💼 Gear & logistics · Around 35 weeks (month 8)

🧳 The hospital bag and your survival kit

Pack according to your own maternity unit’s instructions.

The other bags to pack

1. What to prepare
Bring identification, pregnancy records, prescribed medicines, comfortable clothes and requested baby-care supplies.
2. What to check
Plan transport home and a suitable car seat if travelling by car. Ask what the unit supplies; keep registration and leave tasks separate from hospital admission.
3. In Ireland
Register with a GP for the HSE Maternity and Infant Care Scheme and confirm your maternity-unit contact and postnatal follow-up. Public health nurses support infant care; do not assume every private service is covered.
4. In Ireland
Use the Civil Registration Service to register the birth. For unmarried parents, current rules require the mother to provide the father’s contact details unless an applicable exception applies; check the registrar’s process. Birth registration does not itself settle guardianship. Donor-conceived registration has a separate process.

A local detail, or your own experience with this guide? Write to the team