This is something I've wanted to do for a while, but a recent scare has really kicked me into gear. The baby has some issues that our hospital is not equipped to handle, and last week we found ourselves in the emergency room for 6 hours before the decision was made to pack my wife and the kid on a life flight plane to the Children's Hospital across state for surgery. We also ended up getting stuck there due to a rather nasty blizzard that hit on the day we were discharged from the PICU. Everyone's doing fine now, but I need to stop dragging my feet! I was able to come home and pack up some stuff before driving to meet them, but that might not always be the case. And, of course, in my haste I forgot a few things.
I've been wanting to assemble an "emergency" bag set for me, the wife, and the baby. Something that we can grab and go in the even we need to get the kid to the ER in a hurry, and be ready if we need to ship out to another hospital again. I'm thinking something that can contain roughly 3 to 4 days of clothes, some basic toiletries, and maybe room for enough snack type food to feel happy enough for a few days, no need for complete meals or emergency rations. The kid really just needs a few days of food (formula right now) some of her medical stuff, some toys, blankets, changing supplies, and clothes.
I'm thinking for the "adults" (I'm really not that good at adulting) the camping/hiking style of bags should work out nicely. Something with good space, but divided up nicely for organization. Ideally, I'd like them to have a smaller bag that zips off for carrying things back and forth if we are fortunate enough to get a room at their local charity house during the stay. For the kid I don't think we would need anything too fancy, but something that could clip, zip, or in any other way fasten to one of the other bags would be nice to keep our hands free to take care of her.
As much as I'd like to say otherwise, price will be a factor. I'm probably way off base with what I want, but if we could keep to about $30-$40 per bag that would be ideal.
Any suggestions for bags would be appreciated. If my thinking is off track and a different type of set up would work out better let me know. Also, if you are, or have been, in this kind of situation and you have any recommendations as to what should be kept in the bags, I'm all ears... or would that be all eyes? You know, forums and all. I think I have the contents well planned, but could have forgotten something basic.
I've been wanting to assemble an "emergency" bag set for me, the wife, and the baby. Something that we can grab and go in the even we need to get the kid to the ER in a hurry, and be ready if we need to ship out to another hospital again. I'm thinking something that can contain roughly 3 to 4 days of clothes, some basic toiletries, and maybe room for enough snack type food to feel happy enough for a few days, no need for complete meals or emergency rations. The kid really just needs a few days of food (formula right now) some of her medical stuff, some toys, blankets, changing supplies, and clothes.
I'm thinking for the "adults" (I'm really not that good at adulting) the camping/hiking style of bags should work out nicely. Something with good space, but divided up nicely for organization. Ideally, I'd like them to have a smaller bag that zips off for carrying things back and forth if we are fortunate enough to get a room at their local charity house during the stay. For the kid I don't think we would need anything too fancy, but something that could clip, zip, or in any other way fasten to one of the other bags would be nice to keep our hands free to take care of her.
As much as I'd like to say otherwise, price will be a factor. I'm probably way off base with what I want, but if we could keep to about $30-$40 per bag that would be ideal.
Any suggestions for bags would be appreciated. If my thinking is off track and a different type of set up would work out better let me know. Also, if you are, or have been, in this kind of situation and you have any recommendations as to what should be kept in the bags, I'm all ears... or would that be all eyes? You know, forums and all. I think I have the contents well planned, but could have forgotten something basic.
