a few more baby grows than you would expect!. If you are in hospital over night/for a few days you will need them and more. No one warned me that babies puke a LOT during the first few days.

I've read that you should take some flash wipes as some of the showers etc can be minging

Definitely take your own paracetamol. Unfortunately the nurses are usually too busy to get it for you. I would also take some bottles of water as nurses also too busy to fill up your jug during the night and if you have lots of stiches/epi you won't want to/can't move. Also take your own pillows - i was only given one skinny pillow so couldn't be propped up in bed (which is a must when you have stitches and trying to breast feed!).

Also you MUST take snacks as it is easy to miss the food round. In fact i am veggie and was told that there was no veggie food so I had to survive on one packet of mini cheddars until DH arrived in the morning!

Thought of another, coins in case your mobile runs out, I had a lovely lady at the hospital who let me use their phone for two mins as I was ringing a land line and had no money!

Dry shampoo - last time I had a bath straight afterwards because my legs were too shaky for the shower, couldn't wash my hair in the yucky water obviously, so my hair was all sweaty and plastered down in the pictures.

And a decent dressing gown for covering up when I went to the loo and when people were visiting was invaluable as I never knew if I'd leaked on my PJ's or not.

Plenty of knickers and clean pyjamas. Snacks and juice in case you have to stay longer than anticipated. Lots of maternity pads and deoderant (sounds silly but you feel quite icky and if you can't get up to have a shower with a catheter it helps to have deoderant for visitors!)
Plenty of changes of clothes and nappies for baby, I didn't anticipate being in for 2 days and how often newborns pee on their clothes

A book to read...I know that sounds mad, but made things feel better for me. Mobile phone charger too and something that smells nice, perfume probably too strong, but I took the Sanctuary maternity revitilising spray and was fab. Good luck!

Bump

I was very pleased I'd taken disposable knickers, but get them at least one size bigger than you normally are if you're getting them - they're tiny! And humongous maternity pads, I'd got the discreet ones but the bigger ones are so much more comfy (and I ended up wearing them two at a time so get plenty - we stopped at mothercare on way home to get more!)

And the other thing I'd take the next time is paracetamol - had stitches and it was a bit of a pain having to call the nurses each time I wanted painkillers and they had a lot else to worry about - it was actually one of them who suggested I take them next time.

And plenty of food for your partner - we went in at 3am,he was with me till 4pm the next day (DD born at 10.21am) and although I got fed, he got nothing at all to eat - just as well we'd taken some hob nobs, but a bit more variety would have been good though!

I also found a nightie more comfy than PJs, a bit less faffing to get into.

For ds's birth DH and I looked like we'd come to stay for 2 weeks with our 3 large bags.

This time I am still planning to have 2 bags (one with stuff for birth and one for after), but will leave 2nd one in car for dh to get when needed.

Things I was glad of: flip flops, snacks and drinks.

Not bothering with this time: battery-operated fan