Hey friends! Sonia here today to share with you my hospital bag for the birth of my (second) baby boy! I am just under one month away from his “due date” and in full nesting mode, wanting to get everything ready on the highly unlikely chance that he wants to make an early appearance! 😆 

My goal for these sews was to make utilitarian and versatile garments, that fulfill both my desire to be comfy and cute! I made a full mama capsule using patterns from Made for Mermaids for our hospital stay. I only made a couple of full (top + bottom) outfits as I was only in the hospital for a day with my first, and praying all goes well, hoping to keep our stay fairly short this time as well. It was also a priority of mine to have all of the garments be nursing-friendly. 

After scouring Pinterest, I decided my necessities would be a robe, a daytime outfit, a nighttime outfit, undergarments, and something to wear home. This is what I came up with! 

• Robe: Rita Robe 
• Daytime: Alana cami + Lexi Lounger shorts 
• Nighttime: Rory Raglan + Lexi Lounger pants
• Undergarments: Bryn bra (with nursing clips), Sabrina Shorties or Luna Leakproof undies
• Going Home: Willow Dress 

So I’ll show you each garment and my thought process behind the styling and fabric choice. 

I chose the Rita robe as I wanted something light weight; we live in the desert and it’s over 100° every day, so the Rita made more sense for me than the Spencer robe (drafted for heavier fabrics). The flutter sleeve is fantastic for a hospital robe as it is not full length so the sleeves won’t be getting in your way, and the flutter style is also super cute! I chose rayon spandex for fabric that is soft, stretchy, and breathable. 

The Alana Cami and Lexi loungers are perfect lounge patterns, some thing I know would be easy to get on soon after baby arrives. I chose a tank and shorts as I’ll probably be wearing these with the robe, and didn’t want too much fabric going on. The cami is a Cupro fabric so it’s incredibly soft and has lovely stretch and drape, which will make it easy to just drop a strap whenever baby is hungry. The shorts are French Terry, which we all know is wonderfully soft with great structure, perfect for lounge pants. 

For the evening, as hospitals can be cold and I don’t want to layer, I chose a long sleeve top and pants. The Rory pullover is perfect as the V-neck in the front will allow for easy nursing access, and it has ample ease so it’s nice and comfortable. Plus I love the curved hem, it just looks super cute on! And I honestly can’t believe I didn’t pick up the Lexi loungers before this blog, so many people rave about them and they are absolutely worth the hype! They are so wonderfully comfortable, and I love the jogger pocket. I made both of these garments in pointelle, which is a nice lightweight fabric with a soft texture.

Undergarment choices are of course very personal. I chose to make a Bryn bra with nursing clips (which is part of the tutorial). I used athletic fabric for my bra as I wanted something soft with high recovery, as I prefer lots of support. It’s a good combination when paired with a simple bra like this one, as it gives support without being constricting, and the minimal seams keep everything super soft and comfortable, not to mention a quick sew. I did a slight hack on this bra by using two front and back layers and adding bra straps, rather than one layer with fold-over elastic around the edges. The two layers of athletic fabric help give support. For underwear, I made both a pair of Sabrina shorties and Luna leakproof undies, both with high rise waistlines, and I think I’ll prefer the shorts (though I will probably bring both) 😄 I didn’t go so far as to add the absorbent layers in the Lunas, as I will likely use some of the supplies the hospital provides for the days immediately postpartum. I chose high-rise waists so as to get that feeling of support, and used a performance cotton/poly/spandex for breathability and structure. 

Lastly, for the day we get to take home a brand new human, I chose a Willow dress! The front gathering gives this pattern lots of ease, and I wanted to avoid anything close-fitting so this was perfect. As the neckline on this dress is a little higher than the Alana, I used the Ruby hack for tied straps so that it would be easy to nurse in. I made this one in bamboo, which is my all-time favorite fabric. It’s lightweight, super breathable, and hangs beautifully, so I know that I will feel both comfortable and put-together going back out into the world!! 

Color/coordination is certainly the least important part of this capsule, though I’ve been on a teal kick lately. I attempted an overall color scheme of neutrals with teal to tie it all together, as we are doing our nursery in teal based on a beautiful mountain fabric I found from an artist named Esther Fallou. Hopefully, I’ll have the time to make some coordinating swaddles/onesies out of my scraps from this project so that baby boy and I can match, as I am a huge sucker for mommy and me outfits!! 

Here’s a little sneak peek of our nursery progress, just for fun!!

Last note, my favorite unintended consequence of choosing the patterns I did was that they are all working beautifully for maternity, in addition to being ideal for postpartum. I always hope to sew garments that can get a lot of use so this was a huge win! Thanks for joining me for this blog and hopefully it’s helpful to other soon-to-be parents out there 💛 Happy sewing!!