What's in your (hospital) bag?

So clearly cutting it close - but we just zipped up the hospital bag this morning. Everythign is officially in and ready to go besides the last minute things we need everyday like our pillows, my makeup, our phones/tablets/chargers, and the new camera. We are officially ready! And holy smokes let me tell you - for what will hopefully be a 2 night stay we sure do need a lot of things!!! And me being the type A crazy personality that I am it kills me to relinquish control of those things. We tried to pack it (at the great suggestion from Rita!) with the things we will need first at the top - hospital gown, birthing ball, memory book for baby's footprints, hair ties, and the things we will need later at the bottom - pj's, normal clothes, etc. But I know that when it's go time I'm going to have no control over that bag and where everything goes. I wish Prentice would just let me check in now, get my room all set up and work remotely from there so everythign would be settled and perfect.

So packing the hospital bag caused me a bit of angst. As organized and type A as I am - I am THE WORST packer in the world - seriously. I hate it. I tend to way overpack and throw everything in the suitcase simply because I don't want to make a decision about what I really need or want. I tried like hell to be sure our hospital bag wasn't like that since I didn't want Chris to have to dig through 25 pairs of pajama pants all because I couldn't decide. So I perused the internet and found all sort of lists and kind of combined them all. I found all of these sites helpful:

http://www.babycenter.com/packing-for-the-hospital-or-birth-center

http://pregnant.thebump.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-tools/articles/checklist-packing-a-hospital-bag.aspx?MsdVisit=1

http://www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2012/5/21/hospital-bag-what-to-pack.html

Chris and I put our minds to it on a recent Sunday - turned on O.A.R. on Spotify and we had at it:

And here was our actual list. Because there are some things that we can't pack yet we have an already packed list...

And a to be packed list...

And I totally know there are things on this list we don't "need" like diapers, wipes, pads for momma, etc. - but I kinda just wanted to pack the diaper bag if I'm honest ;)

What I think is a shock to most moms to be - or at least was to me - is the "unpleasant" side of birth. It was quite the shock to Wrigs as well...

Things like depends, maximum absorbency overnight pads, Tucks medicated hemorhoid pads, and bottom balm for moms are so not glamorous but so necessary as far as I hear from other mommas! Also, I've heard the oh so sexy mesh undies that the hospital gives you are ah-mazing and I am greatly looking forward to them!! But I had no clue about all of these things - I saw my first birthing video in one of Rita's classes so I literally went into this blind. I had no clue that it's expected that you will bleed - a lot - for a long time after giving birth and that you could pass golfball sized clots and it be totally normal - say what? So thank God for the edu-ma-cation we have given ourselves over the past few months - otherwise there would have been a lot of frantic calls to Rita and the doc postpartum!

All that being said - can I just tell you that I am completely stoked for the first signs of labor?!?!? Seriously - I feel like a kid on Christmas every single day. When I go to sleep at night I think is this it - am I going to have to wake Chris up in the middle of the night and tell him it's go time? Every morning I shave my legs, put on lotion and get myself ready thinking what if I have a baby today - I have to be prepared! I've never stayed overnight in a hospital and as weird as this sounds - I'm even looking forward to that. But most of all I'm looking forward to holding my sweet baby in my arms for the first time - and every single pain, every single second, every single contraction is going to bring me one step closer to that moment - so bring it on! However - if I'm honest - I have a feeling this little one is going to be stubborn like momma and keep us all waiting!!

And after a long morning of packing - of course ZZ wanted some baby cuddles. So strange but I've been freaked out to let the cats on my belly this whole time - it's killed me because they are like my kids - especially ZZ who I've had for 10 years - but I was always just worried they'd catapult off the baby and hurt it so they lay near my bump and this was just too sweet! Happy hump day everyone - hope your week is a good one!

XOXO

K