[Podcast!] What To Pack In Your Hospital Bag!

Packing your hospital bag can be SO stressful – maybe Katy’s list can help take a little pressure off!

Highlights include:
Bringing your true necessities
Dad needs his own bag
Everyone loves FridaMom

TRANSCRIPT:

Katy 0:01
Hey welcome to I’m that mom the podcast about motherhood without the pressure of perfection. My name is Katie. I’m a self taught entrepreneur who started my baby company while pregnant and grew it to an eight figure business as a single mom of three. Join us as we discuss the fun, funny and messy parts of motherhood. We’re certainly not experts. We’re just here to support all the moms and hopefully, collectively, we don’t completely (bleep) it up.

Katy 0:32
the number one question, right, for every new mom, what do you pack in your hospital bag? Although it’s also kind of like the super exciting part. I remember being with all three pregnancies, like the countdown of like, okay, is it too early to pack my hospital bag? Is it not a you know, is it too late? Like, it’s a big thing? How, how long did you sit with your hospital bag packed?

Casey 0:54
I packed mine way too early. I had it in my trunk for like three months, probably

Katy 0:59
You peed on the stick and I realized like, you have to pack your hospital bag.

Casey 1:03
I was too excited. Plus, we were moving at the same time, which was like the worst thing ever. But so I was just like, I need to be prepared no matter what. So I had it all.

Katy 1:12
You kind of live in that, like at any moment, baby’s head is gonna fall out and then yeah, like, I better have my slippers and my phone charger.

Casey 1:20
Yeah, well, and I gained like 55 pounds when I was pregnant. So I literally felt like she was just gonna fall out at any moment.

Katy 1:28
Wait till you’re pregnant with your third.

Casey 1:30
There better not be a third.

Katy 1:31
You’ll really feel like they’re going to fall out at any moment. Okay, so then let’s talk about what you pack in your hospital bag. And my oldest is 17. My youngest is nine almost 10. She’d be standing here correcting me. I turned 10 next month, mom. I’d be like, Okay, you’re still annoying, but you’re nine. And what we packed in the hospital bag like, gosh, really? Looking back and remember 17 years ago, there wasn’t there was no haka, like, milk catcher like this. Have you seen that?

Casey 2:01
Yeah.

Katy 2:02
Where you like stick it –

Casey 2:02
I’m just like shocked that you didn’t have one.

Katy 2:04
No, I just leaked on oneself, like milk just like came out and you, and I would actually change my pad like in between because it would be like I would, I was like a lactating cow. It was disgusting. And my boobs were literally this like three times the size of my baby’s head. And so I had to, I felt like I was gonna suffocate him. You know, like when they go to breastfeed against my ginormous like,

Casey 2:29
you have to like move it a bit for their nose so they can still breathe.

Katy 2:32
Yeah, this is probably a podcast we should say for like pregnancy symptoms. But what people don’t talk about is that your nipples like grow and not your nipple part like the areola, and there’s like Lunchable meat and then there’s like, and then there’s Salamis and you can fix it. I will tell you after your babies, you can fix it. But don’t you remember, like, I felt like I was gonna suffocate my baby. And I’d have to like, hold my whole boob back and like, and then the nurses are in there. And there’s nothing like childbirth to really like, you lose all modesty. Like you’re just like, in the bathroom. Like, the nurses like this is a whole nother podcast is talking about childbirth, but let’s talk about hospital bags.

Casey 3:13
But because of all of that you want to be prepared with your hospital bag.

Katy 3:16
totally prepared because the last thing I want to do is walk around barefoot in a hospital room like

Casey 3:22
Like everything else is already uncomfortable. Yeah, like you need to have essentials in there.

