What to pack in your hospital bag - Maternity Photographer Folkestone

Are you expecting? Is it nearly time for the big day and you're nesting away getting everything ready?

Well I've been there too and whilst the NHS gives you a list of items to pack for baby and for yourself, it's actually very limited. The list will only give you the essentials but how about all those little things that might make YOU feel better (or your other half for this matter, they will need to get through it too!).

Recently, I have asked the mums on my lovely instagram community for recommendations on items to bring for big baby delivery day and I thought I would share as so many of those items would have definitely been very handy for me when it was time!

a water bottle

Oh well, that sounds obvious for sure but I didn't think of it!! The midwifes did offer me water throughout labour but really, it would have been so much easier to bring my own drink! Get yourself one of those bottle with a straw, 100%. You don't want to mess about with a carton or plastic cup on the day, trust me!

A small fan

Maternity wards are SO hot and it has to be this way for all the babies's grand arrival into the world but labour + hormones means you'll be overheating.

Amazon has some very cheap options!

Lip Balm

Now, one of them mum made such a good point there. Gas and air (if you plan on using it) can crack your lips. So if you rely on it for 10 hours (like I did with my first baby), you will definitely appreciate it.

Snacks

Again, probably an obvious one for some but I didn't bring any snacks and I could have done with it in the early hours of labour really. Not necessarily as I was hungry but even for distracting myself! Now, most mums have actually said "snacks for dads" and I couldn't agree more with this one haha when I gave birth to my first baby, I somehow decided that I didn't want my husband to be rubbing my back and all that, I was in my own bubble, dealing with my pain which means he had to sit in a corner for hours!! It would have gone down better if he had snacks for sure!!

Extra long charger lead and headphones

I can absolutely vouch for those items. The plugs are usually quite far back behind the beds and sometimes even near the ground so having an extra long cable means you can charge your phone and still scroll away, you probably won't during labour but so handy in the ward after you have given birth. Same for headphones really, if you are in a busy ward, you will appreciate listening to your own things while baby sleeps or while you're endlessly feeding.

Peri Bottle

Well, I had never heard of this before but maybe they weren't even around 9 years ado? Either, this would have changed my life during early postpartum days. Without into getting into too much details, vaginal births are painful and everything can feel a bit sore down below for a few weeks. I remember dreading going to the toilet and this would have made it much easier. Lansinoh seems to have quite an affordable peri bottle on amazon so I'll link it here.

That's it for now! I hope you've found this useful and if you have any other tips/items that I haven't shared, please feel free to add them in comments, I'm sure new mums to be will appreciate it!