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

[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

[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!

[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!

[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.