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?

Ear plugs!

Hair bobble.

Place marking as haven't packed bag yet!
When are you due OP?

I wish i had put in more food for my DH. A fan or water spray as it was red hot on the hospital ward.
Socks as I had ballet pumps on at the time so no socks, I had slippers but my feet were freezing when in the bed.
Paracetamol I had a sinus infection whilst i had my daughter and I asked if I could have some for my face pain and no one brought me any or the poor woman over the way had pain from labour and she didn't get any either.

Maternity pads the thick ones for if your water just leaks out rather than gushes. Hospital ones are ok but are not sticky so don't stay in place.

I used always night time pads for the bleeding so comfy and stayed in place all day and night.

Glucose tablets

Phone charger

Different sizes hats for baby.

Dummys for baby my son had bad colic from day one and I was sick of the midwife shoving her finger in his mouth to stop him from crying so I mentioned I had a dummy if he could use that. I wasn't planning on using it but my son needed it. Didn't need one with my daughter she hated them but it's there just in case.

.

Nipple shields if you plan to breast feed. Many people find these a godsend if your nipples.get damaged; i used them with mixed sucess.but DS had a tongue tie.

I also ended up using a.milton mini soother sterilizer and the mini sterilizing tablets to sterilize the nipple shields as there are no sterilizing facilities on the ward. All you need is this and cold water. For the nipple shields I just used the ball thingy and not the white sponges that come with it for sterilizing soother (if you buy one you'll see what I mean)

Best advice i got on here was flip flops for the hospital shower and to sign up for free tena underwear trial (+ other companies) to use on coming home day and first few days after to save your pants/clothes.

Lip balm, hand cream, cooling leg spray, handheld fan, facial mist, phone charger with long lead, magazines / kindle/ books, water bottle or large plastic cup - water glasses in hospital are tiny & you get mega thirsty from the heat & breastfeeding, cereal bars / nuts / dried fruit to snack on, carrier bag to stick dirty washing in, spare bag in the car with extra clothes for you & baby in case you end up staying longer than planned, DP is great but he'd have no idea what to bring if I needed extra stuff.

All of the above but I also made dh pack a bag for himself with drinks, food, comfortable clothes, wash bag and entertainment items. We had unexpected complications and were in hospital for over a week. For the first 24-48 hours dh was by my side and wouldn't leave just in case. Fortunately he had all he needed in his backpack to keep him clean, fed and watered.

Definitely seconding taking your own pillow - the ones on the ward were paper thin SN no good for getting well propped up to BF.
I'm due in 3 weeks with DC2 and haven't packed my bag yet, so this is a very timely thread!!

Socks. Bizarrely my feet were frozen.

Different size clothes for baby
Drinking straws
Extra long phone charger
If having baby in heatwave bring your own fan! It saved me back in July!
Extra pairs of Bridget jones knickers
Two pairs of slippers to leave on each side of bed... cheap ones so you can dispose of them afterwards
Snacks!

And lastly nice shower gel for after ... nothing nicer than having a long hot shower and smelling lovely 😊

Lip balm/chap stick

I wished I'd taken a blowup swim ring to sit on as I had bad tearing and painful stitches. I don't know if hospitals have such things, I certainly wasn't offered one though.

Fuck loads of snacks! This time I think I'll even boil eggs and make a packed lunch when labour starts. The hunger after is unreal (I guess it depends on when and how long you labour).

I'm expecting a predicted to be big baby so have packed a couple of different sizes in sandwich bags so my DH can hopefully dress the baby in an outfit that fits, labelled, small, medium and big!

I think the most helpful extras have already been mentioned, I've also got

-I'm hoping to breastfeed but got some small ready to go formula bottles with disposable teats if things don't work out.

-a small led battery nightlight as the overhead lights on the wards I've been in before are bright!

-disposal bed mats to slip under baby when changing, I'm having a c section so moving around will be tough on my own.

• a sports bottle with built in straw as well as some cartons of juice, as last c section I was really thirsty but struggled to lift the tiny hospital cup without tipping it down me!

• peppermint capsules or windeze etc to try to avoid the trapped wind pain I had after last section. I know these are mainly c section specific but my last one was an emergency and I wasn't prepared for it!

God knows how DH is going to lift my bag it weighs a ton....

There isn't much space to store your bag. So if you have a car pack one bag for labour and one outfit and a couple of nappies for the baby. Then a separate bag for your stay- clean pyjamas and more outfits etc.

Also snacks for you- something like flapjack or pat bars of some kind. Oats are meant to promote bf. More importantly don't expect tea and toast like they promise. Especially if you have a section. I had an emergency one for DD1 and arrived in the ward too late for dinner. I had to battle to get toast a few hours later. They said I couldn't possibly be hungry after surgery, but I had been in labour for two days and hadn't kept anything down- I was ravenous! So next time I took my own supply of snacks including (as it was a planned section) sandwiches for DH with enough for me if required.

Frozen cartons of orange juice - so refreshing to have a nice slushy cold drink after labour.

lansinoh nipple cream

high energy snacks - we had cashew nut bars from aldi

On another note , does anyone think taking bibs is a good idea for baby? I can't remember what I did with DS!

If you're bottle feeding I would take bibs I guess?

If you're planning to breastfeed, I wouldn't take any formula with you. Would make it too easy to give up! Some hospitals will supply it or someone can always pop out to buy some for you if you do decide to use it. Yes to lanolin!

This is absolute gold! Thanks everyone, I'm not technically due till mid-Nov but will be being induced at 38 weeks (so 2nd Nov) am also toying with the idea of an elective caesarian, seeing my consultant on Weds to talk things through.

I do think the suggestion about taking two bags is great. One for immediate and one for if we're there a few more days than expected - my DH is great too but would also struggle to know what extra stuff to get if I sent him home! He's planning on packing a bag for himself too with various supplies.

@spam88 I disagree about nit bringing formula.

My hospital does not provide it except in the high dependency unit. I ended up with an emergency section and a tongue tied baby and no matter how hard we tried he couldn't feed from me. It was really heart breaking. We gave him formula tops ups whilst perservering and trying to figure out the breastfeeding bit. At one point he cried/screamed solidly for 3 hrs and I was totally distraught (OH had gone home for a few hrs sleep) and eventually a midwife came in and said "your baby is starving do you want me to give him a top up" this was despite following every single bit of advice and help regarding breastfeeding and already topping him up. This still breaks my heart to think I let him be hungry for so.long.
He finally settled once he had a small top up.
I would advise anyone to be prepared for the fact that breastfeeding doesn't always happen quickly or easily.especially if you have complications.

Loads of good suggestions here but I wouldn't advise taking peppermint capsules if you're intending to breastfeed. Peppermint apparently isn't good for milk supply.

Mum2oneteen I had one of these in the 1980s after an episiotomy and bought it on Amazon for DIL: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BZ9I5WU/ref=mpssa111aa_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1505635834&sr=8-1&keywords=pressure+relief+ring+with+cover&dpPl=1&dpID=31VfeGHU3NL&ref=plSrch
It came the next day so they could wait and see if it's needed. I used mine for weeks.

For the first few days my DDs used Tena Lady max strength pants rather than loose towels, you just tear them off and dispose. They said it felt much more secure than pants and maternity pads.

Place marking as due mid Nov, so much to think about😊