Homebirth - mess?

[NeverAloneNeverAgain]

Didn't want to de rail things on another thread....if you've had a homebirth what do you do in regards to cleaning up? If you've hired a pool do you empty down plug/drain? Did you put anything down? What happens to the placenta - does the midwife take it? So many questions! I should stop mumsnet scrolling during nap times 🤣

no idea but I’ve often wondered this - big part of not wanting a home birth was not wanting to clean up afterwards 🤣

I had a homebirth and I genuinely have no idea 😂 I can only assume that it was sorted between the midwives and my husband! I gave birth in the dinning room, in the birth pool (hired). Delivered the placenta on the dining room floor, I remember the midwife putting mats down - like puppy pads? So they would have been easy to scoop up and throw into a bin bag. But I have no clue about the rest; I was tucked up on the sofa in the next room, cuddling my baby and having a cup of tea!

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/

Midwives tidied and took the placenta. DH emptied the pool.

I had a homebirth, no pool (didn't fancy one), and yes, they use large pads and scoop it all up, I wasn't paying too much attention, but there wasn't a trace of the birth on my sitting room floor the day after so they obviously did an excellent job!

There was no mess. Think I delivered on a waterproof pad which they took away along with the placenta. The only thing was a couple of towels to wash.
I didn't have a birthpool but you'd only need to drain it and wipe it out , if a hire, as the company will sterilise then.

Oh the midwives are amazing and do it all! No.mess at all 😀

Same as above, no mess at all.

Another one who has no recollection of any mess so presumably it was sorted for me by the midwives.

I desperately wanted a home birth but my dp wasn’t keen so it didn’t happen 😔 Nothing to do with mess, though. He was worried about something going wrong.

I mean, I know what a great job they did at clearing away the blood I was “pissing out” as I had no recollection of that. Wonderful humans!

I put a waterproof sheet down on my bed but it didn't get mucky (the midwives brought and took pads). I vaguely remember bin bags and things being stuffed into them. The baby's little sock hat thing that the midwives brought and put on was streaked with dry blood and that was the only sign that a mess been present at one point!

My sister had a home birth and had to replace half her living room as she had huge blood loss. Nearly lost the baby and her.

I had to reply to this! My DH covered the majority of the house with roll n stroll for the mess! I gave birth in a pool and anything chunky the midwives took, DH then drained the pool. absolutely no mess apart from 1 bloody towel and i had to have stitches. My mum came to visit an hour or so afterwards and found the extreme measures in place, extremely funny.

Me too. Not just the actual birth mess but afterwards as well. I had a nice shower in a big wet room at the hospital. Blood nd clots pouring down the drain and on the floor. Wouldn't want that in my home.

In my case, there wasn't much mess. It was just towels (straight into the washing machine), a disposable maternity mat or two and the birth pool.

The birth pool comes with a pump, so it's emptied with the same hose you used to fill and pumped out to the most convenient plughole/drain. The liner and hose are then disposed of. One of the midwives assisted with the clean up (very efficient, they're pros) while I had skin to skin time and baby had first checks etc.

Midwives dispose of the placenta.

If it helps, I'm planning to do it all again in the spring, no regrets!

I'm a midwife 😊 we encourage women to buy shower curtains/use old sheets and puppy pads on floors/sofas/beds etc to limit mess. We also have sterile sheets which we can put down if needed too once it gets close to baby arriving. Once baby has arrived and is settled with mum we tidy up as much as possible. We have big boxes which all the birth stuff can go into and is taken back to the hospital for disposal.

A birth pool tends to be emptied with a pump directly into an outside drain, that's the families responsibility.

We take placentas back to the hospital for disposal unless the parents want to keep it.

At my own homebirth I just rolled up the rug in the living room and my midwives put a sterile sheet down under where I was labouring. I ended up giving birth on the landing though, think one of my midwives did run up with the sheet but at some point someone trod blood into the carpet. Tried to get the stain out but it's still there! We are going to replace the carpet soon anyway so not particularly bothered. Same applied to the living room carpet, hence wasn't fussed about sheets.

I am a birth doula and for the one homebirth I attended, between us, the midwives and I cleared up, ed sheets / towels and made tea! The midwives came with lots of absorbant pads that have a waterproof backing.

Had HB with DD2 but 20 odd yrs ago. Didn't use pool in the end as wanted to feel more secure, or grounded in the moment. I think there might have been some kind of pump? No recollection at all about the mess. I think there were puppy pad things? And a quiet bustling around post delivery? But really all whisked away.
The thing I remember most was the quiet.

Forgot to add, I found disposable polythene dustsheets very useful. Mattress protectors are great, too, especially on sofas/chairs (not as slippery as polythene/shower curtains).

These maternity mats are great, too: https://www.boots.com/boots-maternity-maternity-bed-mats-5s-10291533?affwin&cm_mmc=affiliates--Comparison%20Shopping%20Service%20%28CSS%29--Velka%20Shopping%20%28CSS%29-_-575373&utm_source=affiliates&utm_medium=Comparison+Shopping+Service+%28CSS%29&utm_campaign=Velka+Shopping+%28CSS%29-575373&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=575373&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=575373&awc=2041_1706278567_2b0d5468a9126190552b3fe0f66d1ac1

Midwives took away all the clinical waste and placenta after giving me the option to keep it. Had to be taken to hospital for stitches quite quickly after the birth, but when we got home DP put the towels in the wash and cleaned up a little bit. Clean up was not really an issue. Less than ten minutes? Would 100% have another home birth.

I had an unplanned home birth. Was incredible grateful that I had put vinyl down in the bathroom as previous owners only had painted floor boards. Was taken to hospital and kept in for 12 hours. 10 minutes after I was home I was on hands and knees clearing the mess before my mother in law arrived the towels were binned so do not use your good ones (paramedics weren't to know so no worries)! Wish I'd thought to use shower curtain but it was all a huge rush!

Mess was confined to the pool which got pumped to the outside drain by my DH. Midwives brought a container for clinical waste (placenta) which they took away with them. I had a couple of stiches with my first on my sofa but had put washable towels down so the very small amount of blood on the towels went in the washing machine.

I planned a game birth for my first.

My midwife came round with a box a couple of weeks before my due date containing large puppy pad type things and a clinical waste box etc. She told me to also put old towels and sheets in the box ready for the big event. She said that generally there isn’t usually much mess and she would deal with it when the time came.

In the end I bottled it and went straight to hospital with my first contraction!

Home not game!

A lot of mess for me. I bled heavily. Apparently. I didn't even notice. All swiftly cleaned up and dealt with and I was in my bed freshly showered with midwife helping me and all my white linen half an hour later. You wouldn't have known I had given birth in my room. Finnt enough I didn't even think of the clean up when I chose a homebirth.