Katy 3:27
Okay, so I kind of want to talk about what I packed in my hospital bag 17 years ago versus like what I’d pack now because now there’s things out there that I totally wish I had but I remember and and with each child I packed less stuff and likt more important things like I learned early on, take your pillow. Like hospital pillows are nasty and gross and the pillowcase like makes crunchy noises and if you’re like me and like the tiniest little noise or a silent room and then your pillow crunches is like a horrible Yeah, so but for myself I packed nursing tanks those are my favorite like the kind that just clipped in your could just unfold in your boob just like you know, but there was no underwire it was comfortable. I had a C section and so comfortable like loose pants were great. And then we I had to pack just like you know you go to Target and you buy like Hanes panties like you have to have like the really wide crotch ones because the pads are so big. Like there’s no taking your hanky panky like thongs to the hospital. Because the pad is reaches from like your belly button to the back of your like butt crack. And you need something to like grab onto but now they have like everyone buys these like slip on like the diapers they give you then that’s brilliant.

Casey 4:48
I love the frida.

Katy 4:49
Yeah, the frida baby.

Casey 4:51
And the freedom mom like those disposable underwear are the best.

Katy 4:55
UNsponsored, right? Yeah. Like frida baby, and I love the squirt bottles.

Casey 5:00
there’s a reason you see them everywhere. Yeah, because it actually is good.

Katy 5:03
It’s the best one. And there’s nothing more humbling than sitting in your diaper with your boobs out, trying to get your nipple into the babies and and then your husband’s just like standing there like clueless. He’s, you know, and you’re just waiting like the meconium diapers always what I gave to dad like, oh, okay, you get to do the tar poop, like for sure. But we’re off track, we’re supposed to be talking about hospital bags. So definitely something comfortable, right. And I think there’s like two versions, because so pre COVID, you had guests come. So it was all about having the robe. And I think now even you can have guests back in the hospital. For two years, they didn’t even allow, you know, grandparents in or the siblings.

Casey 5:46
that’s how it was when I gave birth to Grayson in 2021. If we wanted to have a visitor, Kevin, my husband would have had to leave.

Katy 5:56
And come back in?

Casey 5:58
Yeah, they would have had to, like tag off. And so you can only have one extra person in the room. So automatically, we’re like, we can’t we can’t do that. So yeah, no, we didn’t know visitors. So

Katy 6:09
no, but that’s kind of one of those amazing things about COVID

Casey 6:12
it was nice, we kinda loved it. Because we got to control the timeline.

Katy 6:16
Yeah.

Casey 6:16
And there was like no pressure because there wasn’t an option.

Katy 6:20
Yes, that’s a pro of it. For sure. But usually, and now I think moving forward especially to have your mom Everyone wants their mom to visit and their mother in law and, and I so I feel like you need to take something and a robe is great, because you can have your comfy nursing bra or your comfy pajamas under it and a robe kind of like covers yourself a little bit. And you feel more put together without like, there’s no reason to put clothes on. Like, there’s no reason to put makeup on. There’s no reason to. Yeah, who are you trying to –

Casey 6:49
Your boob is coming out like every two hours.

Katy 6:50
Yes. And you’re bleeding and your nurses like in the bathroom with you and like just take all the pressure off but but socks or slippers. So we said so something for you to wear comfortable? Probably two outfits. I think this standard is really used to if you have a vaginal birth, usually they keep you in for about 24 hours, C sections two days. You know, by the end of that you’re like ready to go home. Although by my third I was like I’m gonna stay here. Send the baby to the the, like the newborn nursery, right? And it was like vacation. But socks, shoes, you don’t wanna be walking around in that nasty floor. And then your toiletries like whatever makes you feel good. Your face wash, dry your own shampoo, yes, dry shampoo, the whole thing, whatever just kind of makes you feel – Because if you labor for 24 hours, you likely were sweating. You probably had the shakes and maybe threw up like you want to feel – I remember like thinking back like that after that first shower, and they take your IVs out and they take the catheter out and all the things. It feels amazing.

Casey 7:58
Yeah. And get all the sticky stuff off of you. Yeah, just medical tape everywhere.

