The Shit You Need and the Shit You Don't: Hospital Bag
The Shit You Need, and the Shit You Don’t:
The Hospital Bag
Here’s the honest truth: you don’t need much. You need what you’d pack for a one-night hotel stay—toiletries, clothes to come home in, phone charger. You also need to bring snacks.
But in case you don’t believe me, I’ll expand on all of that, and the items you’re usually told to bring, and why I think they do or don’t need to be brought.
The absolute must have: snacks.
If you can only choose one things to bring, it should be snacks. Some people are starving and order a pizza or send their husband out for food. I thought I would want a giant Italian sandwich. I had been scoping out the internet deciding where I’d order my sandwich from for like a month before delivery. It was all I wanted. On the day, we ordered one for delivery before we even left the delivery room, and Eric went to the lobby to pick it up. First of all, I hated every second he was gone. Like the time it took him to go to the lobby and come back stressed me out. Second of all, I was super nauseous. I don’t know if it was the pain meds, the blood loss, or the panic attack, but I felt like I was going to hurl every time I thought of eating. I ended up ordering the most disgusting grilled cheese sandwich off the hospital room service menu and nibbling on it for 3 hours. The next few days I survived on our packs of mini muffins, applesauce packets, and the occasional disgusting hospital oatmeal. As you may know, Eric ate camping meals. He literally did not leave my side again (except when I sent him to chase down where the eff our baby was after his tests took 3 hours longer than the 1 hour they said it would take) until he went to get the car seat. If you are anything like me, you need to bring snacks. Bring a literal duffel bag of just snacks. Anything leftover you can leave for the nurses (this was our plan for the packets of mini muffins until I ended up eating half of them), they’ll appreciate it. (Bringing snacks or thank yous for your nurses in general is a cool thing to do.)
Other must haves after snacks:
o Your wallet with ID and insurance info, TOGETHER IN THE SAME LOCATION. They will want this at the front desk. You will want to rip your own brain out and throttle it for being so fucking stupid if you have to rifle through your wallet for these cards while checking in during nonstop contractions (trust me).
o Toiletries, including glasses/contacts if you wear them, hair ties.
o The toiletry item that makes you feel human. For me it was a hair iron. For other people it might be mascara, or lipstick. Whatever it is that will make you feel like yourself even a little bit, bring that.
o Phone charger, extra long. Eric forgot the extra long one. It was annoying.
o Headphones for your phone. I didn’t have any but Eric did, and I ended up using them to listen to music that helped me sleep for 45 mins at a time during labor (post epidural, obviously).
o Giant water bottle. Eric was refilling my gallon bottle with the straw 100 times a day. Every nurse was impressed with my giant bottle. It was great. I can’t imagine how many times he’d have had to refill a normal cup. 4,000 probably.
o Slippers or socks (though tbh I was barefoot most of the time because I couldn’t handle the extra step of getting in and out of my flip flops, and socks were a no because my body temperature was all over the place too, too hot or too cold and I needed to be almost naked or under 3 blankets every other hour). You will want really comfy or large shoes to go home in.
o Clothes to go home in: a loose dress or loose pants and a zip up sweatshirt will do the trick. You’ll have to pull any pants on over your mesh underwear makeshift diaper full of pads or over a c section scar so nothing too tight.
o Car seat: you can’t leave without one if you’re getting in a car. Make sure you have read the manual beforehand. Harnessing points to remember: butt back against the seat (not just diaper touching, make sure butt is all the way back), tight around the thighs, chest clip at armpit height, straps tight enough that you can’t pinch slack above shoulders.
o An outfit to bring baby home in: something with legs, not a dress or sack, so you can fasten the car seat tight. If baby is born in the winter, bring a blanket to tuck in around the baby AFTER buckling the car seat, never put a jacket or snowsuit under the car seat buckle (it leaves too much space between the baby’s body and the harness).
o Baby nail file. Get the electric one that’s like a dog nail dremel. Sometimes they come out with claws.
Things you may want but also might not use:
o Your own pajamas. This is your call. I did not wear anything but an open hospital robe the entire time. Your boobies will be out starting that day forward. Get used to it.
o Your own towel. The hospital towels are tiny which is a con, but you can leave them if you get blood on them, which is a pro. Your partner will probably want their own towel.
o Entertainment. We downloaded a whole bunch of shows and got crossword books and did not look at one thing. It definitely depends on your labor, but I went from triage to delivery room by 2 am, and was pushing by 9:30 so it was completely overnight and I was too anxious to look at anything.
o Velcro swaddle. This is something I would bring if I could redo it. We used the hospital ones but we never got it right like the nurses and I worried about it coming undone and over his face (among 70,000 other worries). I would bring a velcro swaddle that we could easily do tight and know it wasn’t riding up.
o If you’re planning to breastfeed, you might want to bring pump supplies. Not that I had any clue what I was doing, but now that I do, I would bring some pump stuff. I’d bring a haakaa and a hand pump for the breast baby isn’t on, just to get stimulation there because stimulation brings in milk. The medela harmony is like $15 and is a great little hand pump. If you do bring pump supplies, make sure you’re ready to wash and sterilize them. I ended up having to use a nipple shield to feed, then pump, then hand express, then feed baby from a syringe because he couldn’t latch. They will tell you the lactation consultants in the hospital will help you and they might but they also have to see like 12 other people so you only get half an hour a shift. Make sure to follow @karrie_locher and other lactation consultants on Instagram so you have an idea what to expect. I’d also make an appointment with an IBCLC before leaving the hospital because they book up fast.
o Nursing and pumping bra: I brought a nursing bra but I should have brought a pumping bra. Instead I had to hold the pump pieces up for 15 minutes at a time which sucked. I also just flat out didn’t wear a bra most of the time we were there or heading home, so this is your call.
o Your own pillow: depends how much you care about this.
o Portable sound machine: would throw this in next time for the bebe and see if it makes a difference for sleep. (Not that they’ll sleep more than 2 hours at a time, but 2 hours is goals at that point). It’s also good for you if your hospital is loud, or if you have to share a room. But also thank god we had our own room.
What you don’t need:
o Any postpartum supplies really. The hospital has mesh underwear for you, pads, tucks, etc. People are like “bring the Frida bottle it’s so much better.” It’s better, but it’s fine to use the hospital one for 2 days. It’s a spray bottle for your bleeding vag that you can hold upside down instead of squirt up. It’s not life changing.
o Baby stuff. They’ll probably have have diapers, baby clothes, swaddle blankets (unless you bring a Velcro of your own). As far as baby clothes, the hospital usually has little shirts to dress them in…and probably pants? I can’t remember the pants situation but I assume pants. The baby will probably be undressed on your skin or your partner’s a lot of the time, so just a blanket over them is fine. If you want to bring some clothes of your own or a cute outfit or something go for it, but it will probably end up covered in poop and or pee and or blood.
o Pain medication: they’ll give you everything you need. They’ll also give you stool softeners, but make sure you have some at home.
o Most other things.
That said…
Who cares if you overpack? Do you. Bring a suitcase if it makes you feel better. Make sure you have whatever you will need to feel comfortable and human. At the end of the day, if the nurses are like “wow did you see that couple that brought the suitcases including a duffel bag full of snacks including a freeze dried fettuccine alfredo?”…well, so what? You’re there to have a damn baby, not be remembered as the people who didn’t overpack.
