Ah, the hospital bag – a lovely pregnancy rite of passage. Folding up the teeny tiny baby grows, squealing over the adorable socks, getting increasingly unnerved by the sheer size of the maternity pads. It's a magical time.
It's also a time that can be quite amusing to look back on once the actual reality of parenthood has landed. There's no way that lace, Instagram-worthy negligee was ever going to survive the delivery room unscathed, was there?
We asked mums to divulge the funniest things they packed in their hospital bag the first time round:
"I brought
three bags of course. I brought a playlist expecting there to be a dock for my iPhone. A really gorgeous dainty, floral nightdress to birth in, thinking I was going to have all this time to get changed and get beautiful (I ended up in a tee-shirt). Evian face mist that never made it out of the bag (I think I did use it on the baby in the end). A selection of books and magazines like I was off on my holidays and basically about two week's supply of baby grows and nappies." – Sharyn
"Despite repeated warnings, I never managed to get mine organised and wound up arriving at the hospital with a shopping bag of random stuff I'd thrown in five minutes before leaving the house. It was a cloth shopping bag, so it wasn't quite so bad as showing up with a plastic shopping bag, but I'm probably clutching at straws here. Being that disorganised at 39 weeks doesn't exactly scream 'parent material,' does it? One of the mad things that made it into my shopping bag was a novel called
The Children's Book by AS Byatt. This book is literally bigger than the phonebook. I still haven't read it obviously." – Sophie
"I brought a fab pair of linen pyjamas from Toast to give birth in. Like pyjamas with trouser legs! Never even got to use my Evian water spray thing." – Aoileann
"I packed an outrageous number of breast pads – I mean what need did I have for these in the delivery room?!" – Lisa
"Two words: Fake. Tan. Morto." – Yvonne
"I wore a thong into hospital to be induced! The husband then produced it from my bag after I'd given birth for me to change into. Ideal. I did also bring a small hand mirror in my bag. I then used said mirror to check out my stitches post episiotomy. There was no need to do that, no need at all." – Deb at
The Clothesline
What mad stuff made it into YOUR hospital bag? Tell us on Twitter @HerFamilydotie.
For your chance to win a Mamia Memory Box full of newborn essentials, check out our pregnancy section and sign-up here. For more information on the award-winning Mamia range, visit the Aldi website.