Katy 8:03
And the hospital bracelets. Yeah. But so for mom, I would say comfortable outfit probably to a robe or something that you that if maybe a family member you know is coming to visit and you don’t want to be completely exposed. It’s nice to have something to put over your shoulders plus it can get cold in the hospital. Yeah, so even a wrap would be kind of a good option. slippers or socks so that you’re not walking around barefoot. I don’t know what diseases are on the floor. But they’re probably worse than COVID.

Casey 8:32
Yeah, I mean, I know I came out of my body. So I can’t be the only one that that happened too.

Katy 8:38
EW, Yes, completely. And then a pillow, a blanket like one of those really cozy barefoot dreams ones and you wash it and that detergent that we love and so it smells good.

Casey 8:49
But make sure you bring two so that your husband doesn’t steal it when he complains about thin the hospital blankets are too

Katy 8:56
we’re not there to make the husband comfortable. Again, a whole nother podcast about what get what dad should not do or say in delivery.

Casey 9:06
Yeah, and dad needs to back his own hospital bag.

Katy 9:09
dad does. Yes. And not the morning of where we’re waiting and stressed out like dad needs to literally be proactive. And I don’t know, like Google it. I’m sure there’s so many. There’s really a tiktok about what dad should pack in his bag. And, and I’m saying that and I’m like dad should just do that. We should make that right, we should we’re going to make a tiktok about what dads pack so that in the moment when they come to you and they’re like what do I do my boat? That’s my best dad voice by the way. And don’t lie all of you give your husband’s the same voice or don’t know what to do. what do I pack in my bag. We’re gonna be like, just refer to the amazing CadenLane tiktok and it tells you and then it’s not our responsibility. Even though we’ll fret that they didn’t pack the right things, right. Yeah. And then we’ll eventually be like, we’re just gonna pack it for you. Um okay and then what else for mom a long phone charger?

Casey 10:04
Yeah right I think so that and maybe like one of those portable chargers

Katy 10:10
Yes. Oh like the little disc ones where you can just keep it in your bed next to you. But do not bring like there’s nothing worse than those ones that you buy that are only like four feet long and you can’t even put them on your like nightstand because let me tell you mom’s your hospital bed is going to be a good 10 feet from the wall and your phone will die. And you’re going to want text that picture to every – more people than you invited to your wedding. Like this is the moment, show off the baby. Make sure you have a phone charger. Right what else? Oh, a big water jug. So my hospital provided like a water cup. But what are the big like popular mugs?

Casey 10:50
Stanley cups

Katy 10:51
Yes, I feel like Stanley is missing their marketing opportunity and they need to like pitch only to pregnant women

Casey 10:57
It’s because they can’t keep them in stock. They don’t have to worry about that yet.

Katy 11:01
Okay, but a big cup, right? Because you are going to be thirstier than you have ever been in your entire life.

Casey 11:07
And if you have an epidural you can only have water yeah so you’re not it’s right you’re cut off and snacks to so make sure you stock up

Katy 11:16
did yours – you just saying this like made me have like this? Like thought back they wouldn’t let me eat until I farted.

Casey 11:23
what?

Katy 11:24
Yes Did they not tell you you had to pass gas before you could eat? that’s a thing

Casey 11:28
No I ordered like a 12 inch sub from Jimmy John’s and just went to town I didn’t ask permission

Katy 11:33
really? made me far first and I lied. I was like, definitely farted I definitely did it and then and so I could eat because I was starving. When we have Karen my OB on this podcast. We’re gonna ask her about that. And we’re gonna say Did you or did you not make Katy pass gas? I feel like that’s like the more appropriate like podcast voice

Casey 11:55
okay, I’m checking out your list that you have written down and you have the wide panties the disposable diapers the panty popsicles and I just want to say get it for free from the hospital because they hand that out

Katy 12:09
yes I was the girl that like emptied out the drawer

Casey 12:12
same I asked for extra before we left yeah the nurses gave me the side eye but I didn’t care I’ll take the diapers, the wipes, everything

Katy 12:20
Yes. I’m like the girl that takes the nice shampoos from the hotel like you think I’m not going to empty out the hospital like bassinet except I did not take the nasty – No I did. I took the nasty swaddle, you know, like the one with the pink and blue like stripe, but only because I wanted to put it in my baby bucket. You know, like it’s sentimental

Casey 12:42
and I have Caden lanes swaddles for that.

