Things to take to the Hospital


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You'll find so many lists of what to take to the hospital, but this is a list of things that I did or didn't take, that I used or could have used... and you won't find them on most lists!


  • A PADDED bra to wear in the shower after you start BFing (if you are) those nipples hurt in the shower... and hospital showers tend to be really high pressure tiny streams!
  • Buy some witch hazel and some of those round cotton facial cleaners. SOAK the facial cleaners and put a strip of 3 or 4 on your pad before you put the pad on. My hospital gave me a container of Tucks, which I used. But using my own creation made me SO much less sore down there! Take them stored in a small container or something. They felt the best when they were cool! Most hospitals stay pretty cold, so I didn't have to put them on ice or anything for them to feel comfortable!
  • Create an extra emergency bag (leave it in your car) if you have a bit of a drive from your house to the hospital in case you have an extended stay! We didn't know we'd be in the hospital for a week, so we only brought 2-3 days of clothes for DH, I only brought 1 pair of panties and only had 'work out' clothes. We had to go buy things because we were an hour from our house!
  • Take flip flops or some other VERY loose shoes to wear after delivery. My feet were at least if not more than twice the size they were on my swollen days during pregnancy! I couldn't even bend my toes they were so swollen.
  • Take GUM! They may want you to not have sugar, so take sugarless, but it helps get you through contractions... plus, it makes you feel not quite so gross! Before I started chewing it, I was worried about my breath while I was blowing through contractions! I know... perfect thing to be thinking about at that time!
  • Take the chap stick... and put it on before you start pushing like I did! In between pushes, I made my husband go dig it out of our bag ... because I didn't want my baby to feel my lips be all scratchy for my first kiss to her!
  • Take pen and paper... I know people say to take a journal to write down your feelings etc... but I'm talking about a plain old notepad. I realized that I'd gotten a LOT of extra instructions because we're NICU parents. However, writing down little things like times you're supposed to nurse, numbers to call if you need something are what would go in here. Also, a 'go get' list; you will forget something no matter what and send someone to a store, but you'll forget one of the things that you thought you wanted and a second trip will be needed.
  • A blow up donut to sit on. The hospital may have them for you, but I didn't get one until 2 days post delivery, and it went everywhere with me! It's amazing! Even if you get a toddler swimming toy, get this thing!!!
  • Layers layers layers. You thought you had a wacky body temp fluctuation while pg? Think again! In one day, I went from a nursing tank top with yoga pants to the nursing tank, with a long sleeve t-shirt, and a zip up hoodie with my yoga pants... and then I put on running pants OVER my yoga pants! By the end of the night, I'd taken off the running pants and the hoodie, but still needed the rest!
  • A Boppy or other BFing pillow, even if you don't plan to BF, it's a great place to let baby lay if you happen to be alone in your room and need to put her down so you can talk on the phone, write something down, talk to her etc.

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