I don’t about you first-time moms out there, but when I first started prepping my hospital bag for labor I felt so overwhelmed.

I initially took to YouTube and the ‘gram to figure out what I needed and by the time I was done I had hundreds of dollars of ‘must haves’ in my cart that were recommended from witch hazel wipes and an essential oil diffuser to no skid socks and a delivery gown. When chatting with my hubby about it I honestly felt this internal struggle. Yes, I wanted to create the perfect environment to bring my baby into this world, but he made such an excellent point about focusing on the delivery and not feeling the need to be weighed down by all of this extra stuff that I don’t really need. In todays social media driven world I feel like there is this unspoken pressure to make life events gram-worthy and picture perfect. I have totally been guilty of working overtime to create the perfect moment rather than living in the moment even if I don’t have the perfect outfit and mood lighting.

Ultimately, I thought about what I really wanted and went back through my list and began to it whittle down to the basics that would make the experience comfortable and enjoyable without all of the extras that I didn’t really need weighing me or my hubby down. Upon chatting with mamas who have given birth I also came to realize that the hospital provides a lot of what I was planning on buying like and since I am already paying the hospital a chunk of change for it, there is no need to double up on the expenses.

Here are the stylish comfortable and functional essentials that made the cut, plus a checklist for any mamas out there who are expecting their own bundles of joy and could use a reference for what to bring to the hospital on delivery day:

My Hospital Bag Packing Essentials