Comments on: Hospital Bag Packing: What Did We Miss?

By: AJ

AJ — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:26:44 +0000

Our daughter was breastfed until almost her second birthday.

My wife expressed the milk this time around with her fingers. She says it's more effective than a pump before birth because you don't have much milk and can achieve a deeper compression. Also, a pump stimulates your nipples which you don't want to do unless you're trying to bring on labor.

By: Kerstin

Kerstin — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:35:19 +0000

So, was she able to express the milk before having the baby? Or was she still breastfeeding your daughter? Forgive me if you’ve gone over this elsewhere–I’m new to your site!

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:17:15 +0000

Blanket for going home —
Chocolate/candy for the nurses station —
and a gift from “thing 2 (baby)” to give t “thing 1 (Little Miss).” My daughter gave her big brother a Finding Nemo DVD.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:59:04 +0000

- Chapstick
- My own pillow - it didn't get dirty
- Several pairs of socks - I got two pairs wet in the labor process!
- Baby book - for footprints and visitor list
- Little notepad for gifts, visitors list
- Good music CDS - I brought all relaxation noes, but in the moment, I wanted Mandisa! and so other good upbeat stuff to cheer me on -go figure!

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:53:07 +0000

I know its been said but the things we didn’t bring that we needed the most were comfy pillows. My husband wound up sleeping on my nursing pillow or either one of those thin plastic covered hospital pillows. He also forgot shampoo so his mom had to bring in some. Also glasses if your wife wears contacts..

By: MetaMommy

MetaMommy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:40:22 +0000

Because I had a C-Section, I was only allowed to eat ice chips the first day. And the nicely redone maternity wing in the hospital had no cafeteria. The closest cafeteria was a block away, and had hours as bad as yours. So be sure to bring food for yourself. Sandwich? Peanut butter & jelly? Another trick a nurse showed us was that when I ordered food for the day (selections made all at once the day before), I could sneak in a bunch of extra food to let my husband nibble. For example, breakfast could be pancakes, eggs, toast, coffee, juice, fruit.

Personally, we got no use out of our DVDs, but I could have used a nursing pillow. As for pillows from home, I took one and never even looked at it.

Laptop came in handy. Set up the email beforehand (e.g., recipients), upload the photos once ready, add fun details, and send. My husband, a self-professed geek, couldn't wait to get the email out.

If applicable, glasses. If you or your wife uses contacts, your eyes are going to be far too tired to use them while you're there.

I was really happy we took the birth plan and gave it to the nurse because they had a list of things that concerned us that in the stress of things, we forgot. For example, "We would like MetaDaddy to remain with MetaMommy at all times, unless the baby has to be removed from her presence. In that case, MetaDaddy would like to remain with the baby."

By: Darby

Darby — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:30:57 +0000

Well, in my bag that is currently packed and sitting on the kitchen floor, ready to be whisked up and into the car at any moment, there are a few other items you may want to consider:

-extra batteries or chargers for cell phones, cameras, laptop, etc.
-ipod and headphones
-gatorade (I need to keep hydrated and plain water or cranberry juice provided by the hospital just doesn't cut it. After all, I always drank gatorade when playing a strenuous sport, why wouldn't I for labor?)
-bath robe
-slippers
-nursing pads
-chocolate (to reward myself when the nurses aren't looking. Not sure if I'll actually want to eat it, but it seemed like a good idea when I packed it.)
-junk magazines and crossword puzzle book
-my Hypnobirthing book

By the way, have you or your wife checked out www.contractionmaster.com?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:15:07 +0000

We took our baby book and had all our visitors and our nurses sign it at the hospital. I would also take a size or two larger black cotton underwear. We also zeroed in on the little kitchen that our hospital had and used their stock of fruit juices, popsicles and jello and pudding. If they don’t have that, ask if there is a fridge and have someone bring the food mama wants for post-birth meal and stash it.

By: RobMonroe

RobMonroe — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:56:26 +0000

Hope I'm not too late, but what helped my wife was jokes. (okay, it mostly worked to relieve tension between contractions)

Here are the ones I shared with her during labor:
http://www.mdmonroes.com/laborjokes
She says in retrospect that it was fun to have them around, though I was warned by co-workers in advance that I would be a dead man!

We also brought fresh fruit for ourselves and for the hospital staff. They get so much junk food in apreciation that they really liked our "gift" of fruit.

By: kelli

kelli — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:46:53 +0000

Bring a pen. I had a bunch of things that I needed to write down (lists of this and that, people who visited, quick notes of thanks, notations for how many wet diapers, etc.) and no pen.

In fact, maybe a box of pens for the nurse's station...

I also had a ring that I transferred from hand to hand to mark the breastfeeding "start" side. It was something that I really found helpful.