It’s funny to think that I used to be a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ kinda gal, as being pregnant morphed me into one of those incredibly over-eager ladies who packed and repacked (and repacked and repacked) the hospital bags for baby and I … “just in case”.

While I plan 100% to bring my little girl into the world via natural birth, pragmatically anything can happen between my plans and her actual birth, which is why I’ve also packed items that would come in handy should an emergency C-section occur. It’s funny to realise that a lot of what I’ve packed in here for me doubles as some of my travel favourite items, so read on to have a peek.

 

Labour Bag

• Oversized black t-shirt and mini skirt (because I really don’t want to end up in a hospital gown)
• Nursing pillow – in case I decide to contort into a variety of shapes while feeding baby McBean
• Socks – I hate, hate, hate having cold feet and want to have the option to warm any cold tootsies during my stay … though I do plan to have  a pedicure in a cheerful colour that I can stare at while pushing
• Music – I focus really well when there’s music playing, and have a labour playlist already put together with a combo of soothing classical, trippy new age, dubstep and heavy rock … depending on my mood
• Earphones – in case I can’t play my CD then at least I can still listen to music on my phone
• Camera – I plan to document my whole journey to show my beautiful little girl one day, so a camera is kinda a given to be packed :p

Snacks:

• Homemade date balls – these will come in handy for energy, just in case the labour goes on for ages.
• Pomegranate seeds – I’ve read up and apparently pomegranate seeds are highly recommended for preggy mamas in the last few weeks before birth as they have protective properties in the event baby’s oxygen is cut off. While this could be completely untrue, I do quite like their taste so have been snacking on these like crazy.
• Raspberry Leaf Tea – I’m planning to make a batch for my refillable water bottle on the day, but so far I’ve been sipping it for the past week and it’s flavour-wise, it’s not all that bad (and is a nice change from Rooi8os).

 

Hospital Bag for Amelia:

First up, after shopping around on my own and coming up with nothing, hubby surprised me with one of my top 3 favourite bag choices, the BabyMoov BabyChic. I fell in love with this bag for all kinds of reasons – it’s spacious, the inner dividers look like they’ll come in handy, the exterior is a wipe-and-go fabric which makes it perfect for all seasons and events, and the practical attachable changing mat, bottle pouch and dummy holder mean they can come or go as needed. I could go on, and on, but I’m certain you get the idea – it’s got everything a new mama could want and then some. The colour is a lovely neutral red and gray which means hubby can wear it too, when out and about with her, and it should last well into her toddler years (and beyond) as a bag for weekends away.

While I’m certain the hospital will have most of the items required (including a medi-clinic bag to take home), I’m packing anything and everything which could come in handy for her:

Clothing

As we’re been repeatedly told our baby girl is going to come out between 3kg – 3.5kg, I’ve packed a variety of newborn sized items -> though I’ve also packed two tiny baby long-sleeve vest and jacket, and a 0 – 3 month old babygrow, in the event she’s actually smaller / larger then predicted as this has happened to my a good friend of mine. So in her bag I have:

• 2 x baby grows – pink and white
• 2x vests – in white
• 2x jackets – white and beige
• 2x sleep suites
• 2x footed pants
• 2x baby socks
• 2x cotton hats

Other items

I’ve included 2x BabySense Muslin receiving blankets in pink and stone, one soft cotton receiving blanket, and a fluffy acrylic blanket to boot. This may be overkill but because it’s summer I don’t know how warm/ cool the hospital is going to be and I don’t want to boil my baby (or freeze her) inadvertently.

Medications and Hygiene

Most of the items I’m bringing with for Amelia’s hospital stay are sample sized versions that were supplied by Dischem when I signed up for their baby program (and received a well-stocked black and white paisley bag).

Items include:

A sample-sized sudocream, Baby Johnson’s Vaseline, Bennetts bath oil, surgical spirits, rounded earbuds, size 0 nappies and Huggies wet wipes.

A medicine pouch with a thermometer, nasal aspirator, nail clippers, nail file, and a small saline solution drops. We’re totally unlikely to need all of this in a hospital, but I’m a first-time mama, so this is going to stay close, until baby is at least 3 months and I feel comfortable leaving something behind. :p

Hospital Bag for me:

So I may or may not have originally packed as if the apocalypse was coming, going so far as to include a pair of chic combat boots (a tad much, right?). But to be fair, my recent edits to my hospital bag have left me only with the items necessary for immediately after birth and to comfortably tide me over for a day or two spent in hospital. I do plan to have visitors and have packed accordingly so I look and feel presentable (each to their own on this score – I personally want my  Labello Cherry Red lip balm and eye-shadow … mainly so I look awake for the inevitable photographs).

Wearing

2x nursing bras from Woolworths

2x sports bras from Mr Price (sooo comfy to wear while I’ve been preggies)

2x tank tops that can double as nursing tops

1x black maxi skirt

1x loose cotton pants

1x black maxi dress

Sleeping

2x lace nighties (because who says you can’t look cute when you’ve just had a baby?!)

1x Cotton On Kimono nightgown (I seriously love this style so much!)

1x slippers (I refuse to walk barefoot around … it will probably be cold)

Hygiene

1x Dark blue facecloth

1x Soap and travel-sized shower gel

1x Carriwell Maternity Pads (they are giant – GIANT – scary looking things, but will come in super, super handy because regardless of how you give birth, you turn into a bit of a bleeder) 0_o (or so say those of my friends who’ve had kids) ;0)

1x Pack of Medela Nursing Pads – in case my milk comes in early and is fairly plentiful (**here’s hoping)

A small selection of makeup items

C-section items:

1x Dry shampoo – I’m a big believer that if your hair is clean and smells good, you feel so much better so dry shampoo is one of my favourite items when I go anywhere for more than a day

1x Enerjelly sweets (so yum!) in case I need to snack and can’t walk to a vending machine

1x Cleanser and toner and 5x cotton pads (because if I can’t go to the bathroom to wash my face, I want to be able to freshen up somehow)

1x Spearmint Chewing Gum – again, if I can’t make it to the bathroom to brush my teeth, at least my breath will smell somewhat fresh

1x Tissue pack – in case I need to blow my nose / blot my face / I run out of cotton pads

And that pretty much wraps up my list of items so far. Who knows, maybe this list will change again, but this is it for now.

Any advice you can give on what you packed in your hospital bag will be gladly received in case this undergoes another edit. 😉