H is for Hospital Bag (or bags!)

I hope you are a lucky one who sneezes out a baby and goes home, or at most only spends one night in the hospital purely for protocol, but if not, here is my list of necessities to pack in your hospital bag. If you’re prepared, you probably won’t end up needing it, right?

I packed two bags, one labor bag and one delivery bag. My labor bag included things for a peaceful and happy labor such as snacks, electrolyte packets, two cell phone chargers, essential oils, battery powered candles (oh I was so zen in my planning), an iPad with movies downloaded in case we didn’t get enough service for Netflix, an extra nursing bra and underwear and probably some other great ideas that never saw the florescent lights of the hospital. I didn’t open this bag once.

We did spend five days in the hospital so my “delivery” bag was clutch. Here is a list of my hospital bag faves. If I was a zillionaire I would make this list into a rescue bag and deliver them to women at the door of L&D. For now, I will just overzealously text my pregnant friends about the importance of soft socks and other items listed below.

1) Quarters and dollar bills

When I read on a blog that you should bring quarters and dollar bills to the hospital, I thought, when was this written? Are we still living off vending machines? I know I was promised better on our hospital tour. Their cafeteria makes everything in house! However, Tuesday morning approximately 48 hours into our labor, and a few hours into our hospital stay, my husband left to get breakfast. Ignore the fact that I hadn’t kept food down since Saturday night and was very, very, very angry at him leaving. I mean, what if I had the baby?!? It really seemed possible to me at that time that I could dilate to 10 centimeters and push the baby out while he hopped downstairs to pick up a breakfast burrito. Sadly, he returned empty handed because the cafeteria wasn’t open yet, so our doula showed him where the vending machines were. “But I have almond butter packets, babe!” I yelled in my thoughts. For two days he didn’t eat anything because I was either yelling at him to make more labor-aide or yelling at him to hold my hips together, or just plain yelling. So make sure your partner has easy access to a couple of dollars or quarters, just in case they do not want your labor snack leftovers.

2) Slippers, new long soft socks, and non-skid socks with stickies on the bottom

Yes, you need all three.

a) Slippers, not Hawaiin slippahs, but wonderfully squishy, warm, memory foam slippers are perfect for a hospital stay, otherwise you may end playing a game of “the ground is ice lava” with your bare feet. Unfortunately, I was wearing them while I labored at home and they got misplaced somewhere from our car to our doula’s bag to triage.

b) I was so happy to have clean, soft, never-before-worn socks that my friends gave me at my baby shower.. Additionally, when you have a C-section (or history of blood clots like me) they strap your calves into these things that squish and release, helping move the blood around your legs. (I’ve heard people hate these things but man, I loved it! And it helped relieve the crazy swelling in my feet when my poor piggy toes looked like they’d burst. So warm long socks felt good under these wraps.

c) When they finally convinced me to go for a walk around the delivery ward, they wouldn't let me go barefooted, and my new soft socks weren’t safe. That was fine because my new soft socks weren’t going anywhere near that hospital floor. I don’t recall if my flip flops were considered dangerous, my toes wouldn’t fit in them, or it was just too cold (we were indoors but it is February in San Diego people.) Someone (most likely my sister) ran out and got socks with grippies. It is a fair guess that they stock these at the hospital but I have to research this before confirming on the blog, so be warned and bring your own.

3) A robe

Although I was happy to walk around the ward completely naked or at least with my bum exposed in my hospital gown, (TBH the level of IDGAF was off the charts) my family suggested I wear something for my walks around the nursing station. (Walks are a VERY big deal. Every nurse follows up “How is your pain?” with, “When was your last walk?” even if you tell them you are at a 25 on a scale of 1-10, they will ask about your walks. After surgery you may have gas pockets which can be very painful later on, so the nurses urge you to get up and move around.)

I imagined wearing a fuzzy sweater with a nursing tank and sweatpants, but that hospital gown was my jam for five days. The ease and comfort of a robe is crucial. It is not unlikely that process of getting out of bed took around 15 minutes, between adjusting the height of my remote controlled but broken bed (the nice ones had already moved to the new hospital) someone turning off the leg compression machine and un-velcroing me oh so delicately because I yelped before they even touched me, them someone helping swing my legs off the bed (again, oh so delicately), helping me sit up and then finally someone lifting me off the hospital bed and onto the ground, but, wait, do not forget the sticky socks, I can’t put them on by myself y’all! By the time this process was complete, I had to go to the bathroom which in itself was a 15 minute procedure (don't get me started! Okay, please get me started, but that is a separate blog post)

Wait, oh my god! You have a newborn baby! It's been 30 minutes and your baby is eagerly anticipating his next meal so god bless it, do not take time to put on a shirt and pants, you’ve got your robe and your entourage, let’s go for a walk.

Veteran tip: Unless you know exactly what's happening with your labor, I would not recommend busting out your robe until after the baby is born. After all we had been through (aka after all the hospital gowns I labored through. . . eww. . .) slipping into something with a brand new feel that wasn’t made of tissue paper was very special to me.

Additionally, a robe may be all you wear the first month when clothes just aren’t an option, so don’t feel guilty about making a new purchase. You could buy thirty-one, one for each day of the month and there should be no judgement.

4) Toiletry bag with lubricating eye drops, coconut oil, chapstick in a pot, and Blinkies eye mask.

Eye drops: Not sleeping for a few days combined with the cool hospital rooms necessitates soothing natural tears. I swear I could hear my eyelids squeak and scrape along my eyeballs.

