What's In My Hospital Bag - Bess Harrington Carter

This post is sponsored by Atrium Health. All opinions are my own.

We are getting down to the wire, friends!! Things are starting to feel REALLY REAL over here…a baby will be here soon!! So naturally I have been doing all the nesting around the house and planning and preparing as much as possible. One thing I really put a lot of thought and research into was what’s in my hospital bag. Of course there are tons of these blog posts out there on Pinterest and whatnot, but I love seeing all the different things people choose to take and what ends up being the “must-have” versus the “you don’t need this”.

I’m really more of the mindset that I’d rather have something and not need it, than need something and not have it. Especially since this is my first baby and I don’t totally know what to expect, I’d just rather overpack items I think I may want or need. I’m sure we’d be fine not taking much of anything– a friend of mine just had her fourth baby and said all she took was the car seat and going home clothes for her & baby. So, the minimalistic approach for sure can work, so no matter what, don’t stress. I suppose that’s just the difference between baby #1 and baby #4 🙂

If you want to see what I plan to take and my not-so minimalistic approach, I’m sharing what’s in my hospital bag below! I’m calling it my “ultimate list!”

Some things are obvious, and then some things I certainly could do without but just wanted for comfort, like a diffuser so it smells nice, some LED candles to set a more relaxing ambiance, and an eye mask! I bought two of these eye masks for Craig & me…they are SO soft and comfortable on your face. Then I also heard that your mouth can get really dry, and they don’t let you eat after a certain point so the organic lollipops are my solution to that. And I love taking the little packets of Propel to mix into my water, there’s no sugar but it does have extra electrolytes and tastes good. I’m basically obsessed with the kiwi-strawberry flavor.

I have a swim suit on the list in case I want to get in the tub and I’m feeling modest (I hear you just stop caring about everyone seeing you naked, so it may be unnecessary), and I also have this little elephant blanket/toy that we are going to give to our dog, Maverick from Emma. Lots of recommendations said to introduce baby to your dog by giving them something with baby’s scent on it. So we are taking that and will get Emma’s scent on it before giving it to him. It’s actually a baby toy and he kept trying to steal it out of her room, so I think he will be really excited about it!! Bringing your own pillows also came highly recommended so we both will do that. The hospital is going to think I’m moving in…that’s okay. Ha!

We did the expectant parents hospital tour of Atrium Health a few weeks ago and I got really good vibes from it. I think I’m a pretty intuitive person and I like that I just felt comfortable being there and that the space felt good to me. I even went back with my parents on the grandparent tour! They show you where to go, where the waiting room is for family, what the labor & delivery room suites look like and then what the mother-baby rooms look like after you’ve delivered. I’m feeling really good about our decision to have Emma there and I’m honestly pretty excited to go back for the main event 🙂 And just in case, I’m right there with the best neonatal care at Levine Children’s Hospital so that is always comforting. Of course I pray for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby!

I have a laptop on the list for Craig because during the tour they let us know you can stream Netflix to the TVs in the room if you have your computer so we want to have that option in case things take a while!

Here are some links to the items I’m bringing in case it makes your shopping easier! I know I had to order some of the things I wanted and I def did my research on them so I hope you find it helpful 🙂

Also, I asked you all on Instagram what you’d recommend as must-haves, and got so many great responses! Sharing them below in case you all find it helpful. I think it would be to just weed through and see what works best for you and what you’d think you would need or not!