What’s In My Hospital Bag

Many of you read Brett’s recollection of our time in the Hospital and how important our “Hospital Bag” was to us! To follow up, here is a detailed list of what we packed to the hospital with us and why!

(I have attached an easy to download itemized checklist at the end. It has everything on it incase you just need a checklist at the ready when you are packing. I hope this helps! You can even print it if you’d like!)

Mama’s List

• Birthing Robe (for me personally that meant something light that was easy to move and get around in, not too long, not too short) – This one was also extra important to me because I knew I was going to be photographed in it since we had a birth photographer with all three of our children!
• The Comfiest Pajama’s (Swoon, I wanted to feel my best so I bought myself the cutest “Hospital PJ’s” – they tend to be what you live in while you are at the hospital!
• If you live in your robe like I do, you may want to consider bringing another robe to wear after you have given birth to your baby!
• Slippers were a MUST for me & Slip ons were ideal; recovery can be hard so NOT having to bend over is great
• Hair elastics / Scrunchies are a MUST
• Cozy Sweaters
• Leggings (Any jeans that I packed were maternity jeans!)
• Comfortable nursing friendly tops
• 1-2 Nursing Tops
• 1-2 Nursing Bras
• Nursing pads (I brought them every time, I found that I never leaked milk but it is better to be safe on this one)!
• Nursing pillow
• Comfortable Maternity Undies
• Coming Home Outfit
• Flip Flops for the shower (Trust me on this one)
• Toiletries
• Small Container of Coconut Oil (Not only can you use this as a moisturizer – put it on in the shower it will change your life FOREVER! It ALSO doubles as a nipple cream that is completely safe for baby to ingest! #LifeHack)
• Towel and Facecloth (I brought my own, much softer! Again, trust me, if you are ANYTHING like me, its the little luxuries in life that make the biggest difference! Especially after you brought life into this world! A Goddess like you, deserves the VERY BEST!)
• The hospital provides mesh underwear and the best postpartum pads SO I suggest packing some to go home if you can!
• Small Makeup Bag and hand mirror (it may be hard to stand on your own at first so I found this FANTASTIC for freshening up in bed)
• Pillow (I brought my own pillow to the hospital each time we went in and I’m so glad that I did. Often the ones at the hospital are completely flat or they’re some kind of a noisy-vinyl.)
• Phone Chargers
• Water Bottle. (I loved having a full water bottle at the ready)
• Chapstick
• Snacks! Pack so many of your favourite snacks! (Although hospital food has improved over the years, you can’t just eat whenever you want and nursing mamas are hungry mamas! Depending on what time you go into labour you may or may not be allowed to eat! So having some of your favourite protein bars, bag of nuts, or other tasty treats at the ready is ideal!)

Baby’s List

– I chose to fold all the baby things that I knew I would need access to into two little baskets that were easy to access. There are photos in our previous blog “Our Hospital Experience!”

• Carseat installed
• Cozy Blanket
• 2 Swaddles
• 2 Burp Cloths (Some hospitals have them and some don’t, so I brought my own.)
• 2 – 3 Onesies
• Coming home outfit
• For Announcement (name tag, letter board, special swaddle, toque or headband etc.)
• Newborn mittens (so they don’t scratch themselves)
• 2 pairs of newborn socks
• Knitted booties or moccasins
• Newborn Soother and Soother Clip (So you don’t lose it)
• Face cloths and Pee-Pee-Tee-Pee (if it’s a boy)
• 10 Newborn Diapers (Our hospital provided cloth diapers but you can’t take them home!)

Dad’s List

• Portable Speaker (We ACTUALLY had our own music playing through our ENTIRE labour and delivery! I had created a calming soothing “Baby Playlist” long before I went into the hospital!)
• iPad (We were in the hospital for three days before Mila was born for monitoring, and I was also in labour for three days, SO… we were VERY grateful to have had our downloaded shows to watch! If labour has taught me anything, it is that NOTHING is predictable!)
• Toiletry bag
• Towel and wash cloth
• Comfy clothes (hoodie and sweats)
• Snacks
• Cash for the vending machine
• Pillow (Brett also brought his own pillow to use)
• Blanket (Brett gets very cold so he packed his own blanket)

Extras Include

• Books about being a Big Sister or Brother to read with the older babies
• A present for the kids, from your new baby (We had fun with this one and it kept the girls busy during their hospital visit!)
• Gifts or Treat Basket for your doctor and nurses
• Nice Stationary/Thank you notes
• Camera and charger

To some, this may seem like a lot of stuff – so feel free to remove any items that you don’t see yourself using! I will say though that we had everything we wanted! Our stay at the hospital, as we learned to take care of our baby(s), was a DREAM, and we were extremely comfortable. We treated it like our very own hotel room and we LOVED our stay!

Was there anything that you had on your list that we didn’t!? What was something you couldn’t live without!? … We want to know!

Don’t forget to download your free copy of our list!