All right. Hey, Mama. Welcome back to parently. And today we are talking about your getting ready and go bag. So you are getting super close. And it's very important to get prepared.

The first thing I want to talk about preparation wise is your mindset. your mindset is so important when it comes to labor and delivery if you want to make sure you're in charge, and it doesn't just happen to you. So you need to talk about it, talk about it again, talk about it again, talk about it to your family members, your mom, talk about it with your co workers, talk to your spouse or your partner, and you guys need to get in the mindset of labor and delivery. Go ahead and watch some movies, read the book, cry about it, laugh about it. Get all of your anxieties out on the table so that you can look at them and take them head on. So after you've prepared mindset, why Make a birth plan.

We have a workbook that we would love for you to use to write out what you expect your labor and delivery to look like. After you've written it all down, you need to make some decisions and there's going to be some big decisions for you to make. You need to decide how you are going to stay home once labor starts. It is a big decision to not rush to the hospital, you need to decide that I'm going to stay home until I get into the active and transition phase of labor. You need to decide do you want family in the room? Do you want your partner in the room?

Who do you want in the room while you labor and deliver? You need to decide? Do you want baby to have vaccinations after he's born? You need to decide you want pictures taken? Talk to your partner about what angles you like what makes you look the best? Talk about do you want an epidural?

This is a huge decision and when I was pregnant, everybody He said to me, oh, you'll just decide when you get there, you'll, you'll decide if you want to go pain relief free. Or if you want an epidural, I'm telling you, you have to decide now. Because if you think that you want to go pain really free, if you don't know for sure, and you don't talk about it, then when you get into the hospital, and that pain is just hitting you really hard, you'll give in and you will get an epidural. And you might be upset after the delivery that you did that. So you have to decide now, yes, I want an epidural or No, I am not going to have an epidural, and talk to your partner or your support team, whoever is going to be with you in that labor room. Talk to them about what you want, so that they can be your advocate so that they can encourage you when you want to weaken and given.

All right, now that you have thought about your decisions and your workbook, let's talk about how to get your bag prepared for the hospital. So the first thing you need to get in the mindset that with your plan, you're going to take Get to the hospital with you. But know that that plan might change and be okay with that. decide that you're going to go into her the labor and delivery unit. This is very important to do before you get into labor and delivery so that you know how to get to the hospital, you know, where you can park you know, if there's going to be valet parking. Once you get into the unit, it's important to know if you need to go to the emergency department first, because some hospitals like the one that I went to, I had to go up to labor and delivery and they had an emergency department triage that I had to go to first before I could go to the labor and delivery unit.

While I was there, I was seen by a nurse and I was also seen by a intern and I was also seen by an OB hospitalist. My ob gyn didn't show up until I was admitted to the unit. So it's very important to get in the mindset that you might not see your ob gyn until you're admitted. So that's good to know. Now when you're at home, you need to get your car seat ready, make sure that you buy a new car seat and you know how to put it in the car. And you know how to get it out.

Make sure that also your partner or your support team, whoever is going to be at the hospital with you also knows how to get the car seat in and out. So you don't have to deal with this when you're with baby and you've got a lot in your hands. Go ahead and get your bag packed now. And now we're going to talk about some things that I put in my bag and some of the things that I didn't put in my bag that I wish that I had. So when you go to pack your bag at home, get a big bag. And let's start with first of all your identification and insurance card, you definitely want to make sure you have those when you get to the hospital.

You also want to make sure that you have some change some money for vending machines, maybe your partner is hungry, make sure that you have some money if parking has a fee and then we want to dig into some other things. So, Tao the hospital does provide towels, but they're very small and you get about one per room. So I took my own towel and so did my husband. Because I like the feeling of my towels. It made me feel like I was at home. So make sure you take your own towel.

Now when you are in labor, they will provide a gown for you and some hospitals want you to be in a gown. I made sure that I had a nursing bra or a sports bra on underneath my gown and then I didn't have underwear on. For shoes. It is important to take your own shoes that you are comfortable laboring in, and I prepared a pair of shoes while I was laboring and then I also had shoes after I labored. The laboring and delivering process is a little bit messy and there's fluids and blood going everywhere. So I had a pair of shoes for the laboring process that I could get messy and then put away and when I got home, I could wash them.

But then after I delivered my When I went to my recovery room, I wanted a pair of comfy slippers because I didn't want to be walking around barefoot. So I packed a pair of comfy slippers for after delivery. toiletries are very important to take make sure you take your toothbrush you take toothpaste, floss, comb, face wash, whatever you like to use at home. The hospital does provide shampoo and soap, but I like to use my own so I packed my own shampoo, body wash, face wash, etc. The other thing that's very important is some big panties. So the hospital does provide some panties for you, but I wanted to have my own panties.

Now, something that I didn't do, right is I bought I thought pretty large underwear. I thought it was gonna be small when I delivered my baby but the truth was, I was still pretty big after I delivered it. So I didn't pack big enough panties so it's important to buy underwear that are big enough for you to fit into even after you deliver. Again the hospital will provide some for you and if you just want to use theirs that's okay. But I wanted to have my own. After you deliver you need a comfy bra.

So this if you are going to nurse you need a bra that is easy to nursing. I just packed a sports bra that was easy to nurse in, but I also packed nursing pads. After you deliver, you're going to have a milk come out of your breast called colostrum. This is a first milk it's very thick, and it is yellow. And it doesn't come as fast as normal breast milk but I still was leaking a little bit and so I had pads that could go underneath my sports bra and absorb that liquid. Big pads.

Again the hospital will Provide pads for you after you deliver, you're still going to be bleeding quite a bit for the week or two weeks after you deliver. So having big thick pads of your own that you like is very important. If you have a preference, if not, you can use what the hospital provides. So there are many more things that you can put in your get ready and go bag for the hospital. And I'm going to provide a list for you in the description below. But these are some items that I thought were super important for me.

Also, your husband, your partner, whoever is staying with you at the hospital needs to have their own bag as well. So make sure that your partner husband support group is prepared to have their bag ready to go as well. Make sure they have all their favorite things in the bag, make sure that they have a camera, make sure they have money, make sure that they have towels and pillows and things that they're comfortable with in a hospital environment. It's also important to talk to your partner about Guess after you deliver, maybe he just hasn't thought about it. And after you deliver, baby might want to gift you might want to gift flowers chocolate, make sure you let him know that it's important and tell him something that you really would feel special by receiving. If your partner wants to know more about what he can do to prepare for the hospital, we're going to have a separate video that tells him everything that he needs to know.

So make sure he watches that. The last exciting thing is going home. So you've delivered your holding baby and it's time to be discharged from the hospital. It's important to think about how you want baby to go home, what you want him or her to wear and what you would like to wear yourself. So for me, my mother so grandma of the new baby, bought a new outfit and going home outfit for my little baby. And so I got to dress them in this beautiful white gown to go home in and I also wore a white dress to go home and it was comfortable, it was loose, nothing tight and easy to get into.

So make sure it's something that is comfortable for you, but that you will love looking back and enjoying those pictures in that outfit. So this is your getting ready and go to the hospital video. And I am so excited for you. I hope you have fun packing the bag. I know I did. And we wish you the very best.

We'll see you on the next video.