to ask about your home birth?

[iamdivergent]

Currently 27 weeks with dc3 and 'booked' in for a home birth. I had an unplanned one last time (very fast labour, mw arrived in the nick of time - all very straight forward and didn't need hospital afterwards) and am keen for another one.

Mw supportive, as is DH and this would eliminate the need for finding childcare which would be a nightmare to sort due to personal circumstances.

I wondered, do I need a pool? What will I need to hand? What did you love or hate about yours? What would you have done differently? Just looking to get the best out of my last birth.

I'm less than 10mins away from the hospital and ambulance depot should anything go amiss. I'd appreciate that posters realise that this is what I want to do and I am also well aware that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Thank you

[iamdivergent]

You know I'm feeling fair excited after starting this thread. Made DH get the moses basket out of the attic and the bouncy chair has just been delivered I'm so hoping everything goes to plan.

[Underbrella]

We planned homebirth for dc3 because labour had been speedy & straightforward with dts who were still weeny and we didn't really have anyone to look after them. In the event, dc3 was extra speedy & the midwife arrived 20mins after baby. Once we realised baby was very close to being born dp grabbed as many towels (& my dressing gown....!) that he could & we used them. That was about the extent of our planning. I asked dp to run a bath for me once things hotted up a bit but I didn't get a chance to use that so just as well we didn't hire a pool. We had been putting our twins to bed though dp had to juggle the still awake one while catching dc3.

Because of the speed of that birth & (again) lack of reliable childcare options we decided that planning a homebirth was the only option for dc4. In our area the midwives have everything with them in the car - no box dropped off in advance. They also no longer provide protective / cleanup stuff other than what they need during the birth. We recently moved house so had lots of curtains that we washed in preparation to cover the bed / floor. Dc3 was even speedier than the others - under 40mins from first vague period pain to birth. Luckily my waters had gone earlier (unlike my other births!) so we at least had an inkling things could start at any moment so I'd been in contact with my midwife in advance & she made it with 3 minutes to spare. & I also stuck a few things in a bag for baby/ me in case we needed a hospital transfer. This time it was daytime & the other dc happened to be in school / nursery but we had talked with them about what might happen when baby came out just in case. Introducing them to their new sibling was lovely!

[noeffingidea]

My 3rd birth was a home birth.
It couldn't have been simpler. No pool (can't see the point). All I did was put a plastic decoraters sheet on the bed, with an old sheet on too.
Did some ironing and sterilised the bottles while I was waiting for the midwife to come. Had a bit of gas and air for the birth. My kids watched tv downstairs.
Got up and had a bath after about an hour, got dressed, and that was that. I don't like sitting about after I've had a baby, and a home birth is ideal for that.
The only other thing I needed was an icecream box (for the midwife to take the placenta away) and a couple of paracetamol for the afterpains.
Best of luck! Hope it goes well!

[HowBadIsThisPlease]

I had dd1 at home in a pool and loved it. It sounds like you might not make it into the pool and were fine without it last time, so maybe that's not needed for you? You know what labour is like for you so you can decide that really, I had a pool both times (second time in MLU) and I'd have struggled without one, but for me the whole thing was probably 24 hours (each time) so a bit different.

I was told though that not all midwives are qualified to do water births. So I suppose if you want a pool you need to know if your mw can do a water birth.

thoughts from me:

Line up the music you want

Tell dp EVERYTHING in advance, even if he is tuning out and thinks you are being a control freak. I was organised, and had things ready for various eventualities, but I couldn't get DP to focus on it and I thought I was boring him so when it came to it, I was the only one who knew where anything was - all ready - and the MWs were asking DP and I was incohorent (outwardly) and in my head fuming because he was running around trying to find things that were RIGHT THERE! IN THE BAG! WASHED, DRIED AND READY!

MWs like flapjacks

[iamdivergent]

Sounds lovely! I'll definately have a bag packed for me and baby just in case we have to transfer to hospital and we have a load of old towels (and an excuse to buy new ones!)

