My Hospital Bag Checklist (Essentials for Mom, Dad & Baby)
**This post might contain affiliate links. I am no expert, this blog post should be mainly seen as me documenting my journey through pregnancy and summarizing information I’ve collected along the way.
The time has finally come for me to pack my hospital bag. It was definitely an exciting task to do since it made me realize that my baby’s birthday is coming closer. However, it was not a simple one-day task to do since it included a lot of preparations in advance, and before the day has come on which I actually went to the storage room to pick up my carrier and sat down to pack my hospital bag.
In this blog post, I am going to share with you some of the information that I collected while doing research on how to pack the perfect hospital bag. Also, for a more interactive view, you can also check out my YouTube video on “What’s in my Hospital Bag” here.
STEP 1: Research
On my 35weeks checkup, I was able to have a talk with my hospital about labor and delivery. Every hospital or birthing center has different ways and rules on how delivery takes place so I was anxiously awaiting the time when I was able to receive all the information about the different options that my hospital would offer. I did my own research beforehand in order to already know about the various types of labor and delivery practices that exist so that I would be able to ask more specific questions. This also included information on what they will provide for me and the baby during labor as well as for the hospital stay. I checked out different hospital bag lists on the internet beforehand, compared and combined all the different lists, and wrote down my own list with my personal essentials. My goal was not to overpack and to keep it minimal. Therefore, I specifically looked for items that were present on all the hospital bag checklists that I could find. While items that were mentioned only once or that I thought were useless I simply removed from my personal list. In addition, if there was a specific item that wasn’t very common but somehow inspired and convinced me that I could have good use of it, then I added it to my list. By doing so, I was able to create my personal hospital bag checklist that I brought to my pre-labor & delivery appointment and then simply crossed out the items that my hospital already provides. I must say that after that appointment, luckily my list became much shorter.
STEP 2: Shopping
Of course, I checked what I already had at home first and then I pretty quickly started ordering the missing items. Regarding items such as toiletries, skincare, or phone/camera chargers, I decided to purchase separately even though I already had them at home. Usually, when packing for a trip I always chose to pack those things right before leaving but in this case, I think as soon as the first signs of labor will appear I probably won’t be able to focus on the remaining items that I still need to pack.
STEP 3: Packing
After I gathered all the stuff that I needed I sat down and packed everything into my carrier. Thanks to all the preparations that I did beforehand this was a task that only took me a short amount of time. Now my hospital is ready and fully packed and patiently waiting in the corner of my room for the day when our baby girl decides to arrive.
—> PRINT MY HOSPITAL BAG CHECKLIST HERE !
—> Check out the Birth Affirmation printable cards from unlimitedmama.com here
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