An Experienced Mother's Guide to Packing Your Hospital Bag

By Go-To Mom Cathy Curtis, Omaha, NE

When we were expecting our daughter, I read everything I could find, and studied nearly every aspect of the whole birthing process.

One thing I spent weeks consumed with was creating the perfect "hospital bag." I created my list from lots of different sources — books, online, childbirth classes — and was sure I'd get good use of everything I had decided was an absolute necessity to take with me when I went to have my child.

By the morning we went in to have Samantha, my poor husband Greg looked like a pack-mule. And unfortunately I found out that approximately two-thirds of everything I "had" to have when I went to give birth just never got used, or even considered, during our hospital stay.

Now our son is coming this summer, and my list is MUCH shorter. For starters, here are some of the things that have all been nixed from my hospital bag, along with the reasons why:

• CD player/music - Labor is intense, and I just wanted quiet to relax and concentrate.
• Gown/robe - I was really hot on wearing my own clothes, until I actually got there. The hospital's robes and gowns go into their laundry to be washed, and I was glad for that, once I understood how, well, messy labor is. I'd much rather wear what they provide, during labor anyway
• Stopwatch or watch with second hand - I could have cared less how far apart my contractions were at the hospital. If the nurses wanted to know, they used the monitors to see. But we weren't monitored all the time; we walked the halls a lot, and I stood in a hot shower for a long time. During all that time, no one ever asked us how far apart they were.

  Read the rest of what you should bring for your hospital stay