[PurpleWithRed]

I had my home birth + pool back in 1993.

Used the pool every night for a fortnight before DD was born - sat in there watching TV, the weightlessness was just wonderful! Practice beforehand meant we were quick getting it up when labour did start, so I used it for a couple of hours (4-hour labour) but INSISTED on getting out NOW when I transitioned.

All mess cleared up very efficiently by the midwife. Was brilliant.

[zoomtothespoon]

I had a home birth for DC2, I hired a pool because I love being in water. I was straight in the second they said I could and did not come back out until it was all over.

I think a home birth is lovely but you need to be realistic and organised.

We bought some shower curtains from asda to put down and some cheap towels to use.

DC1 stayed at home as it started in the middle of the night and he was only awake for a bit before baby came. If he freaked out at all or there was an emergency my parents live on the next road so that wasn't an issue.

Enjoy!

[peppatax]

I had a planned home birth with my first and I spent a lot of time under the shower so didn't really need a pool - the midwives suggested it would be a good idea for next time as I had a longish labour at home so would be worth setting up.

Re childcare - do you have any neighbours with teenagers that could be on hand to entertain the older two or take them out for a bit? The other alternative is see if you can offer a student midwife to 'observe' a homebirth and perhaps agree to stick around if you need to transfer in. I had a student midwife at my homebirth and she said it's not something they get to widely experience during training.

[idiuntno57]

Pool was brill for x2 HB. Music/ iPod/ whatever close to hand. Plastic sheets and old towels.
Snacks for the midwives to give something for DH to hand round. Takeaway menu for dinner after.

My home births were a blast. I live tweeted one of them (which gave DH something to do when it became difficult to hop out of the pool each time).

Oh and the new hose made a great Mother's Day gift for my mum.

Good luck OP

[Enkopkaffetak]

I had a pool for dd3's homebirth and I did like it. However I ended up not giving birth in it as I got out to walk around they felt that would help , and as soon as I was out she arrived.


for dd2 I had not rented a pool and it was an amazing experience.


For ds (who we transfered with) I had a birthing stool I really liked this and wanted it again for dd3 but could not at the time find a place to hire it.


The thing I remember the best from dd3's birth was I had purchased these crisp lovely white towels intended to make me feel all better after the birth, and then had a stack of older towels out for them to wrap dd3 in after birth. However with the quickness of her birth they just grapped the nearest towels and she was wrapped in crisp white towels. I remember thinking after they would never get clean again (but they did)

[IAmAPaleontologist]

Number 1:

First baby. Woke up with period pain and within 5 min was having continuous contractions (with hindsight I was overwhelmed by the speed of the labour and wasn't letting myself relax back down between waves so was feeling continuous pain). Quick labour, lovely midwives, gave birth on my bed but was totally out of it! Snuggled up in bed afterwards.

Number 2:

Had a pool, bit more of a build up. Got in pool, laboured, delivered.

Number 3:

Comedy birth though I doubt the midwife thought so! Had a pool but by this time lived in a house with solid fuel heating. Had been in to the hospital in the evening as waters had been trickling all day and they had tried their best with the whole doom and gloom baby will die without induction and antibiotics thing (the community midwives were totally different and not at all like that!) So I was tired and emotional and instead of making sure that we'd tidied the crap so there was space and a clear surface for the midwives and that we had put plenty of fuel on the fire as we had done every single evening since 37 weeks I had cried and bounced on my ball until dh persuaded me to come to bed. Woke up around 5 in labour, by the time MW got there I was mooing and dh was fiddling with the pool and had just realised that there was no hot water. There were toys everywhere, not only was there no hot water but there was no heating as the fire was totally out. Dh gave up on pool and starting lighting fire, MW kept yelling at him that we needed to have the heating on as it was too cold but also kept asking him to come into the living room as she needed him and poor dh was attempting to explain that if she wanted the heating then she needed to let him light the fire! Meanwhile I cracked on and had a baby.