Katy 12:44
I know but I didn’t with my kids, I know. So. Okay, so mom, I think we like covered most of it. So I am a C section Mom, your vaginal right. I would say for a C section. You definitely want pants that kind of come so your incision is like right in that crease. Like where you kind of shaved but not don’t really need to shave like it’s right between like your fat, fat. That’s how low

Casey 13:10
Like where your underwear sits.

Katy 13:12
Yeah, yeah, well, that’s some pretty skimpy underwear that you’re wearing.

Casey 13:17
Oh, I thought we were in the low rise era right now?

Katy 13:21
no, that’s the 90s now I think your underwear is supposed to come up to here.

Casey 13:25
Don’t you watch tiktok? isn’t low rise coming back? low rise and middle parts.

Katy 13:29
Oh great. I’ll never be in style. Just when I was starting to get my like high rise back up. But anyways, my point is your c section scar is very low and it’s wide and so and as it heals, it kind of shrinks but you don’t want anything touching it. You definitely want like pajama pants that come up to your belly button loose not tight fitting although on the opposite side of that we had a product and I think it’s on the market that was called a belly bandit and so it was like a rap and it pulls because when you have a C section what feels really good is pressure on it because it hurts to like have your muscles are loose and so like sitting up and using your core muscles like are really sore and having that pressure like constantly holding it feels good. So I would def – and they give you when you have a C section at the hospital they do give you like a rap that you can put on but there’s plenty on the market that you can take you know you just don’t want anything rubbing on it. And that’s pretty much it. What about oh the pads?

Casey 14:28
Yeah, the icicle pads.

Katy 14:30
did you make your own? Or did you use –

Casey 14:32
No, I’ve seen like all the tiktok videos about how to make your own witch hazel and stuff but they have these ones where you just like crack them in half and then

Katy 14:41
like a glowstick

Casey 14:42
Yeah, you shake them and then it just like it’s cold all of a sudden and let me tell you it feels nice.

Katy 14:48
Do you have to have a baby to like have a popsicle pad?

Casey 14:51
I was just gonna say if you ever have really bad like period cramps.

Katy 14:55
Yeah?

Casey 14:55
like uncomfortable whip out one of those bad boys too. And that’ll help also, like you don’t need to be postpartum.

Katy 15:02
Yeah, a bottle of wine and a popsicle pad. Sounds like a dream. Every mom watching this right now is like, Oh my God, yes. Like that would be amazing.

Casey 15:13
and then of course, like the witchhazel pads and all of that. Like they have some what is that? Some spray to Derma Plast.

Katy 15:21
Yeah, well, did you tear?

Casey 15:22
I did, I had a second degree tear. Yeah so that dermaplast felt nice and breezy.

Katy 15:29
Yeah, it’s good. That’s good. But it’s important. I think the like core is that you just need to take everything that makes you comfortable.

Casey 15:37
Yeah.

Katy 15:37
And, and don’t be afraid to ask for it. If you need it. I think you have to be an advocate for yourself.

Casey 15:43
Ant there’s a reason why the nurses come in so often to check on you and baby, they want to make sure you’re okay. And if you’re not like I’m fine, like no, I’m not fine on the pain, give me another Tylenol.

Katy 15:53
Yeah, let them know. And if you have swelling in a certain location because your IV fluids collected in it, yet again, another podcast story. Make sure you make sure it’s normal. Okay, so um, so I think so we kind of we polled our moms too on social media. And a lot of people said soft bath towels. I didn’t pack a towel. But now looking back, I’m like, Well, maybe the towel. It was probably like, reused, I bet they like use hospital towels over and over. I should have packed a hospital towel. I mean, right. The hospital towel. I should have packed a bath towel. It’s not a bad idea.

