Hospital bag – what I’m glad I packed, wished I didn’t, wished I did

Let me start by saying it’s 4am in the morning, William slept 8 hours before needing to be fed, and now he’s almost asleep and here I am writing this! My energy levels are so odd.

Anyways,

I waited until the week I had William to pack my hospital bag, and the only reason I did it then was because we were going to Port Renfrew for the day and I wanted to have it just in case. 38 weeks, and super big pot holes? That’s labour waiting to happen….but it didn’t. Obviously.

For those that don’t know, Port Renfrew is roughly an hour drive from Lake Cowichan and there is NO cell reception, and SO MANY pot holes on the road there due to the excessive snow we had this winter!)

Back to it..

I had packed William’s diaper bag probably around 35 weeks, but I took things in and out up until I actually had him. I’ve put together a list of items that I’m glad I packed for both of us, items I wish I had packed and some things that didn’t get used during our hospital stay.

My bag included:

Toiletries (Toothpaste toothbrush, makeup, cleansing wipes, dry shampoo, hair brush, hair ekastics)
Stretchy leggings (Lululemons)
Maternity jeans
Flip flops
Slippers
iPhone cord
Laptop
Camera with extra batteries
Pillows from home

I never used the makeup, cleansing wipes, stretchy leggings, and the jeans I put on to go home. I wish I had packed perhaps an extension cord as the outlets seemed to be far from the hospital bed. I had William at 3am on Friday, and we stayed Friday night and Saturday night, so it was nice having the laptop with movies to watch when it was quiet and just Chris, me and the baby hanging out in the room. (Why wasn’t I sleeping when he was?!)

One thing that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU PACKING:

Make sure you have a pair of shoes, and clothes in your hospital bag. I didn’t. Only the pants. So when I was rushing to the hospital due to a VERY fast labour at 2am, the last thing I wanted to do was lean over and throw on my sneakers, so despite it being cold I just threw on Flip Flops, and was wearing some PJ Pants(kind of like joggers), and one of Chris’s T-Shirts with a nursing bra. When we went to leave on Sunday morning, it seemed a bit silly having to wear flip flops out of the hospital!

William’s bag consisted of some Newborn onesies, 0-3 month onesies, a few newborn sleepers, and a pair of pants and a sweater. He was too small for everything! We really didn’t need to bring all those clothes for him as for the entire stay there he was in a diaper and swaddled in the hospitals blankets! It was great because it was super easy to unswaddle to change him, and perfect for skin to skin time. He wore a onesie, pants, and sweater on the way home and he was swimming in them.

I had him at CDH(Cowichan District Hospital) and they provided all the necessities for our stay. I didn’t need to use any of our own diapers, wipes, Q-Tips, etc. So, depending on where you deliver you may need to pack those items, but check ahead of time. A lot of Maternity Wards will do tours for expecting parents, and make sure to ask what they provide to you after delivery. I’m sure if you are needing to stay for more than just a few days, it may be fun to bring some outfits for them to wear.

CDH provided me with