my hospital bag essentials for labor and delivery

About two weeks before I went into labor, I started researching, Googling and Pinterest-ing what other women generally pack for their labor and delivery hospital stay. I found a lot of ridiculous suggestions and some very helpful ones too. I even asked you guys in this post for your input and got some really great ideas. 

I took all that info and came up with what I thought would be most helpful for me to pack. Today I thought I'd share what I packed as well as what we used and we didn't use. 

The bag::

 I used my luckycann bag which is also our new diaper bag. It worked perfectly as a hospital bag-- so many pockets and space. I'll do a more thorough review on this in a later post, but I would definitely say you don't need to go out and buy a special bag for the hospital stay. Any duffel or overnight bag will do-- especially since it will probably be hanging out on the hospital floor at some point. 

Clothing::

 I bought a comfy new robe at Target and I used it in the very beginning, when we walked around in the hallways for a bit to try to get things going. I wore it after delivery, in our postpartum room as well. I packed some comfy tanks, sleeper nursing bras and stretchy black gaucho pants. The gaucho pants are super old (from my college days!), so I wasn't worried if blood happened to get on them after delivery. I stayed in the hospital gown from the time I was admitted until the morning after I delivered Silas. 

I also packed some big granny panties, which I didn't really use because the mesh undies from the hospital were way more comfy on my C-section incision. (I didn't pack pads either, but ended up asking my mom to bring over the ones I'd bought for home. I wasn't a fan of the hospital pads!) Socks and slippers got thrown in the bag too. I didn't use the socks, but the slippers worked great post-partum for walking around on the nasty hospital floors. 

Toiletries::

 I packed toiletries as if I would be staying overnight a night or two. This worked out well because I did end up being in the hospital for 3 nights. My contacts stayed in throughout labor and I didn't have a problem with them drying out (or at least, I didn't notice!) I changed into my glasses once we got to the post-partum room. One thing I'm glad I did was pack some special yummy-smelling shampoo as treat for after labor. The first shower I took wasn't really great since I was in so much pain and totally out of it, but the second shower-- that was lovely. The lanolin I packed didn't get used until I was home for a few days. 

For the baby:: 

Silas stayed in the wrap-style hospital tees the whole time, which I had planned on. We brought a going home outfit for him (and an extra 0-3month onesie just in case since we knew he'd be big!) He wore the hat that we brought from home the whole time we were there. It was also good to have our own baby blanket for a little personal touch in our photos. Some people said that their nurses looked down on them for not bringing baby things from home, but we didn't have any sort of experience like that. We didn't pack a single diaper or wipe and didn't need to either. 

Snacks:: 

I brought snacks, thinking Chris might need some sustenance during labor and I'd want some treats afterwards. We didn't eat any of them during labor, but snacked on the Raisinets during post-partum recovery. The Clif bars ended up being great when I needed something in my stomach in the middle of the night to take my pain medications. We didn't even open the Lifesaver mints. Thankfully our hospital food was delicious, so we didn't starve. ;)

Electronics (not pictured)::

We brought the laptop, our phones and my DSLR camera also, as well as the chargers for all of those. We used the laptop post-partum for blogging and Facebook updating and obviously my DSLR was used throughout for photos. I brought my 50mm lens as well as my 18-55mm. Since I wasn't sure how big the rooms would be, I didn't know if the fixed zoom of the 50mm would work. Thankfully, the 18-55mm was perfect in the tiny operating room for taking photos during my C-section. 

I think that's about it. I actually really loved our hospital stay and am so glad that I didn't overpack and felt just the right amount of prepared. Hope this is helpful if you're preparing for your own labor and delivery!