Coconut oil: My favorite moisturizer did double duty when our hospital door had a squeaky hinge.

Chapstick IN A POT: Whether it is on the tray table next to you or cuddled in bed with you, your chapstick will roll away all day long so do yourself a favor and pack one in a pot. (If you are a wonderfully hydrated person who doesn’t use chapstick, don’t be haughty, pack some. After labored breathing, dry temperature controlled climates, and peeing/sweating out pounds of water, you will need help hydrating your lips.)

Blinkies eye mask: No other eye mask with do. Just don’t try it. These have a little pocket for each so the material doesn’t push down on your eyeball and your lashes don’t make a creepy scratching sound during your REM cycle. It is impossible to turn off all the lights in a hospital room and your 15 minutes of sleep may be at noon, so be prepared to create your own lights out space. (*I amend my earlier statement, someone must have opened my “labor” bag because I now recall wearing my eye mask during the Pitocin phase of my labor.)

5) Tucks wipes *I have included this item separately from the toiletry bag because it is really important.

Spoiler alert: You are not allowed to “wipe” after you go to the bathroom, and believe me, you do not want to. I bought a “travel bidet” from Amazon at the smart suggestion of a friend, and as great and easy to use as I am sure it is, I just didn’t make the time to take it out of my bag. I used the little squirt bottle they gave me at the hospital. After this rinse, you can blot dry with a towel or tp, but you get so raw that these soft witch hazel pads will save your hoo-ha additional pain. Don’t get the wipes or knock off brands that look like baby wipe packets, you need the little circles in the cylinder. This is not a luxury item, it is a necessity. I have considered handing out these Pringle packages of wipes while sitting outside the hospital, or just pelting the cars of family members so people get the point that these are really important. Stock up at home, but bring some to the hospital.

6) Extension cord

My mom taught me to bring one everywhere I travel. It is very rare that you can charge your phone right by your bed at a hotel, let alone a hospital. (An extension cord is also handy for curling irons and blow dryers when traveling with a pack of friends to a bachelorette or music festival.)

7) Supportive shoes & slippers for your significant other

Bare feet on the cold hospital floor is really sad, and my husband’s slip on Vans and Rainbow sandals with no arch support did nothing for him during the days of labor at home or the days following in the hospital. If you read my birth story you understand that my husband is a demi-god, and didn’t sit, let alone sleep, during the week of our labor/hospital stay, but even he had low back pain and sad, cold toes from lack of real shoes. When we got home to our Southern California ice castle adobe (I am being sarcastic so you understand that this is a necessary item even in mild climates) we ordered some Ugg house shoes for my husband. Expensive, yes, but probably the only thing that has been purchased for him in at least the past year?

8) Yeti thermos for hot tea (or ice chips during labor)

This was my push present when we got home. My husband tells me not to tell people that, but I don't mean it to make him look bad I mean it to brag. My husband brought me a turquoise keep-your-peppermint-tea-hot-forever-and-ever-even-though-you-will-finish-it-six-hours-after-making-it thermos. It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold like no other container. When you're in the hospital and you're freezing (do you see a trend here with the temperatures?) you can push a button and nurses will bring you chamomile or lemon tea within five mintues, however it will be cold by the time you take a sip two hours later because you were feeding and swaddling your newborn.

9) A variety of going home clothes for you (that will fit over your still engorged uterus)

I packed my husband a change of clothes and deodorant for our labor day, but we live close enough to the hospital that he drove home the next day for a shower, shave, and change of clothes. I planned to head home in yoga pants or sweatpants and a pullover, but after the C-section, anything with a waistband was terrifying. I sent my husband home for one of my maternity maxi skirts that I could hike up over my enormous uterus and wear at my bustline instead of my waist. I lived in maxi skirts for the next, well . . . I’m still living in them.

10) A variety of going home clothes for baby

The key word here is variety. I had the most adorable fox onesie and sweatshirt picked out for my newborn. However my newborn was not the size of a newborn. My nine and a half pound baby didn't fit into any of his clothes so when it came time to ceremoniously fit him into his car seat, we had to take him home naked, save for his hospital Pampers. This was not the hospital departure memory or photoshoot arrival I dreamt of. It can’t hurt to throw another onesie or full outfit in the bag, you know you have a drawer full of preemie to toddler outfits from your shower or sporadic online purchases you said you wouldn’t make but those clothes were just too stinkin’ cute.

The final and maybe most crucial item is an Almond Pound Cake and recipe cards for the nurses, along with something handmade by grandma. I kinda kid, except I don’t. I do not know how to fit this cake into your duffel, and I apologize that my stepdad most likely is not available to bake a few for your nurses. There’s always potential for a movie style labor where your water breaks at dinner and a stranger rushes you to the hospital, and you arrive dramatically, but empty handed without that bag you prepped weeks ago, or you go into labor early and never packed that bag, but you will be fine because those nurses are heaven sent and will take care of you. Twenty four hours a day there is a nurse that will rush over at the push of a button, change your baby’s diaper (and yours!) and bring you tea. It is their job, but it helps to keep that karmic circle going and offer up something for them.

There will be other must haves that you may end up throwing in your bag in the days leading up to your baby's arrival. One Insta mom told us that she brought sheets because those hospital sheets are just so hard and uncomfortable. It sounds so lovely to have soft sheets and even your own pillow for your stay! We’d love to hear about your hospital bag must have (or something you thought you must have and didn’t end up needing) in the comments below or on our Instagram.