Simple checklist for Hospital Delivery Bag
A properly packed Hospital Bag ensures a mother's hospital stay in smooth, easy and feels less uncomfortable. But most people don't know what to pack in a hospital delivery bag.
What does Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) mean? This can be defined as a strategy that helps pregnant women, their family and community plan for the delivery of a child and prepare for unforseen complications.
Features of BPCR
1. Finance preparation:
From the time a woman is confirmed pregnant, it is advised that financial preparation for delivery and any unexpected complication should begin. Tiny drops of water makes an ocean they say. It can be in form of starting to save a particular amount of money monthly till the 9th month to ensure that provision of necessary finance for normal delivery and unforseen complications doesn't feel like an emergency.
2. Identifying Hospital for Delivery:
it is expected that before a woman is due for delivery, she has already registered and is a regular member of Antenatal session in a hospital and has selected and acclimatized herself to a hospital she wants to deliver her baby. She has researched and gotten necessary information on the location, payment, process, and medical practitioners in her hospital of choice.
3. Identifying a mode of transportation
It is important that a mode of transportation to the hospital of choice for delivery has been prepared before-hand as delivery can begin anytime, even at odd hours of midnight hence, knowing how to quickly get the pregnant mother to the hospital without delay would avert a lot of problems.
4. Blood donation and injection preparation
Certain pregnant mothers, such as the Rhesus Negative mothers might need to receive a certain medication called Rhogam after delivery while others most specifically those undergoing cesarian section might require blood transfusion. It is important to have these items ready for easy and prompt access to avoid complications.
5. Delivery/Hospital Bag Preparation
A pregnant mother is expected to have arranged her delivery bag with personal items for herself and her baby or a bag with hospital requirements for delivery before due date of delivery. This helps with organization and ensures the woman is ready for delivery emergency even before due date.
6. Home preparations
After a pregnant mother gives birth, she would have to stay in the hospital for a few days to receive adequate care and might not be able to perform certain activities which includes caring for herself, her child and the home. It is important that a pregnant mother has made plans to ensure the smooth running of her and care for both herself and her family before her delivery. This might include calling a relative to come live in her house for a few days before and after delivery, batch cooking of meals to cover weeks worth of food for her family among others.
Consequences of Lack of Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR)
1. Without a hospital plan, women may deliver at home without skilled medical attendant and this increases chances of
•Postpartum hemorrhage: Bleeding after delivery
•Neonatal sepsis: Infection of baby
•Maternal death: Death of mother
2. Lack of planning for transport or funds can delay arrival at a health facility. This might cause pregnant mother to deliver at home or in the road, increasing the risk of:
•Infection
•Birth asphyxia: Lack of Oxygen after birth of baby
•Stillbirth: Delivery of a dead baby
3.Neonatal complications
Complications such as Birth Asphyxia, Hypothermia, infection can affect a baby after birth due to poor preparations that lead to delay in getting to the hospital, lack of necessary medical infrastructures, home delivery without medical professionals and this is dangerous to the baby and can lead to death.
4. Maternal and Neonatal death; Delay is getting the pregnant mother in labour to the hospital can lead to complications which can lead to death of either or both mother and child.
Proper Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness helps a pregnant mother, her family and community at large, to avoid certain complications and even death of mother and child.
