What Was in My Hospital Bag…and What Should Have Been

The month that Calvin was born, I posted about what was packed in my hospital bag for when the big day finally arrived. Now that the whole ordeal is over and we are happy and healthy at home, I thought I would share with you the things that I needed, the things I could have done without, the things I didn’t use at all, and the things that I really missed during labor, delivery, and our postpartum stay at the hospital.

WHAT WAS IN MY HOSPITAL BAG: FOR MOM

Clothing:

One pair of sweats – I did not put these on until we were heading home. I was so crazy hot the whole time we were in the hospital, I think sweatpants would have killed me.
Grippy socks – didn’t even remember I had these. Pretty sure they never left my bag. If they did, I left them at the hospital. Whoops.
Nursing bra – I put this on as soon as I changed out of my hospital gown and didn’t take it off again. The support and coverage was really nice.
Almere Rest Dress – I changed out of my hospital gown into this dress and my nursing bra like 6 hours after Calvin was born. The hospital gown was so hard to nurse in, I couldn’t keep the snaps done up correctly, and it was uncomfortable. This dress was A M A Z I N G. It can be worn like a robe, or like a sashed dress. I loved it. It didn’t make me too hot and it was easy to open and close for nursing and for the nurse’s checks.
Coming Home Outfit – uh yeah. I put this outfit on a few hours before we left and wore it home. For me, personally and for this delivery, I wish I would have brought some stretchy, soft leggings instead of the sweats.
Slippers – I wore these during my whole labor and delivery and then anytime I had to get out of bed during postpartum. Highly recommend.

Toiletries:

Chapstick – Yes. Needed this. Used it hourly.
Hairties – Yep. Very good idea to bring.
Toothbrush & Toothpaste – Yes.
Contacts Case & Glasses – Yes. My glasses broke like two weeks before Calvin was born, so one arm was taped on and they did not sit securely or even straight on my face. I was really glad I had my contacts. I just slept in them and drop some solution in my eyes whenever I woke up.
Mascara & Eyeliner – Ha. Haha. No I did not use this. All I did in the beauty department was to wipe my face with a baby wipe and brush my hair. If I had had a photographer coming to do “Fresh 48” pictures, I probably would have cared more.
Hairbrush – Mama has a lot of hair. And brushing my hair just makes me feel less messy in general.
Shampoo & Conditioner – I had no desire to shower at the hospital. Colter did though and I think he used the shampoo. I was asleep so I don’t really know.
TurbieTwist – nope. Didn’t shower. Didn’t mind not showering.

WHAT WAS IN MY HOSPITAL BAG: FOR DAD

Change of clothes – Colter did change at least his underwear when he showered. Other than that, he was already in sweats when we showed up to the hospital so he was comfortable.
Hoodie – Our room felt like a boiler room to me, but Colter appreciated having a hoodie at least to sleep in.
Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant – We like to be humans that smell nice. So he used this, yes.
Chapstick – Yep. Glad we had multiple tubes.
Advil/Tylenol – I was right and Colter did have a couple headaches while we were at the hospital, so he was glad we had this.
Contacts Case & Glasses – Colter has a bad habit of sleeping in his contacts anyway, but I’m pretty sure he wore his glasses for a little while at least.
Headphones – I don’t think he used these, unless he did while I was sleeping. My labor was pretty fast and I only had an epidural for the last 40 minutes, so there wasn’t a lot of down time or relaxing before baby came.
Phone charging cord and power bank – Holy crap these were nice to have. The outlets in our room weren’t very reliable, so the power banks saved our bacon.
Snacks – I wasn’t very hungry at all after having the baby and Colter had to keep reminding me to order meals. But he enjoyed his snacks.
Pillow/Blanket from home – Yes. He was very, very glad he had these. He was sleeping on a pull out couch thing that didn’t look super comfortable, so the pillow and blanket were great for him. Plus he used them when he was holding Calvin.

WHAT WAS IN MY HOSPITAL BAG: FOR BABY

Coming Home outfit – I don’t know what I was thinking with this outfit. We put him in it to take the announcement picture for Instagram, but when it was time to take him home, we just put him in a white onesie, a hat, and socks because that was all we had. We couldn’t use the gown because you have to put a strap between baby’s legs in the carseat. I was dumb and didn’t bring a sleeper or even pants for him, so he wore a shirt, socks, a hat, and a blanket home. Dumb mistake.
Socks – very glad we had these due to the dumb mistake mentioned above.
Swaddle blanket – We wrapped Calvin in this for like ten minutes and then he peed on it. He spent the entire hospital stay in just a diaper and the hospital blankets anyway.
White Onesies – if we hadn’t brought these, Calvin would have been coming home in a diaper and socks. So they were a good call. Next time, however, I will be bringing a zippered sleeper to actually bring baby home in.
Burp Cloths – I don’t think we got these out. Calvin does burp quite often and quite loudly, but he rarely spits up on breastmilk, which is all he had in the hospital.
Carseat blanket – Again, I was dumb, and this blanket was a very good thing. Plus it was a rainy/snowy February evening when we brought him home so.
Carseat – Had to get the kid home somehow I guess.

WHAT WAS IN MY HOSPITAL BAG: OTHER STUFF

Extra long phone charging cord – Our outlets weren’t super reliable, so we mostly used the power banks, but I did use this cord for a couple hours and it was nice.
Power bank – I think I mentioned above that having more than one of these things was very helpful.
2 bags of Dove chocolates – I ended up giving both of these to the postpartum nurses because L&D changed shifts like 30 minutes after I had Calvin, and I didn’t want to give the chocolate to nurses that hadn’t taken care of me. Oh well!
Folder – The amount of paperwork and information packets involved with having a baby is nonsense. In short, I was glad I had a folder to put everything in, because it was a lot.

THINGS I WISHED THAT WE HAD BROUGHT

Cornstarch or Gold Bond– I developed a postpartum rash/hives that was aggravated by sweat. Considering our hospital room felt like the surface of the sun to me, having something to help keep my skin dry would have been helpful.
Zippered sleeper – Calvin came home in a onesie, socks, and a hat because I was unprepared with a carseat-compatible coming home outfit.
Soft Capri Leggings – I was really hot, but hate having my skin touch itself while I sleep, so I slept with a sheet between my legs. Comfy, light leggins would have been much easier.
Roku Stick – we hooked a laptop up to our TV with an HDMI cord, but a streaming device like a Roku or Google Play would have been much easier to use.