the hospital, a nursing bra {he wasn't feeding much but you're not supposed to wear underwire}, a tshirt, and a lululemon sweater jacket with Uggs]
• Book from childbirth class [Didn't look at this but it would probably be useful for some people. In recovery, they gave us a little "Mother & Baby" book published by the hospital and that was useful. BA and I consulted it for feeding questions, etc.]
• Empty tote for extras [This is a MUST!]
• Toiletries
• face wash/wipes, moisturizer [I was really glad I had the face wipes so I could wash up when I couldn't get out of bed]
• toothbrush/toothpaste [I also had a pack of those Wisp disposable "toothbrushes"--also nice for when I couldn't get up]
• deodorant
• contact case/solution and glasses--people have told me you want the option of either one at different times (e.g., glasses for when you're tired but they tend to fog up during labor if you're hot)
• hairbrush, hairdryer
• **hair ties** I have been reminded of this by several people [Put your hair up before getting an IV...I didn't and had to have Sara help me and it was all just a mess]
• **chapstick** ditto. Hospitals are dry and there's a lot of panting (for lack of a better term) during labor
• travel-size shower supplies, lotion
• makeup (not the whole pageant arsenal)
• Gifts for nurses [I consulted my sister on this one. She said that everyone likes edible treats, of course, but they just get put in the break room and eaten by everyone. I wanted to acknowledge people individually, so I bought about 10 gift cards to Au Bon Pain--there is one in the hospital--and gave them to our nurses as their shifts ended. Sara just wrote "thank you for your excellent care!" on all the envelopes they came with. Maybe all the nurses were great actresses, but they all seemed genuinely grateful. I just wish we could have done more, because they were all so awesome.]

For Baby

• blanket--to cover baby when heading home. It will be February, so your own blanket needs might differ depending on the time of year
• wipes
• pacifier
• mittens or outfit with hand coverings. The ones pictured above are kimono-style snap shirts for newborns with cuffs that flip over their hands so they don't scratch everything to death. 
• hat
• going-home outfit with legs for carseat (i.e., not a gown) [He wears nb in some clothes and 0-3 months in others because he was 8 lbs--right at the cutoff--so I think it's good to have a shirt or outfit in each size. But you can always just keep them in the hospital shirt if needed.]
• Boppy--can be left in car until needed. Seems bulky and some people say you don't need it, but a lot of others say it helps a lot with learning to breastfeed and to provide counterpressure on your incision if you've had a c-section. [We brought it in with us. I didn't really use it for feeding, but every single visitor used it to hold the baby, so it's worth it for that.]
• car seat--Also leave in car until needed, but they won't let you leave without one.

NB: there are things that would pertain to both of these lists that I am told the hospital will provide, so I'm not taking them. Your hospital might be different, and I'll update with the real deal on the flip side. These include: the mesh underwear, some nursing supplies, pads, lady-part care supplies, and diapers and clothes for baby (they have diapers, little shirts, and hats). People generally recommend against onesies in the hospital because you don't want to cover their little cords, plus it's easier for the medical people to do their jobs if they can have quick baby access. So little shirts are enough, and they can stay warm with blankies (also provided).

Take home with you:

• peri bottle
• Tucks pads, Epifoam
• mesh undies
• the really large pads plus the ones you put on top of them (they show you how to layer the Tucks and the foam and make a nice little concoction). The "smaller" pads get cold after you unwrap/crack them. Take a bunch. They're bulky, which is why extra totes are great to take.
• Prescriptions, if relevant
• diapers
• Vaseline
• (gauze for circumcision care, if relevant)
• aspirator bulb
• baby comb
• alcohol wipes for umbilical stump
• they also gave us a tape measure
• anything you want as a keepsake: id bracelets, card from nursery bassinet, etc

For BA

As I mentioned, he's in charge of his own bag, so we'll see what makes it there and what gets used. His situation is a bit different as he'll be able to come home and shower or get things as needed.

• Comfy clothes
• Underwear
• Comfortable shoes/socks
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Chapstick, deodorant
• Snacks and gum (this was suggested by someone who pointed out that your support person will likely be hitting the coffee to stay pepped up during a long labor, but that the last thing you'll want is coffee breath up in your face saying YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB)
• Change for vending machines (not sure this is still timely advice, but it doesn't take up much room) [There actually was at least one late-night vending machine run for drinks...other than that, you can get people to bring food for you and the crew.]
• iPhone, iPad/kindle/book, chargers
• Music? This is not a huge part of the "birth plan" but I can see it being handy if we're hunkered down for a while. As it's generally on the phone or iPad, no extra things to pack. You could make a playlist if you're so inclined. 
• Other clothes, toiletries, supplies at your discretion
• Trash bag. This was suggested by blogs to put in the car in case your water breaks on the way to the hospital; I don't think that's much of a risk for us given that we live about 2 minutes away. However, I think it's probably a good thing to have around in general, and could be useful in the room or for bringing extras home, etc. 
• Some smart person brought an extra blanket (Nantucket sweatshirt blanket). This was great for BA when he slept on the pullout chair/cot, and also for me when I randomly got really cold once or twice. 

I think he did a good job...didn't really have any major misses. I'll check in with him and see. It was a long haul, so probably magazines and phone charger would be at the top of the list of recommendations. 

I really think it's probably not as much as it looks like, but we'll see. What do you think--is anything critical missing? Anything provided by the hospital that I can leave off? Put it in the comments!

After delivery, I wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than the baby, so it was all on BA to load up the car, etc. This was kind of a pain and took several trips, but I don't think that was really because we overpacked. All in all (other than my bag being heavy on the front end because I was smuggling in liquids), I think we did it about right.