About That Night Donny Hathaway and Toure Came Into My Delivery Room…

No, really I thought it was sensible enough: the overnight bag I packed for the hospital the day I delivered my Mari had all the essentials, plus a few extras I thought I absolutely had to have when my first baby made her way into the world. Let’s see, I had:

Toothbrush and other personal hygiene stuff
Cute pajamas (because that hospital gown just wasn’t going to do)
A camera (to capture er’thang!)
A pack of grape Now & Laters (y’all know how I feel about my candy helps me get the job done)
A nursing bra
A super beautiful pink and white dress I picked for Mari’s going home outfit
A plush white blanket to wrap my new baby in
My own going home outfit
A car seat
A boom box with my much-cherished A Donny Hathaway Collection CD
A copy of Toure’s brilliant, “Soul City”

Now, I had plans to read “Soul City” while I waited patiently for my baby to come out, and it made all the sense in the world to have Donny’s “A Song For You” greet little Mari when she made her big debut. We’d both climb into our pretty clothes and ride on out into the sunset with Nick our new beautiful family ready for the world.

But uh, yeah.

When those contractions kicked in? Wasn’t nobody thinking about Donny or Toure or Now & Laters. The camera was at the bottom of the doggone bag and didn’t see the light of day until almost 24 hours later, when my parents showed up to see their new grandbaby. The dress I bought for Mari was too big way too big and the outfit I packed for myself was too small way too small. And I think the nurse took my Now & Laters. o_O

Not exactly the pretty picture I’d painted in my mind…

What crazy things did you bring in your overnight bag to the delivery room when you had your first baby? Do tell!

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Denene Millner

Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.

14 Comments

  1. My mother in law!! She held one leg while my hubby held the other & then told him that he was doing it wrong. To which my hubby quipped, “She wouldn’t be here if I didn’t know how to hold her leg up!”

    Yup, it was pretty epic!

  2. I’m a ‘just in case’ packer by nature, so I brought like two pair of extra pajamas, ‘just in case’ one got ruined. Those jammies never made their fashion debut. I was all h-gown and it was all good! I also bought some sugar free Jolly Ranchers to suck on (to help with dry mouth), but they all of a sudden didn’t seem as tasty with an oxygen mask over my face (I hate those things!). That bag sat opened in our kitchen for weeks. 🙂

    • Denene@MyBrownBaby

      I’m telling you, that hospital gown is the business! I didn’t care for the fashion show, either! LOL! Um, oxygen mask?! My goodness!

  3. I’ll tell you what I forgot, CLOTHES! I didn’t pack anything to wear home. I made my son’s dad go to the store and buy me a new outfit. I had everything for my son but completely forgot about myself,lol.

  4. Well, the crazy item was not in my overnight bag. I was wearing it—-my 18″ pearl necklace that I inherited from my grandmother. I don’t know why I had my pearls on, but I did! Precious Child I came into the world with “diamonds and pearls” (i had on my diamond stud earrings, too)!!!

  5. I just packed my hospital bag yesterday. I’m expecting baby number 2 any day now. The first time around, I didn’t even pack a bag. I hate to pack and since I was rushed off for an emergency c section I didn’t need anything. This time around, I’ve got music loaded on my phone, my nook is loaded with books and magazines, some gum to chew on and cute clothes for us to wear while in the hospital. Hopefully I’ll remember my phone charger.

    • Denene@MyBrownBaby

      AWWWW, Shayla! CONGRATULATIONS! My prayer is that you have an easy delivery and a healthy baby and all the happiness your heart desires. ((HUGS!))

  6. I remember curling my hair before I went into labor and trying not to sweat it out during labor (maybe I had somewhere to go later? What was I thinking?) I swore I was successful until I saw myself afterward. I looked in the mirror and said, “What in the world happened to my hair?!” My husband said, “Um, you sweated it out pushing a person into the world o_O” .

    Oh yeah, oops…

  7. LOL! I can relate. I had candles and relaxation cds. Someone on a pregnancy board somewhere suggested them to keep thing calm. Yeah right. As good as forgotten. Never even took them out them out of the bag.

  8. Earrings! *Runs and hides* Because I truly feel like a crazy woman sans earrings! I know…#crazy!

    Honestly, I couldn’t care less what was up in that bag. I weighed approximately 743 lbs (I ain’t lyin’!), and I just needed the mini-human O.U.T. Everything else (besides earrings) was so incredibly unimportant, that there could’ve been a blue crayon and a roll of cheap toilet paper up in my overnight bag for all I knew/cared.

  9. I had 3 of my 5 baby books in CASE I forgot something during labor! I had my soothing music (I wanted to watch tv tho). I also had my own birthing ball and the nurses looked at me crazy since they had one AT the hospital…but you never know with those things.

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