Packing your Hospital bag

When you're pregnant, you have very little control over things, especially your body. Which is a grim reality to face and made ten times worse if you're a control freak (are you looking at me?!).

There are a couple of things you can obsess over to take your mind off this:

1) Making a list of things you need for a baby. (Note: you do not need 99% of stuff on this list. Separate posts on this.)
2) Making a list of things you need in the mythical 'hospital bag'.

A series of premature labour scares meant I was on standby from 24 weeks, so the bag was of the utmost importance to me.

Obviously I consulted with UK friends and did some online research. I concluded that in the UK, you take everything but the kitchen sink into hospital with you. 

Things are a little different here: you'll give birth in a private hospital, in your own room, with an en-suite. This massively impacts what you need to take: they will provide towels, slippers, even nappies. I chose my a la carte meals for the next day each morning, DH ordered room service whenever he fancied a snack. My hospital made The Portland look like a slum. 

Don't believe me? The list they gave me is above. That's it. Item number two was of huge interest to me. 

Say what you like about birth being natural, focussing on the baby and not your appearance: I had my nails and hair done two days before my section - sue me! I'm so glad I did. It wasn't just about looking good in the post-birth photos (I don't actually look that great, just very, very happy) it was more clinging onto some semblance of me...the old me, the me that I knew and loved.

So take in what's important to you. If that's a make-up bag and Twiglets, crack on I say.