How To Pack A Hospital Bag For Delivery

Packing a delivery bag for the hospital is one of the many moments during pregnancy that can feel very overwhelming. How do you pack a hospital delivery bag with everything you will need, when you don’t actually know what you will need? Especially, if you have never been through a delivery before. With every delivery being different and the potential for so many different needs, where do you even start? 

I for one definitely felt overwhelmed when it came time to pack my hospital delivery bag. It made it feel even more real that my babies could be here at any time. Also being the over-planner that I am, I needed to be prepared. Many items in my hospital delivery bag traveled all the way to the hospital with us just to never come out of the bag. 

Due to being pregnant with twins I wanted to be extra prepared knowing that it was common to go into labor early so I had my bag packed at 30 weeks. This was way early as I made it to just before 38 weeks giving myself plenty of time to pack…repack…repack…repack…and repack my bag several times changing it up each time until I felt like I finally had the perfect packed delivery bag. It was a lot! With all that time for packing you would think I should have perfected my delivery bag, but alas I still used only the smallest portion of the items I packed in my delivery bag. 

Here is a list of all I packed and if I used it or not. Spoiler for you most of it I never used.

Mom:

• Going home outfit 
• Nursing bra 
• Robe 
• Nursing gown
• Pads in case I didn’t like the hospital ones 
• Toothbrush 
• Chapstick 
• Shampoo and conditioner 

Dad:

• Going home outfit
• Charger
• wished he had packed sweatpants
• Snacks
• Change of clothes
• Shoes 
• Games to play

Babies:

• Cute swaddles for pics with matching hat and bow
• Day one sign
• Going home newborn outfits
• Preemie outfit 
• Socks, mittens and hats (winter babies)

Let’s Dive into each Item to see what was used

Mom’s Bag

Going home outfit 

• Obviously, I had to wear clothes to leave so this was used. With your going home outfit be nice to yourself and think comfortable and easy to get on and off. You never know how much mobility you will have. For me I found matching sweat suits at Target for my family. They were loose and comfortable which made them perfect.

Nursing bra

• When you have a baby modesty is no longer a thing.  On day 2 I finally put this on the morning before we were discharged.

Robe 

• I wore this for some photos with the babies and other than that it stayed in my bag. It was nice to have something for pictures, so my boobs were not out for the world to see. We delivered during a time when hospitals were still restricting visitors. If we were able to have people come visit, I probably would have worn this more. 
• You can find similar ones here https://amzn.to/3qZssbH

Nursing gown

• This remained folded in the bag until I unpacked it after we got home

Pads

• I was warned about bringing these in case I didn’t like the hospital ones. In my opinion the hospital ones are fine, and I actually preferred them to the ones I bought. 

Toothbrush

• Yes, I used this… thankfully!

Chapstick

• I thought this was a weird thing to bring but I kept hearing or reading that it needed to be packed. I probably would have been fine without it, but it was nice to have. 

Shampoo and Conditioner

• We were in and out so fast I didn’t have time to take a shower until we got home 

Dad’s Bag 

Going home outfit

• He matched us all and it was great

Charger

• This is definitely not the time to be without the ability to take pictures and videos. Make sure to also have a charger with an extra-long cord because you never know how far away the outlet will be. 

Snacks

• Snacks are never a bad thing. We checked in at noon and by the time we were at a point to think about ordering food it was closed. Snacks came in very handy throughout the evening for hubs. At the hospital we were at I could order extra food for myself, and hubs just shared my food. Thank you to the nurse that told us about this when we were getting ready to do our first order.

Change of clothes

• You don’t know for sure how long your stay will be and you will definitely appreciate the ability to change clothes. Hubs mentioned he should have brought some sweatpants and a change of shoes. Slippers or just comfortable slip ons either option would have been nice to have. 

Games to play 

• We didn’t end up needing these to pass the time. However, if we had been going through a long labor or waiting on induction these would have been very handy. We actually brought 2 board games with us and left them in the car. Looking back, we would want to have a deck of cards in the bag. They take up less room and there are plenty or games that can be played using them. 

Baby Bag

Cute swaddles for pics with matching hat and bow

• I was so glad we had these and love the pictures we got in them. Hubs got these for me as a gift leading up to delivery and he also got me a robe that matched. 

Day one sign

• I got adorable monthly trackers from my baby shower and thankfully I opened the box up before the babies were born because I didn’t not realize there would be a Day One sign. 

Going home newborn outfits

• They were very big on the twins, and they would have fit better in the preemie outfits. I loved our matching outfits, and they were able to fit into them for 4 months. Which allowed for us to get some great photos of them getting bigger. 

Preemie outfit 

• I ended up not putting them in these for the ride home, but these were the only outfits they fit in for about the first month. Shout out to my mom who ran out to buy us a few preemie jammies for each kid, so they were able to fit into clothes since other than the 2 preemie outfits we had in the delivery bag all we had was newborn clothes. 

Socks, mittens, and hats

• We had winter babies, and the car was cold. Having socks, gloves, and hats was a necessity for keeping them nice and snug on the way home. 

Summary

Everyone’s experience is different, and all needs are different. If bringing something makes you feel more comfortable and prepared, then bring it. Even if you end up not using it this is all about your peace of mind. Find the healthy balance between bringing everything to make yourself comfortable and not over packing. Like I said there are plenty of things I packed that I did not need I would not bring again however it did not hurt anything for me to have them.  

New packing list if we were to do it again.

Mom:

• Going home outfit 
• Nursing bra
• Robe or nursing gown 
• Hair rush
• Toothbrush
• Chapstick 

Dad:

• Going home outfit
• Charger
• sweatpants
• Snacks
• Change of clothes
• Comfy Shoes or slippers
• Deck of cards 
• Speaker

Babies:

• Cute swaddle for pics with matching hat and/or bow
• Day one sign
• Going home newborn outfit
• Preemie outfit 
• Socks, mittens, and hats (if winter babies)

For a FREE fully editable version of my hospital delivery bag checklist click below.

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