I love home birth!

Plenty of towels and an old shower curtain. Pack a hospital bag with all your stuff for you and baby and then a separate home birth box with your towels and stuff. That way you have everything to hand and you have a bag you can grab if you do need to transfer in. When the MW gets there show her where the kettle and the biscuits are and let her know she can help herself. Do have an emergency childcare plan if necessary, even if that is dh staying with the girls/taking them out if they get distressed and you labouring on your own. Chances are they will be fine though. I showed my older ones lots of nice videos of births on youtube so that if they were there they would know what to expect. In the end they slept through and came down to meet the baby while were were waiting for the placenta.

[shrunkenhead]

Didn't have time for a bath nevermind a pool! Had a quick shower doubled over with contractions. Gave birth on plastic sheeting on bedroom floor. All I needed was midwife and floor protection! Sadly I had to go to hosp in ambulance for stitching (3rd degree tear) so wish I'd had a hosp bag packed and ready.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

I didn't have a pool, because my house is small and it would have taken up so much space.

[iamdivergent]

Last time round I thought I was in labour at 36+6 and ended up getting ambulanced in (lived alot further away from the hospital), examined and was 4cm, down to labour ward and lo and behold it all stopped after about 4 hrs! So it put me off phoning the mw until later than I would have when I eventually did go into labour!

[iamdivergent]

Thanks. That's ingenious making the bed up over your normal bed! I'll definately need to do that.

[TattiePants]

I wouldn't change anything about my home birth either. I can highly recommend Asda value range shower curtains and fitted sheets. I made my bed up as usual then added a layer of shower curtain and the cheap fitted sheet on top. DD was born in a birthing pool but I delivered the placenta in bed so once all the messy stuff was finished, DH pulled the top sheet and shower curtain off and the bed was ready underneath.

If you are likely to have a quick labour then call the midwife early on. My labour wasn't that quick (about 7 hours) but I kept putting off calling. Fortunately my community midwife got here quickly but the second midwife (with the bloody gas & air) didn't make it in time. You can also have diamorphine at home. It was a complete faff to get hold of but I just wanted to have it just in case and just knowing I had another pain control option was reassuring.

[lertgush]

Having someone who can meet you at the hospital if necessary sounds like a plan. Then hopefully you won't need to use it anyway.

My homebirth was great till 2 hours afterwards BTW. I don't want to put you off at all!

[Chattymummyhere]

Oh I haven't got any cake in, I do have a cake mix for the children to make if that counts and this one doesn't come out before I can get them to make it tomorrow. Totally slipped my mind this time.

[WorraLiberty]

iamdivergent requests the pleasure of the company of Lemon Drizzle, at one's home birth

[iamdivergent]

Obviously cake will want to be there 😂

Add - i will add cake onto the essentials list

[WorraLiberty]

Will ask cake onto the essentials list

Oh how very polite.

Just invite it onto the list?

[WorraLiberty]

'bedroom next bedroom'?

He only has one bedroom

[WorraLiberty]

I couldn't be bothered with all the faff of a pool.

DH called the midwives about 3.30am. They arrived about 3.50am, broke my waters at 4.15am and he was born at 5.10am.

My Dad came over and sat with my excited 9yr old, but my 3.5yr old slept right through it all, in the bedroom next bedroom.

Can't think of anything I would have changed.

[iamdivergent]

Will ask cake onto the essentials list

[OhForTheLoveOfGin]

Fx for you I loved my homebirth and would do happily do it again. They really go for 'active' labour round here and were very happy for me to pace about, squat, move about loads. Had planned to give birth in our living room but ended up in the tiny bathroom. I was very impressed with how the midwives cleaned up afterwards, you'd never have guessed what had happened in there!

I'd made a cake beforehand and left it out for them with bread for toast, tea and coffee etc. Was amazing to climb into my own bed with a brew and some cake after

Have enjoyed remembering it all with this post I've had wine