- Toiletries: I had a large makeup bag absolutely stuffed with toiletries and I barely even know what was in there. I did use the toothbrush and toothpaste, and it was nice to have my own shampoo & body wash for one of the two showers I took, but that was it. I had a few different kinds of maxi pads, none of which I used, because the ones the hospital gave me were just fine.
- Clothing: I brought way too much. I had clothes for labor because I had this idea that I'd want to be "comfortable" - ha. No. And I had clothes for lying in afterwards because I had the idea that I'd want to be in my own clothes - but I really didn't care. The only clothing I ended up using was the outfit I brought to wear home.
- Food: Even though I knew I was not allowed to eat during labor, I snuck some protein bar chunks and honey sticks in my makeup bag. I thought I would need fuel for a natural labor, but as it turned out I really did not feel like eating. Our doula got me to eat a honey stick in the bathroom sometime during active labor, but I could barely even get that down and it was probably about a teaspoon of honey! Still, I would recommend doing this because you just never know.
- Bathrobe and slippers: I had no intention of bringing these items, but they came with my pre-packed bag. Turns out these are some of the few things I actually used and appreciated! The nurses ask you to get up and walk around the halls after delivery to prevent blood clots in your legs, and it made me feel semi-human to have a robe and slippers on. The robe was also nice to wear over my gown when visitors came.
- Things to do: I brought a library book, a journal, DVDs, and I think we had a Game Boy or something too. I thought that I would be bored and need to pass the time after the baby was born. But the hospital stay was really quite short. I gave birth at 6pm on Tuesday and we left around 1pm on Thursday. That gave us only two nights and one full day in the mom & baby room, and that time was pretty much jam packed with nurse visits, doctor visits, lactation consulting, feeding the baby, walking the halls, eating, and visiting (and we only had three visitors, some people have many more). Any free time we had we spent either staring at Miles or attempting to nap. Boredom was not a problem!
- Camera & Video Camera: Of course we were really glad to have these. We got some great photos and video that make me cry all over again when I see them.
- Things I Didn't Bring: A towel. Not a huge deal, but with hindsight I think I may have swapped a bath towel for some of those unused clothes. The hospital only had thin, scratchy towels the size of hotel hand towels. And the other thing we didn't bring but needed was a baby nail file. They gave us a rather frightening looking clipper that I did not want to use on Miles, but his nails were very long and scraggly so on one of his trips back to the house Mr. I grabbed our baby emery board and brought it back.
3 comments:
It's good to have an actual personal view on hospital bag contents so thank you.
From all the literature I've read thus far since TTC it's almost as though I need to pack the kitchen sink!
Note taken on clothes.. they just take up vital room.
Ibis did you have visitors at all? I would say that I didn't pack ENOUGH clothes because we had visitors all 3 days we were there. I will say - pack the nastiest pants you own, b/c you're going to ruin them, but if you are having a lot of visitors its nice to throw on a nursing tank and pants.
We only had three visitors and I was only out of bed for the third one, on the day we were going home. I suppose it does matter how many people are going to see you. The room next door was party central the whole time we were there!
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