Tips For Packing Your Hospital Pregnancy Bag

Image by jsc. (My bags are not so pretty pink!)

According to all the books, I really should have done my hospital pregnancy bag well before this date, but I had been counting on the fact that I have a tendency to go over my due date not before.

Maternity hospitals provide you with comprehensive lists of what you need to bring along for yourself and the baby, so I won’t go into detail on those items. What I have put together is a list of tips that I have discovered over my last four pregnancies that have made this process more streamlined and ensured that I have had the items that I wanted at hospital with me.

  1. Create a list of the items that will be need to be packed into your hospital pregnancy bag at the last minute. You often need some of the items you want at hospital and use them regularly. I have found having a descriptive list very helpful for collation of items once labour has started.

    While I manage labour, Mr I has been able to run around and tick off all the items on the list that he has put safely in my bag for hospital. For me this list includes the following items:
    – iPod and iPod Dock (complete with labour playlist created)
    – Aromatherapy Oil Burner and Essential Oils
    – Comfortable shoes
    – Lemonade – I keep a bottle of low joule lemonade in the fridge to take with me. It is often a nice distraction to have something sweet to drink.
    – Hairdryer
    – Favourite clothing items

  2. If (like me) you are staying for more than one or two nights, it can be convenient to pack all the items you will need in the immediate 24 hours after the birth process into one bag for you and baby, then have a secondary bag packed with extra clothes for baby and me, baby blankets etc that your partner can bring in later. This helps so that you do not have too much stuff to take with you to hospital when you are in labour.
  3. I buy shampoo and conditioner in large 1 litre containers. These take up too much unnecessary space in a pregnancy hospital bag. I have bought some small plastic bottles with screw tight lids and then just fill them up with shampoo and conditioner, which will be plenty for my time in hospital.
  4. Pack a small gift from the baby to each of his/her siblings. It is a very exciting time for the family and there is always lots of attention and presents for the new baby. We have always packed a small gift for the siblings, that they will receive when they come to visit. It can be very helpful if the gift is also something that can amuse the children while they visit you at hospital, like a book, story CD or activity/puzzle book.
  5. Pack barley sugar suck on (or like snack). As well as the glucose, I find them to be a great distraction.

Any other suggestions on items that help throughout the labour process?