Hospital bag

[Fibilou]

I'm booked to have bubs at Crowborough and am 37 weeks tomorrow (where has the time gone ?). She's my first baby and I don't know how much to pack for her. I'm hoping to stay in 1 or 2 nights as the unit is lovely and I would like to have a rest before coming home - they only have 6 beds and encourage a longer stay than maternity units.
I have packed for baby:

A dozen nappies + bag of cotton wool
1 pair scratch mitts
2 muslins
Swaddling blanket
Hat x 2
1 bib
1 pair knitted bootees
4 bodysuits
4 sleepsuits

I'm pretty confident that's far more than I need ! Can someone please advise what I should get rid of... Also if 10 maternity towels will be enough or if I should pack more ?

Also, should I take one of those snowsuit things for the journey home ? Or will a sleepsuit + hat + snuggly blanket made by MIL to fit nicely over carseat be enough to keep her snug ? We're a 30 minute journey away

I want to have everything with me as if I ask DH I will end up with tampax when I ask for maternity towels

You could always put things out for your DH to bring at a later date, just in case. You just don't know how long you'll be in til baby arrives - e.g. whether feeding gets established well or not if you plan to bf (I had to stay in for 5 nights with DS1 for this reason). Put an extra pack of nappies in the car then he can always bring them in if you need them!

You'll probably need more maternity towels, brick like ones initially, then thinner ones after a couple of days (Boots do them, less risk of infection than normal sanitary towels as no plastic backing. Everyone's different though so it's hard to know for sure. Make sure you take plenty of pyjamas too!

Good luck!

Hi

I would say that is pretty much it for the baby, Im 36 wks with 3rd DC and thats what ive more or less packed.

I would say take another packet of maternity towels, you can never have enough of those!

Good Luck

I would take a snowsuit or maybe a warm cardi-depends how warm your car gets and whether it will be parked just outside the hospital entrance or not.
Maybe couple more bibs just in case.
I think hospital will provide baby soaps, creams etc.
Definitely take some Lansinoh for your nipples if you are planning to breastfeed- again just in case.

Thanks ladies, gives me a good excuse to repack the bag - my favourite pastime at the moment

I'd second the more maternity towels and possibly more muslins/nappies/vests/sleepsuits as even very little ones can produce an amazing amount of flem and meconium in those first couple of days. Or you could just have an 'in case we stay in longer' bag packed with extras at home for your dh to bring in if necessary.

I like that idea Rosebud. I can happily pack more bags until the cows come home

And there I was thinking I had far too much !

Instead of packing a spare bag, you could do what I did which was to just leave things in very clear piles at home so that DP really shouldn't be able to make a mistake (eg, I cleared a shelf in the bathroom cupboard and put the maternity pads and breast pads and nappies in there; a drawer in the nursery just had bibs, muslins and newborn vests and babygros and another drawer had 0 - 3 mth vests and babygros (in case LO turns out to be large and not fit into new born stuff) and a drawer in my bedroom had maternity PJs, T-shirts, trousers, undies etc). I also realised that there was an ASDA with a baby dept within about 5 mins of the hospital (as opposed to our house which was 45 mins away) and so left DP with a list of what size clothes and nappies he would have to buy if LO weighed X and what size if LO weighed Y. DP could probably have figured all of this out if he'd needed to but I didn't want to risk it - and I was 2 weeks overdue so needed something to distract me!

By the way, ever since DD has been born, the top drawer in the nursery has only ever contained bibs, muslins and the current size vests and babygros so that if DP is changing DD and the nappy has leaked or something he can deal with it without having to ask me where to find something. This is particularly useful if I've escaped to have a bath or something.