Hospital bag

[newmumtobe1998]

When do people recommend packing the hospital bag? How many weeks?

I packed mine with about 2 weeks to go with dc1, but we didn’t find out I was pg
until very far into the pregnancy and they couldn’t tell me very accurately when she was due, it was a rough guess (of about a month 😂), she came 2 weeks before she was ‘due’ so I packed in labour. Obviously I had all the stuff I needed so it was just a case of flinging it into a bag before we left. All rather last minute but tbh there was a massive Sainsburys next to the hospital I gave birth in so anything missing we could have easily gone picked up. We didn’t need anything, we needed surprisingly little in the end. With subsequent dc I packed about a week before I was due, more organised but definitely took more than I needed. A bag for baby and a bag for me but they were straightforward births and I was home the same day so really didn’t need hardly anything!

I think I did my labour bag at around 36 weeks.

I did have an ‘emergency grab bag’ packed from 28 weeks after I had to go in for bleeding in the middle of the night and ended up in for 3 days with no clean underwear / phone charger for the first day. Even in a low risk pregnancy, having something like that might be useful in case you need monitoring for reduced movements or similar.

First DC I was probably 90% packed by 34 weeks. I had a list on top of the bag and checked everything off as I went along putting things in. The bag was just open 8n the spare room so easy to pop bits in and out

Currently 39w and I only fully packed about 36w. I ended up as an inpatient at 34w and frantically threw a few bits in a bag. When I came out I tried to cop on and sort my bag.😂 Even though technically you could pack in a hurry or grab alot if bits in the supermarket when needed, I'd find it easier to just know where everything is in the bag myself tbh.

Also seperately from the bag I had a few baby outfits and a few postpartum outfits set aside at home in case I was kept in longer than expected and I could just tell DH to bring in that tote bag some day. I didn't need it, but it was handy at home to grab some prepared loose clothing for the first few days without having to rummage the wardrobe.

First one I hadn't packed my bag at all, I had all the bits but I ended up doing it in labour, which was quite a challenge, the baby came at 39 weeks. My second I packed a couple of days before 39 weeks, the baby again arrived at 39 weeks. The 3rd I packed at 38 weeks (very organised of me) that one came on his due date! I am pregnant again, I imagine I'll do it at 38 weeks again. I usually have most the stuff sorted at about 36 weeks, but don't assemble it until I need to. After the first which I only packed in labour I wrote a list of stuff that I use everyday that needed to go in last min like phone charger, earbuds, ipad etc so I didn't forget them in the throws of labour.

Also top tip rather than packing for a month, pack enough for you and baby for 1/2 days max to arrive with, but have a second bag in the car with extra clothes for you and baby, nappies etc. So much easier not arriving with a huge pile of stuff and if you do need more of anything you are only directing your husband to a bag in the car, rather than directing him to multiple places around the house or worse sending him out to buy things! I did actually end up using this with my 3rd child when I was kept in for 4 days, the second I was home in 4 hours and barely used anything at all so was glad we travelled fairly light.