Hospital bag dilemma

[JaffaJaffaJaffa]

Other than the usual obvious items on most 'lists' out there (maternity notes, clothes for mum and baby, toiletries, phone and charger, money, etc) is there anything else that you couldn't do without and were glad you chucked in?

Water bottle with sports cap for drinking. Small spray bottle for misting water on your face. Headphones for listening to music.

Dried apricots! Worthwhile keeping things moving as I've heard from loads of friends that going to the loo following birth was awful so I ate 6 dried apricots every day for a week!

A hand held battery fan. But it was a heat wave. Also sent DH for ice lollies. Bluetooth speaker was pretty good to so I could play my own music. Packed so much food and didn't eat any of it.

Magazines and a pen!!

I've not heard of the apricot trick before - did it actually help?!

Arnica tablets to help with healing.

It worked for me. I had no issues going to the loo and I think drinking plenty of water and eating the apricots must have made a difference.

Massive pads. Tena lady maximum size I found good. Oh and big pants to put them in.

A couple of blankets for baby, much cosier than the towels and linen supplied by the hospital.

Food for you and DP - sometimes these things drag on and it was helpful to have a snack for both of us, also toothbrushes for both.

water wipes (for when you've been to the loo) & lip balm xx

My own pillow- although I was in for 5 days. It was a good tip from a friend.

still lucozade and percy pigs! night dress with buttons down the front for ease when trying to establish feeding.

Mainly show your partner exactly where everything is. Women pack the bag and then the birth partner invariably needs to find a vest / hat / sleep suit after the birth (and can't!)

I used packing cubes and had a small packing cube of just baby clothes so that whoever ended up dressing baby could find them easily.

Cartons of juice with a straw. I spent most of my labour on all fours so straws meant DH could just hold my drink in front of me.

These responses are great, really useful - thank you - keep 'em coming!

I second the Lucozade. I didn't eat at all so my only enegerh was from these drinks.

Packing cubes are useful but equally zip lock bags (the big ikea 2.5L ones are great) to pack a baby outfit in each one.

An extension lead with 4 (or more) plug sockets on it. Plug sockets were at a premium in the delivery room and this meant both my partner and I could charge our phones and keep the Bluetooth speaker plugged in at the same time. Also gave us a bit of length from the plug to the bed. This is also a GREAT tip for holidays; only need one travel adaptor but you have 4 plug sockets!!

My own pillow, and drinking straws!

A make up bag or something to put your pads in, better than wandering up and down the ward to the loo with massive pads in your hand!

Magazines incase you can't sleep
Snacks drinks my phone
Headphones cushion

A phone charger with an extra long cable so you can use it whilst it's charging up.

I second a water bottle with a sports cap! I apparently kept saying to DH to "feed me water like a hamster" when I was in labour

Also lip balm was a must for me as my lips were really chapped from all the gas and air!

Witch hazel to put on your maternity pads. I took slipper socks for during labour because my feet are always cold.

Tena lady pants - so much comfier than pants+maternity towel. You can just rip them off so no need to bend down to remove. They are soft and comfy and no chance of leaking blood. Towels can move about so high chances of leaking with them. Just make sure you get a large size. They were a godsend for the first few days, then I switched to big normal pants and towels.

If I went into labour right now all I'd care about is lip balm! My lips were chapped to buggery and sore!