My Hospital Bag

Ye!! A little angel is born and now she is on her fifth month. Everything went on smoothly. I am back with regular day-to-day life with major change of having one more cute little member to our home.

As I said in my earlier post, I was clueless about the worth of shopping I did before delivery. Now, all I can say that every penny spent was worthy. Here, I am going to show you my hospital bag. I did a lot of googling and watched you tube before making these decisions.

I did not buy a diaper bag or a new brand bag for hospital. The idea of getting a new bag found useless for me. I used our old American Tourist handbag which is very comfort for carrying. It has two and front one compartment. I divided baby stuffs and kept in them in separate pockets, One had toiletries , one with tissues and another with first wearing baby cloth set. All cloths were packed in separate transparent plastic bags.

I even cut my old T-shirt and made small palm size squares to wipe the poop. (pink). I was not sure of using baby wipes on delicate skin of new-born then. I made two long cloths by my old three forth pant. (blue color with flower motif). These were pretty much handy at the hospital.

I am a big 'Himalaya' brand fan. So opted for all 'Himalaya' product. I also read good review about their child care products. Baby Wipes, Baby powder, Baby rash cream and Baby soap, all are from the same brand.

I say, Baby wipes are must. It's easy to clean baby buttocks after poops and pee. And also these keep baby rash free.

I have not used baby rash cream and powder till baby is a month old. My mallishwali denied using these as baby skin is very sensitive. She even denied of using baby shampoo till first two weeks.

And I should say about Pigeon nappy liners. I would suggest to buy these. The first baby poo, meconium stool is hard to wash. Just layer the baby nappy with these and save yourself from cleaning and washing the nappy cloth.

We have not used baby diapers till a month. In hospital, Doctors deny using diapers. For new born pee count is important. We need to count how many times a new born wet the nappy. New-born health is also diagnosed by this. If baby is dehydrating or is baby getting enough of mother feed, everything can be determined by pee count. In a ready made diaper, one can not count the pee and poo.

From the prev shopping, I prepared four hand stitched muslin squares each one feet to swaddle the new born. I had also made eight muslin squares and kept edges not sewed. As I said earlier, not wanted to use old dhoti or cotton saree to wrap our new-born. I hand washed to remove the starch from these muslin. I have also used 'Dettol' to sanitation. Same with other baby cloths, nappies, receiving blanket and even baby bed bought earlier. You can see folded origami nappy below the belt. This technique I leaned from watching You tube tutorials.

We both decided to put muslin tie vest for the new born. That's why I kept a muslin cloth, a cap and a white muslin vest separate in a plastic bag. My hospital swaddle the new born baby by their own cloths. Later as we shift to our room, asked us to give related baby cloths from us. This arrangement was handy at the time of dressing up the baby for the first time.

And for other baby cloths, I matched them with cap and mittens kept separate. This arrangement to help my hubby to dress up baby each day. This method was useful. After birth, I was not able to move from my hospital bed. He only managed to get out all baby cloths from the bag. Neat packing and separation helped him a lot.

Above pic also showing two small cloth belts prepared by me. Even though, I have not used them at the hospital. I thought of tie baby nappies with these. This idea did not work well. So, dropped.

And most important thing is Maternity pads. I searched in the net for these. I was sad of not getting these in the online market. When I inquired other mommies, most of them have used sanitary pads instead of maternity pads. I wonder, how can a sanitary pad hold that much of blood overflowing! I got to know about 'Mothercare' maternity pads. I personally was not satisfied by the look of the product. After much of searching, I asked our regular ' 24 hours' medical shop and I got these! I was so relaxed and later came to know that these are the same used by my hospital.

I also bought use and through under garments from ' Mom and Me". These were much useful. These are like knitted cloth and allow air to pass. These helps to heal fast.  And design is so that it covers till our belly, stretchable. These are best against the cloth undergarments we use. I bought one pack and reused only one from three. I was at the hospital for five days and first three days are given sponge bath. I had c section and everything is taken care by nurses. Later, I felt very easy while changing by my self. I'll write in detail about my experience in another post.

In total, I can say my packing worked for me well. I was accompanied by my husband to the hospital. First three days, my hubby took care of me and new born. All these arrangements and You tube lessons worked for us. Made our hospital life easier. Reminds you that, this is our first baby.

Forgot to mention about my cloths. I had purchased maternity nursing dress. In my hospital, we need to wear their own cloths during hospitalization. They gave washed cloths every day and if soiled, gave another pair. because of that. there was no need of personal clothing for me. I knew about this before admitting. That's why carried a set of salwar set to wear while coming back home from hospital.

In total, our hospital bag comprised of above mentioned baby cloths,  my cloth sets and toiletries. This also included all other products bought earlier, baby towel, baby cloth nappies, baby towel and baby bed/godhali.

Hope this information might help who are looking for.