My Hospital Bag: What is in it and What I Used

As I write this, I’m sitting here at over 38 weeks pregnant, very ready to get the baby outside of me, and my hospital bag is packed, baby’s laundry is done and now I’m just twiddling my thumbs and waiting. When it came to packing my hospital bag, I did a ton of research: I talked to my friends, watched some YouTube videos, looked up lists on Pinterest, and called the hospital directly.

After my research, I was told from the hospital that all I need to be concerned with was the baby’s items, one coming home outfit, and my husband’s stuff. So therefore, I packed accordingly.

*********Now, my baby is out and 5 weeks old. There were a handful of things I used and many items I didn’t use. So check out below what was packed and what was used below!

Baby’s bag:

6 Outfits-One rule of thumb that my friends told me was to pack 2 outfits for each day spent in the hospital. My hospital, at most, keeps their patients for 3 days-especially if the birth is a C-section. My intention was for a natural delivery, but to avoid any last minute hassles I packed 3 days worth of my baby’s clothes. The clothes included an outfit, with a matching sweater, cap, mittens, and swaddles. For each day an entire outfit was packed in a ziploc bag and labeled according to the day (day 1, 2, 3), while extras were put in a separate ziploc. My baby is due in the month of March, which is extremely fickle weather. Therefore, I had to keep a mix of warm and cooler clothing which could be layered on or taken off.

*********The extras outfit definitely came in handy. One of the days she had a little accident and required a change of clothes. Therefore, only 2 outfits that weren’t used, and the warmer layers weren’t used as well. My daughter didn’t require any sweaters.

Baby Blanket, Quilt, and Receiving Blanket-Again, I don’t expect to be using all 3, but at that moment I didn’t know how cold or hot the baby was going to be. So I packed one thin receiving blanket, a slightly warmer blanket, and a quilt so I have options to wrap the baby if necessary.

**********The blankets were used but not the quilt.

Baby Towel-I was told to pack a towel to wipe the baby clean.

**********Didn’t use this.

Baby Toiletries-So I was aware that babies aren’t given showers the moment they come out, but you never know hospital to hospital or baby to baby. Therefore I packed travel size toiletries of baby shower gel, shampoo, cream, and lotion.

**********As expected, didn’t use this.

Bottles-Intention is to breastfeed, but if I can’t I have bottles ready.

*********These weren’t used at all. In fact my hospital discouraged bottle feeding in the beginning.

Napkins and Burp Cloths-Can’t have too many of these to keep the baby clean right?

*********Definitely used.

Diapers & Wipes-The hospital had their own diapers, but once those finished, we opened the packet I got from home, and they used my wipes.

Swaddles-To wrap up the baby. Of course these were used.

Mine and Hubby’s bag:

Nursing bras-I’m wasn’t sure if I needed these, but I still packed a couple.

*********Used these

Disposable Underwear-for post delivery.

*********The hospital had their version, but on day 2 I was allowed to use mine.

Maternity Pads-I used these even after I came home.

One outfit to come home-I packed options: A nursing top with leggings (2 legging options depending on how I felt: compression leggings and maternity leggings) and a maxi dress.

********I ended up wearing the nursing top and maternity leggings while coming home.

Flipflops-to keep things comfortable (of course I used these)

Travel Size Toiletries-I wasn’t allowed to shower for the first 2 days in the hospital, but I did wash my face every single day. The day I was discharged, I took a much-welcome shower and used everything.

Makeup-for the newborn photo shoot, and coming home. But only enough stuff to do my makeup in 10 minutes :).

********I did end up doing a little bit of makeup for the shoot and the drive home

Nipple cream, Breast Pump

********Serious lifesavers in the initial days of breastfeeding

Towels-So hubby and I can shower

********The hospital had a towel for me, but not for my husband. Therefore he used his towel.

2 sets of Hubby’s clothes: One for sleeping, one for normal. Thankfully, we were informed that my  my hospital had the flexibility where he could come home to take a shower and get more clothes whenever he needs to.

********That definitely worked out well. He was able to get clothes from home, and even attend a quick work meeting inbetween.

Matching Nursing Gown and Swaddle-maybe for the newborn photoshoot?? Who knows

********Didn’t use this

Nursing Pillow.

********so handy! even now.

So there you have it. A breakdown of how I packed my hospital bag.