Casey 16:30
But like, at this point, this is so much stuff. I will say. I got made fun of with how much stuff I brought in the nurse came in here because yeah, we rolled up with a rolling suitcase. But I just wanted to have everything. Yeah. So do what you have to do you do.

Katy 16:49
Okay, let me keep going down. We talked about the wide panties. We talked about the nursing bras. Let’s go to baby because this is like really, like we’re here for that. What what you pack for baby is important. You know, so my favorite thing to do. And this is for family for staff, like pre COVID Even when the girls that worked for us had babies like I was the first one there in the hospital like a psycho stalker. Like I feel like they’re my babies. But my favorite thing to do is change the baby’s clothes. So when you have the baby, they put the little striped hat on wrap them in a swaddle and they put that little like cross white tea, like not even pants and they hand it to you and so it’s kind of this like newborn like moment. Right? But do you remember the first time you put an outfit on Grayson and like how she transformed into this like it just I don’t know there’s something like –

Casey 17:40
Well it was like also terrifying because that was my first time like moving her around and like forcing her little arms and really made me so nervous. But yeah, once you’re done and just like this cute little package is like a little human.

Katy 17:52
like it’s so cute. I have like outfit changes for my girls. I was like And now you’ll try this bow and now you’ll try this outfit but so that’s okay, so you made a great point like it’s kind of terrifying changing a newborns diaper or not diaper, clothes because they’re just like this floppiness like of –

Casey 18:10
I know and I was trying to do it fast because I was worried she was gonna get cold and then you can’t go too fast. then you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m gonna break her like yeah, so many things. Honestly, I watched the nurses do a lot of it. I really copied them.

Katy 18:25
You should have known me when you had your first baby I’d have just come in and done the whole thing for you and handed you this perfect package of cuteness.

Casey 18:31
See my first hospital photo? You should you would be ashamed.

Katy 18:34
So that is why I love gowns for babies and so when I had Cade my oldest right there was not sacks like we make today which just tie in are easy. They had like snaps and zippers and all this crazy stuff. But what was so awesome is that you could just there was no like dressing baby like it just you slipped it on over the feet, like pulled it up. That was simple. You’re changing diapers like all the time. And it needed to be something because I think most of the time actually dad probably changed his outfit. So you really got to dumb it down. Make it so easy and simple. Yes. But I would take an outfit for baby I would say take three because it’s kind of like the whole motto of like when to wear when to wash and when in the wings. Right? Like they’ve always got options and you don’t know if like you’re gonna have, I mean those little boys. My son 1000% first diaper change peed right up over and onto his face. This was my first baby. I’m pretty sure I cried. I thought it was the worst mom ever because my newborn just peed all over his face, which immediately turned into laughing because I was like, of course still my baby just peed on his face. Yeah, but that would have ruined the whole outfit. So I think the three outfits when you say?

Casey 19:50
Yeah.

Katy 19:51
three outfits. Save your favorite one for the coming home outfit. There’s like something sentimental about what you brought baby home in from the hospital.

Casey 19:59
Yeah, and I think you’ll want to take a lot of photos.

Katy 20:04
Hats are good. So we’re in Texas we don’t really get cold weather, but my whole theory on hats is that if your baby comes out with a funky little conehead, which happens, C section Babies usually don’t unless they’re already, like engaged in the pelvis, but hats are wonderful for like hiding the little conehead. Also, newborns lose heat out of their head. And so it’s a nice way to keep baby cozy and warm. And then take a couple soft swaddles and a burp cloth, you know, even if it is just your colostrum coming in, or you’re giving baby a bottle. It’s messy, like and you want something that’s as soft on baby’s face as it is on you on your breasts or just easy to clean up. So I’d say a couple burp cloths. No bibs, they’re not there yet.

Casey 20:53
Because those were good too, they had a double purpose for us. Because yeah, those two the dogs before they met the baby, so they could

Katy 21:02
Oh, I’m like you use them on the dog? You let the dogs smell?

