Simple Emergency Go Bag

We have had 2 trips to the ER that turned into admissions and I was not prepared in any way, shape or form for either stay! I hope that you learn from my experiences and ALWAYS have your go bag packed and ready God forbid you ever have to run out the door in the case of an emergency!

This is what I keep in our go bag!!

Clothes for YOU:

  Both times we were admitted I had nothing but what I was wearing and the diaper bag. I don't know about you but being stressed out and trying to explain to your stressed husband over the phone where you favorite pair of sweat pants are located at home does not work out super well! I keep a pair of comfy pants, a tee shirt and a set of under pants and socks. Our PICU area has a washer and dryer you can use and that was SUPER helpful for me during our stay!!

Toiletries:

   At the beginning of our stay I didn't have anything in the way of soap or bathroom essentials. I was given some by the PICU staff what is donated to them for parents. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way because I appreciated it SO much, but I hated the products. they left my skin filmy, my hair greasy and the bristles of the tooth brush fell out while I was brushing. I went to the store during our stay and bought good stuff. My daily shower time was the only time to myself, and my decompression time. I wanted to enjoy this time and I wanted to feel CLEAN! After I got my Pantene shampoo and conditioner (because i'm super fancy) and a razor for my legs I felt like a new woman and I actually enjoyed going to the locker room and locking myself in a shower for 10 minutes! I now keep a bag of all of these items in our go bag!!

Medications and Vitamins: 

   During our admission of 43 days I literally went outside probably 3 times. I lived in those hospital walls with my little nugget and I got 0 vitamin D! I keep a small container in the go bag with 1 or 2 days of my vitamins. I only keep a small amount because if anything did happen someone could go get more or I could. But it is nice knowing I am covers for a day or two if it came down to it! I have also started keeping a little supply of Mel's meds in the bag. I do this because I look at the bag more now as just a go bag vs. a hospital bag. Its nice knowing that is a case of any emergency I can grab this bag and we would be good for a little while! I need to refill our meds and vitamins for the go bag, I recently used what we had in there because they had been in there for a while! 

Cash & Quarters:

  I have a small pouch in the go bag with about 10.00 in 1 dollar bills and a few dollars in quarters. Pretty much no matter where you go and at what time there is a vending machine somewhere, and sometimes when you make a late night ER run some cheese crackers and a DP sound like a gift from the heavens. Also my husband always goes to the vending machines when everything calms down. Its his time to get away for a minute and so something helpful AKA get this mamma some damn food! Because I have been known to get hangry and this is not a pretty sight! The machines at out Children's hospital take debit/credit cards but it is just nice to know that that extra stash is there! Our bag came with a cute little matching change purse! it is pictured below with mt Journal and pen!

Journal and Pen:

  I am a note taker. Every time a doctor would come into the room or a nurse would teach me something new I would grab my notebook and take notes! Some times I would get funny looks for writing down the most trivial things that I "Should" remember, But there have been SO many times I have refereed back to those notebooks! I also would try to journal daily about what happened with Mel and what was said that day. There are many days that I missed due to being busy or falling asleep but I tried. 

Mel's Things:

  In addition to a few days of meds for Mel I also keep a clean outfit and a blanket from home. When we went to the ER the first time and were admitted to the PICU they cut Mels onesie off of her (I still have it). I didn't have any other clothes with us, since we were there for 43 days I was able to get other clothes for her but if we would of gone home that evening I wouldn't of had anything for her to wear. I keep a blanket from home because Mel loves muslin blankets with satin tags. every night when she is going to sleep she finds the tag on her blanket and holds it for comfort. Hospital blankets are stiff and scratchy, during our PICU stay I actually had a couple muslin blankets and she would get a fresh one each day and night. This was another reason the washer and dryer in the PICU were extremely helpful! A couple diapers and wipes, Just in case! I included the tag to one of Mel's muslin blankets!

So this is what our Go Bag consists of. Pretty simple but would make us more comfortable if we ended up in another emergency situation! I feel that a bag like this is a good idea for anyone, you never know when you may have to leave your home unexpectedly and its such good peace of mind knowing that if you grabbed nothing but this one bag you would be okay! I pray that no one will ever have to use their go bag, and that everyone is staying well through this nasty cold and flu season!

LOL I just had to post this! Cracks me up every time!! for real though, go wash your hands have some wine and thank God for Lysol and Clorox!! Ohh and kiss those sweet babies!

Love until another day,
Shelbi