Reprinted with permission from the Midwives of Muskoka - Please note: We are NOT the Midwives of Muskoka!

What to pack in your hospital bag

Even if you are planning a home birth, it is still wise to have a hospital bag ready “just in case”.  When we don’t end up needing to use it, you will enjoy unpacking it!

• Clothes: one outfit for baby to come home in and one for you.  You will not fit into your pre-pregnancy clothes yet, so plan on maternity wear for going home
• A small, unopened bottle of olive oil for the baby’s bottom at diaper changes.
• Personal grooming items and lip ointment.
• Nursing bra, slippers/slip-on shoes + “flip-flops” for use in the shower.
• Warm hats for the baby (2 sizes, preferably without strings)

• Money and small change for parking and payphone
• Phone numbers of relatives and friends
• Infant car seat installed in the car
• Hospital and health cards
• Extra pillow(s) with coloured or printed pillow slip(s)
• Food and drink for you and your partner
• Watch with a second hand
• Vomit basin or plastic bag for the car ride to the hospital

Home Birth Supply List

Most of these will already be in your home.  About 3 weeks before your baby is due, put these things together into a large basket and keep in a closet where it can be retrieved quickly.  Please do not leave things until labour to pull together.  The quicker we can get supplies set up, the more attention we can give to you.

• Bed made this way:

Bottom layer:clean sheets (bottom and top)
Middle layer:  waterproof covering (e.g. mattress pad, shower curtain, felt backed picnic table cloth)
Top layer:clean old or used fitted sheet
After the baby is born, the top 2 coverings are removed, and mother and baby settle down intoa clean bed.  Of course this doesn’t mean you have to give birth on the bed; many women do not.

• Pillows (covered with plastic garbage bags under thepillow slips)
• 6-8 soft cotton towels
• 4-6 baby receiving blankets
• 10 washcloths for perineal compresses

• Crock-pot for hot compresses. (If you don’t have one, a large pot or bowl will do)
• Roll of paper towel
• Ice chips or cubes, juice, popsicles, or fluid replacement drinks
• Light food for labour
• A mirror if you wish to see the birth
• Container for storing the placenta in (e.g. empty plastic ice cream container)
• Plastic picnic table cloths with flannel backing to cover any carpeted floors
• Large waste baskets or boxes lined with garbage bags
• Flashlight
• Hydrogen peroxide and salt (President’s Choice “Green Bleach” is peroxide)
• Space heater to warm birthing room during winter months
• Small table or surface where we can lay out supplies &equipment
• Extension cord
• Heating pad &/or hot water bottle