Casey 21:05
they have the baby scent on there. So we got to use them like with purpose in the hospital. And then yeah, we like that the soft intro with the puppy.

Katy 21:13
I love that. And you know, so if you have a preemie, a lot of times the nurses will have you bring in blankets and things from home that smell like mom, and they put it in and I think that’s so awesome. Because smell is like one of those senses, right? Like it just like I can smell a newborn right now. Yeah, I love it. Okay, so what else for baby? Maybe bring a pacifier. They do give you a soothie usually in the hospital. And that’s totally your choice. You know, some people like do this whole, like nipple confusion. I say, give baby whatever makes baby happy. They’re not going to be sucking their thumbs that early. Or if they do it’s by accident, right. But you could always bring a pacifier to babies do tend to like pick which one they like. And that’s really and then they give you plenty of diapers. You really don’t need to pack diapers or wipes unless you have a certain brand that you like.

Casey 22:04
And then I know some people like to bring a little white noise machine because they make them portable now too where you can just clip them onto the car. We had a little shusher for her and that was nice. Just to start that routine almost.

Katy 22:19
Yeah. Well, and it’s kind of nice for mom like a white noise. You know, there’s no

Casey 22:24
hear other babies crying?

Katy 22:28
there’s all kinds of hospital noises that are going on. So okay, so then let’s kind of like go back and review like the big ones. So in case anybody’s writing this down. So I would say for mom, big things are nursing bras if you’re going to nurse if you’re not nursing, just some kind of comfy tank, because you will still want to – I mean, your milk is going to come in either way. So you’ll want to, right?

Casey 22:53
I just remember breast pump. If you want to pump you should bring your breast pump because the lactation nurses will teach you how to use it.

Katy 23:02
That’s right.

Casey 23:03
That’s so helpful.

Katy 23:05
Yes. I love that. And if I forget your breast pump, I bet they’ll bring one up. I mean, those lactation consultants are amazing. I remember mine was one of mine was really aggressive and like grabbed my boob. Yeah, yeah. What is how does it go? The hamburger? Yeah, get it? You’re squeezing your boob right now. I’m the only one on camera but they like do this. And it’s like, yeah, and then it shoves it in the baby’s mouth. And it’s very aggressive. But you learn that that’s what you have to do. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we said comfy clothes or mom, panties, or the like disposable. We’re not gonna call them diapers. They really should think of a better word for that. But y’all got what I’m saying on it. A robe or some kind of a wrap in case it’s cool in there. And for first pictures, we didn’t even talk about that. That’s like our whole thing. That that first picture of you with baby I mean, I’d say try you know where something you’re comfortable in. Right so that you can look back.

Casey 24:05
That’s where the robe comes in handy because you don’t have to get fully dressed. But you’re together enough in a robe to be able to post a photo.

Katy 24:12
Hair in your bun, some chapstick? Yeah, brush your teeth and call it a day. Yeah, yeah. A pillow, a blanket. Maybe from home. I think soft bath towel is amazing, toiletries, your panty popsicles. Those are important. And then for baby. Three outfits I’d say two swaddles. You can bring socks or not, I think most of the outfits today cover the baby’s feet. So it’s really kind of up to you. Maybe a burp cloth and some pacis and then diapers and wipes and that’s that’s it and phone charger. But I’d say those are the top things. I think we covered it. What do you think?

Casey 24:49
I think so. That’s a pretty good list. I feel like I wouldn’t be missing anything with all of that.

Katy 24:54
Yeah.

Casey 24:55
Honestly, I think nine times out of 10 if you forget something the hospital can help you you out or that’s when you call your best friend or your mother in law. And that’s when the village starts to come and help.

Katy 25:06
Totally. I love it.

Katy 25:08
[outro] That was so fun. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And I hope you found a little nugget of something helpful in there. If you’re curious about our brand and what we’ve been up to, you can check us out at Caden lane.com. Or join us on social where we’ve got several exciting projects that we can’t wait to get to involved in. See you soon.

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