Hospital bag checklist for Nigerian mums

Pack by week 36. Babies are not famous for keeping appointments, and a bag packed calmly in the afternoon is a better bag than one packed at two in the morning by a husband who cannot find anything.

Pack two, not one. One bag is yours, one is the baby's. When you are in labour somebody else will be going through these bags for you, and separating them means that person is not turning out your maternity pads looking for a baby cap. Your baby's things, apart from the outfit for going home, mostly come from the same list as our newborn starter set, so if you have already bought for the house you are half packed.

Before you pack anything, ask the hospital

This is the step most checklists skip and it is the one that matters most here, because Nigerian hospitals vary enormously in what they supply. A private hospital in Lekki may provide the delivery kit, the pads, the baby's first diapers and the food. A general hospital may hand you a written list at booking and expect you to arrive with all of it, sometimes including gloves, a cord clamp, a delivery mat, methylated spirit, cotton wool and a bowl.

Ask for their list at your next antenatal visit and pack that first. Everything below is what to add to it.

The papers, and the reason they go on top

Put these in an envelope in the outside pocket of your bag, not buried inside it.

• Your antenatal booklet and hospital card. Nothing moves without these. The midwife needs your blood group, your scan results, your blood pressure history and your booking number, and the booklet is where all of it lives. Arriving without it can mean tests being repeated.
• Your national identification, and your husband's or next of kin's number written down. Written down, not only in your phone, because your phone will run out of battery.
• Any HMO card, referral letter or payment receipt.
• Your birth plan, if you have written one.

Your bag

Wrappers, three at least. They are your blanket, your privacy screen, your delivery cover and what you tie afterwards. Take old ones you will not mind losing.

Maternity pads, two packs. Not ordinary sanitary pads. Maternity pads are longer, thicker and softer, and the bleeding after birth is heavier and longer than most first time mothers expect. Two packs is not too many, and any that come home unopened get used in week two.

Disposable or old cotton pants, five or six pairs. High waisted ones if there is any chance of a caesarean, because the scar sits exactly where a low waistband does.

Two nightgowns that open down the front, so you can breastfeed without undressing. Dark colours.

A rechargeable fan. Ask any mother who has delivered in Lagos in March. Wards are hot, they are crowded, the ceiling fan is shared and the power is not guaranteed. A small rechargeable fan is the item women recommend to each other more than anything else on this list.

A rechargeable lamp or torch, and a power bank. For the same reason. Charge both the week before.

A long phone charging cable. Sockets are never beside the bed.

Toiletries in a small bag: soap, toothbrush and paste, roll on, a towel, tissue, hand sanitiser, a comb, lip balm. Labour makes your lips crack and you will be grateful for the lip balm.

Slippers you can wash, and socks. Hospital floors are wet.

Water and something to eat. Bottled water or sachet water, glucose, biscuits, a flask of tea or pap. Labour is long work and the canteen may be shut at three in the morning.

Cash in small notes. For things you did not plan for, when the transfer will not go through.

A bowl or bucket, gloves, a delivery mat and a plastic bag, if your hospital's own list asks for them. Many do.

Going home clothes for you. Something loose that you wore at six months pregnant. You will not fit what you wore before you were pregnant, and knowing that in advance saves a low moment.

The baby's bag

• Diapers, newborn size, one bag. Take a bag of size one as well if you are told your baby is large.
• Wipes, cotton wool and methylated spirit for the cord, unless the hospital supplies them.
• Six bodysuits or singlets and four sleepsuits. Hospitals are air conditioned or they are hot, and you cannot tell which yours will be until you get there, so pack for both.
• Caps, socks and mittens, two sets.
• Two receiving blankets or shawls.
• A soft towel and mild baby soap for the first bath.
• A going home outfit, one size up from newborn. Newborn size is often too small for a bigger baby and you do not want to find that out in the car park.
• A car seat or carry cot for the journey home, if you are going home by car. This is a legitimate thing to buy in advance and leave in the boot: see our car seats and carry cots. Fit it before the due date, not on the day.

For whoever is with you

A change of clothes, their own charger, cash, and food. The person supporting you through a twenty hour labour will do it better fed.

If a caesarean is possible

Pack for a longer stay: four to five days rather than two. Add high waisted pants, a second nightgown, an abdominal binder if your doctor recommends one, and a straw or a small cup with a lid so you can drink lying down. Ask your doctor which of these they want you to have, because practice varies between hospitals.

Two more things

Keep the bags by the door, not at the back of the wardrobe. And when the time comes, take them both, even if it feels like too much. Nobody has ever regretted having a spare wrapper.

For the things you buy for the house rather than the ward, see the newborn baby items list with real prices. If relatives are asking what they can bring, what to buy for omugwo is a straighter answer than most of them expect.