Amongst Stringfields

When you’re having your first baby it’s easy to be over prepared, over packed  and quite frankly overwhelmed when you are taking your first trip to the hospital. Between all the baby books, suggested “check lists” and advice from everyone under the sun, it can be confusing to figure out what you will actually need to bring to the hospital when you deliver.

 

Before I had Miles, I spent the weeks right before his arrival preparing for every situation possible. I read countless articles and cross referenced so many hospital check lists to see exactly what I needed to bring and prepare for. All of the lists pretty much said to bring the same basic things for baby, an outfit to come home in & a carseat is all you really need! After having the baby, I can tell you from experience what I packed, what I used, what I didn’t use and what I wish I had. 

 

What I packed in my hospital bag:

 

Clothing:

1. Nursing Tank

2. Loose Nursing blouse

3. Lululemon leggings

4. Elastic band athletic shorts

5. Wrap Dress

6. Light weight sweater

7. Nursing Bra

8. Socks

9.  2 pairs of full coverage underwear

10.  Robe

11.  Havaiana Rubber Flip Flops

 

Toilettes:

1. Shampoo & Conditioner

2. Face Wash

3. Body Wash

4. Mouthwash

5. Tooth brush

6. Dry Shampoo

7. Earth Mama Bottom Spray

8. Lanolin Nipple Cream

9.  Carmex Lip Balm

10.  Neutrogena Face wipes

11.  Hair Brush

12.  Make-Up bag

13.  Hair Ties

Extras:
1.   Boppy Nursing Pillow

2.   Camera

3.   Belly Bandit Post Partum Belly Wrap

4.   Phone charger

5.   Nu Roo Nursing cover

 

What I used, appreciated & didn’t use & why.

Items in red = i didn’t use

 

Clothing:

1. Nursing Tank (While learning to nurse for the first time or actually anytime you’re nursing, you will appreciate having something with easy access, nursing tanks are so easy to wear & you dint have to wear a nursing bra with it.)

2. Loose Nursing blouse (Anything Loose, comfy, and easy to nurse is key.)

3. Lululemon leggings  (After birth, anything tight in the bottom region while wearing unflattering underwear…. Uhhh enough said. I don’t recommend bringing leggings…. AT ALL.)

4. Elastic band athletic shorts (A good pair of loose comfortable shorts  are amazing to go roam around the hospital in especially, if you have to stay an extra day or two! Keep in mind, I had my baby in the middle of summer in El Paso, so if you are having a fall or winter baby, a great pair of comfy joggers will do the trick! )

5. Wrap Dress ( 1.) easy access to boobies 2.) a dress is easy to go to the bathroom in 3.) a wrap dress is a super cute coming home from the hospital outfit. Which is a –WIN WIN WIN!)

6. Light weight sweater (With your hormones changing so quickly you will be so happy to have a light weight sweater to throw on and off when youre feeling hot or cold!)

7. Nursing Bra ( You’ll be living in these for a while, and they are truly the most comfortable thing out there! )

8. Socks  (I never even broke these out, I never needed them personally)

9. 2 pairs of full coverage underwear ( After all the things that happen downstairs, you do not want to even mess with getting your own pair of underwear dirty, the hospital gives you great ones that are super granny panty like, but at that point everythings bleeding or hurting, you will care less what kind of underwear you have on. That being said, I was happy wearing the underwear the hospital had given me for the 3 days I was there.)

10.  Robe ( If I could do it over I would have picked a darker robe, and not a satin one. I would’ve brought a dark colored, light weight, short robe. Right after you have the baby, you will feel so much more at ease in anything but a hospital gown. You will appreciate putting on a nice robe when people come visit instead of being  in a hospital gown.)

11.  Haviana Rubber Flip Flops (Not only are these flip flops they comfortable, they are water resistant for when you take your first shower!)

 

Toilettes:

1. Shampoo & Conditioner (You will appreciate having your own shampoo & conditioner and toiletries when you take your first shower, so the next few items really need no explanation.)

2. Face Wash 

3. Deodorant 

4. Body Wash

5. Mouthwash

6. Tooth brush

7. Dry Shampoo ( After you have your baby, a nurse assistant will help you take your first shower, unless you opt not to take a shower. So you wont really need to use a dry shampoo.)

8. Earth Mama Bottom Spray( At the hospital they will give you an awesome bottom spray and plenty of other items to take care of your downstairs, no need to bring your own.)

9. Lanolin Nipple Cream ( Newborn babies need so little at first you wont have sore nipples just yet!)

10.  Carmex Lip Balm (Bring some sort of lip balm! Your lips will be so chapped and you will love having something to keep your lips moisturized.)

11.  Neutrogena Face wipes

12.  Hair Brush

13.  Make-Up bag

14.  Hair Ties

Extras:

 

1. Boppy Nursing Pillow ( The boppy came in handy when I needed to get comfortable, I used it as an extra pillow to prop me up when company came to visit as well as to help nurse in the hospital! It definatly wasn’t necessary to bring this item, but I was so happy that I had it.)

2. Camera ( Make sure you charge your battery! & let someone be incharge of snapping all the photos! You will be so happy you did)

3. Belly Bandit Post Partum Belly Wrap ( I wanted to put the belly bandit on right after I delivered my baby, but when it came down to it, I all I wanted was to be comfortable, so I just waited to the week after I had my baby to start wearing a post part belly wrap.)

 

Wish List:

1. An extra long iphone charger(that way you can keep your phone near you)

2. A few bottles of water (mostly for my husband)

3. 2-3 reuseable grocery bags to put gifts in (people will send you and bring you so many things, its hard to bring everything home with you and carry all of it to the car, so a few extra empty bags would have been useful.)

4. Evian Spray( Just to give you a little pick me up, and refresher)

 

I hope that my little list has been helpful in helping you pack for your trip to the hospital! If you have a vaginal delivery, keep in mind, that once you deliver your baby, the hospital will keep you for about 24 hours and then they will release you once everything checks out with you and your baby, so don’t over pack. Congratulations on your bundle of joy! This is such a special time, enjoy every single precious moment! xoxo Jeannie.