Hospital Bags - What Was Useful & Not So Useful?

 

When I packed my hospital bags, I did a blog post on what I had included within them and asked you lovely people if you thought I had forgotten anything. Well this blog post is going to be all about what I found useful and what I could probably have gone without.

 

Please remember though that I had a planned section so I knew I would be in hospital for 2 days minimum and of course I had 2 babies to pack for.

 

These lists aren’t in an order of importance, rather just when they popped into my head!

 

 

Me - Useful:

V-shaped pillow - I bought this one:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orthopaedic-V-Shaped-Nursing-Pregnancy-Support/dp/B00HTC3S2Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1444937618&sr=1-1&keywords=HBS+Ltd

 

Nighties x2 -  1 for after C-section and 1 for after shower before going home

 

My own pillow - I loved the comfort of having something from my own home

 

Lightweight dressing gown - It wasn't worn much as I was quite warm in the room but was handy for going for a walk down the corridor and going to get home food.

 

Biggggg knickers – I went to Primark and bought size 22!!

 

Maternity pads – don’t go overboard. People kept saying about maternity pads and how many you will go through but I honestly think that everyone is so different as I packed 4 packets of 10 and only used 2 packs in hospital over a 2 day stay.

 

Breast pads – take some but for me, my milk didn’t come in until about day 3 due to C-section and even then I didn’t have much – if you don’t plan on breastfeeding, DO NOT touch your boobies. I didn’t and I recon my milk went within 2 weeks and I didn’t have any pain at all in my boobs.

 

Nursing bras – I wore mine for about 7 weeks after the boys were born as they just made me feel more comfortable. I bought these and would highly recommend to others- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Geuine-Marielle-Bra%C2%AE-Ultimate/dp/B00GQ7NI3W/ref=sr_1_1?s=clothing&ie=UTF8&qid=1444938119&sr=1-1

 

Washing stuff; toothbrush, toothpaste, soap & towel – they encourage you to shower before you leave hospital so of course its handy to have your wash stuff on you!

 

Phone & phone charger – especially with a planned section, you are waiting around for a while before the operation. You are asked to be at hospital for 7.30am and you are strapped up to a monitor for an hour beforehand so if you’re a social media addict like me, you’ll use a lot of battery before baby is here let alone all the photos and videos you’ll be taking!

 

Energy sweets/drinks – not only are you up potentially every 3 hours feeding the baby but when you have a section, you are also interrupted at all different times of the night for monitoring of your blood pressure and temperature etc. so having a small boost to keep you going does hurt!

 

Money/change for food – the food the ward served wasn’t to my personal taste however my hospital has a Costa Coffee in it and their bacon rolls are sooooooooooo good! Of course you’ll need money for the car park as well but I believe you do get the first 24hours for free.

 

Hair bands, hairbrush and hair grips – literally don’t know what I would have done without them” I hate having hair around my face and neck and when you have just had major surgery, you want as little things as possible annoying you so these are definitely on my useful list!!

 

Car seats – goes without saying really! If you would like to bring you baby home from the hospital, you’ll need a car seat for them!

 

A black bag for dirty clothes – god send if you are staying in for a few days as it’s much easier to keep all together for when you get home and it needs washing!

 

Peppermint tea – I was silly and didn’t start on the peppermint tea as soon as I was out of theatre and actually waited until I got home. I had such bad trapped air from surgery that I was literally crying in pain and walking around burping non-stop for about 5 days after I got home. If you start ASAP, I'm sure you wouldn’t be in as much pain as I was.

 

Painkillers – although they give you them in hospital, stock up for when you are home. As I had a heavy load (2 babies!!), they actually damaged my coccyx meaning I found it so incredibly painful to sit down – painkillers were my saviour. Although they didn’t get rid of it completely, they definitely dulled the pain slightly.

 

Maternity notes – believe it or not, I almost forgot these! They are a very important part of the process from start to finish so please don’t forget them!

 

Numbing cream and clear patches – I’m so scared of injections it’s unreal and when you have a section, you need to have blood thinning injections and blood tests to check iron levels. Also, as my blood type is O negative and Oliver's is positive, I had to have the Anti-D injection after birth. Whilst they don’t actually hurt, for me it the physiological side of things! Just ask the midwifes to give you at least an hours heads up for when injection time is so you have time to apply it. I went through 3 tubes of numbing cream and about 20 of the plasters!

 

 

Spare pants, socks and t-shirt for Nathan - Nath was actually allowed to stay for the whole 2 nights in hospital so having a spare change of clothes for him was nice and refreshing.

 

Me - Could Have Gone Without:

Turby towel for washing hair – that was the last thing I wanted to do! As I knew when I was going in, I prepared and washed mine the night before.

 

Makeup – people told me I would want to do my makeup just to feel normal again but honestly, I couldn’t have thought of anything worse than doing my makeup at the time! I just wanted to sleep and cuddle my babies.

 

PJ bottoms – this is just a personal one for me. Because I had a section, I didn’t want anything rubbing against my wound so I just stayed in the nighties I took in. I did wear the PJ’s home but really didn’t feel comfortable in them at all and should have just stayed in my nightie!

 

Disposable knickers – my blood loss wasn’t extreme so I was fine wearing normal knickers and big maternity pads.

 

Spray water bottle – as I had a section, I didn’t get hot and sweaty from pushing my babies out so this was pointless for me!

 

Babies - Useful:

Sleepsuits – lots of for twins! I only took 6 in with me which meant the boys had 1 per day for the 2 days plus a spare for if they leaked or whatever. We went through the 6 we took within the 1^st day alone!

 

Vests – same as above!

 

Nappies – I only took in 48 micro nappies as I knew they would be small as they were twins but also this meant that they would have 12 each per day – boy did I underestimate how much a baby poops!

 

Water/Wet wipes – lots and lots of wipes, again especially for twins! The first poops are difficult one to contend with, let alone when you have 2 pooping machines doing them!

 

Blankets - I was quite warm but I can imagine it was cold for the babies compared to my womb!

 

Bibs – feeding a newborn is messy – very messy. After all, they haven’t done it before!

 

Muslin's – lots of for twins and also babies born via section. When babies are born vaginally, the fluid they swallow when in utero is pushed down into their stomach or is bought up easily after birth. With section babies, they don’t have the pressure on their tummies to bring this up so they were pretty flemmy after birth when drinking milk and being burped.

 

Babies - Could Have Gone Without:

Milk starter pack (for bottle feeding mammas!) – We went through sooooo much in hospital it would have cost a bomb and they give it to you for free! My hospital only has cow and gate though so if you are wanting to use a different brand you may have to ask beforehand if they offer it and if not, you’ll have to take it with you!

 

 I found it very useful having 3 different bags for all the different things; one for me, one for the babes and one for Nathan.

 

I have probably forgotten some items so if there is anything you are wondering about taking, feel free to ask me and I can hopefully help you in saying if I would have found it useful or not.