home birth plan

[OnlyWantsOne]

MW came for 36 week home visit - to discuss home birth

she asked if we had any special requests for labour, apart from saying I'd quite like to have a physilogical (sp?) 3rd stage, I didnt know what else to say / ask?

So, what sort of things should I be considoring?

Plus, re pain relief, I havent bought a tens or a pool - should I? which ones?

I have a large bath that I thought I could use to labour in, but I probably wont be able to deliver in it as MW wouldnt be able to access the vital areas, so shall I get a pool?

I had a home birth with ds and it was the best. Mw brought a huge box of tricks that she asked my other dc's to rummage thru so there would be anything that might worry them and she delivered 4 bottles of gas and air, more than enough but i got thru 2.5 of them. other than that i pushed my little boy into the world.

If you want a water birth then you would need a pool and plenty of time to fill it as they can take several hours to fill and also the temp has to be exact for the birth.

Good luck for your impending birth

is it normal to go from feeling completely chilled out about it all, to feeling massively not ready and out of control?

Totally i had a week about 3 weeks before ds was born where i couldn't get the house clean enough and i wouldn't even let the other dc's come in the house with coats on incase they were dirty. Total melt down. I kept checking everything and every night would put all the stuff from mw laid out on the living room floor just incase i went into labout. Ds was 5 days late and that night i was busy with a sicky dd so hadn't got everything out and she threw up in my bed as my waters broke oh and dh works nights lorry driving so he coudn't get home.

Just relax and know you are doing a wonderful thing and your lo will thrive for being born at home

Just to add, I am due in 4 days and planning a HB, although I don't plan to have a waterbirth so haven't had to worry about a pool etc. I would say, check with your MW exactly what she will bring with her on the day, because it seems to vary in different areas. My midwife said she wouldn't be able to bring INCO pads (those blue incontinence pads they have on the bed in hospital) so advised I get some as they are handy for sitting on to deliver, and putting on the bed after in case you leak any blood etc. I bought two packs of 5 each from Boots (only £3 a pack I think). She did, however drop off a big bucket for the placenta the other week, and the paperwork and hoses for the gas&air. I have bought three big plastic waterproof sheets (like painter/decorators use) to put over the sofa and living room floor, and a big stack of towels which can be thrown straight in the washing machine after. My DH is irritating me with worrying about "all the mess I'm going to make" so I have made sure I'll have plenty of stuff to throw down to make the cleanup easy. But realistically, I don't think I'm going to make that much mess! :) I was worried too about being prepared enough to do it at home, but as long as you don't go into labour next week you should have plenty of time to get ready! And anyway, if you go into labour before 37 weeks they require you go to hospital because baby is considered premature. Hope it all goes well for you!

Hi,

I am planning a home birth and have just written my birth plan.

Here are the headings I have put in:

-birth companion (name and contact number!)

-preference for pain relief

-during the birth

(keeping me active, keeping midwife in background, no to intervention unless in baby's best interests etc)

-after the birth

(skin on skin, vit k, breastfeeding, 3rd stage etc)

-in case of transfer to hospital

(keeping partner with me, coming out ASAP etc)

I have also got a bit at the beginning saying 'I would like a calm, natural delivery if possible, but if things change, I am happy to be flexible including going into hospital if this is what is best for baby. Please inform us of any decisions to be made and the impact that they will have on baby.'

And a bit at the end saying thank you!!!

Hope that helps you in some way.

Duke

Onlywantsone have alook at this birthplan it has loads of things that you can include and info on how to go about writing one that works for you.
I'm about to start writing mine as partner wants to have it ready. I thought i'd include a bit about where tea and coffee and food ect is.

good luck

I don't think you need a birth plan for a homebirth in the same way as you do for a hosp birth. 3rd stage,vitk and gas and air need to be sorted out but all you really need to do is bung 3 packets of huggies bedmats,a few old towels and a bit of plastic sheeting in a box in the hallway and then make sure you've got baby clothes and maternity pads which you'd need for a hosp birth anyway. then once you've done that you could think about getting a tens or a pool.

my birth plan included

• as much gas & air as i wanted
• as little input from mws as possible - they were quite welcome in our house but would like to be left alone with dh - they were fine - she checked me every 15mins and then disappeared again
• natural 3rd stage

- i ddint want them to tell me the sex - i wanted to look myself

• i wanted to be on all fours and pls make sure i was! difficult to move once you are full on

for the bed - i had an old shower curtain that i put on the bed with an old sheet over the top - they were just thrown away when the time came

good luck - its very exciting and quite normal to get the jitters - you would be getting the jitters if you were going to hospital

ok

scared about transfer times too, would take 20 mins for ambulance to get to me, plus transfer time of 30 mins, that scared me

I went to hospital for DD, I just havent done this before, at home, im sure it will be fine.

I like the idea of assembling the things needed in a box and shoving in corner of sitting room

right

i need towels, old sheets, plastic stuff, towels etc

any thing else any one found usefull to have at home?

Have all the baby stuff in a box nearby too, so dh won't have to go too far to find clothes and nappies for the newborn!

I was told to get an angle poise lamp handy for the mw's in case it's at night and you need stitching - fortunately ds arrived mid afternoon!

I used thin tarpaulin from Homebase covered with old towels and curtains to keep the carpet safe. Then had a pack of those toilet training bed mats handy to 'mop up' when needed - i.e. after my waters broke!

Dh was in charge of food at my hb - bacon rolls and gallons of tea for the mw's

Champagne in the fridge.

Good luck - it's a fab experience

Oh that reminds me, we also have a bottle of bubbly chilling in the fridge :) (I'm due in 4 days), and a big box of Thornton's chocs stashed somewhere, and I stuck two boxes of posh choc truffles in my box of birth stuff to give the midwives...

dh reminded me last night of the things i had ready.

Old double duvet to put on the floor
plastic sheeting
mobile phone with me constantly
mum and dad on stand by (hubby works nights)
Friends on hand to take dd2 to school
Hospital and mw phone numbers on my mobile
bucket of cleaning products and cloths for the clean up

the best experience ever

I've had all three DCs at home, I recommend packing a labour bag with the same stuff in as for a hospital birth. If you need to transfer it's there if you don't then everything is in one place which helps your dh or mw. Make sure you have plenty of tea, coffee and biscuits for you all :)

Just out of interest, and not to be confrontational, but is a birth plan really necessary and who does it benefit?

Am I being incredibly naive to think I can make it up as I go along or make decisions at the time?

I'm planning to have my first baby at home but given that my partner's attitude is "you find out and just tell me what I need to know" to pretty much everything pregnancy-related, I know I'll get no input from him when making a plan.

gallicgirl - tbh, the birth plan is more about you though at the end of the day

I had one with dd in hospital, and although I was pretty much 'we'll see what happens' I had the made the decision before that I did not want pethadine as I was not comfortable with the possible effects on me and the baby. Dh was a vital part of this when in labour the mw offered me it and at that point I would have taken anything going Dh was brilliant and helped me stick to my plan and explained mw that I didn't want it - something that was obv difficult for him at the time but I'm soooo glad he was strong enough to do it.

At home, my plan was more based on my experiences first time around - i.e less intervention, leave me alone to quietly get on with it, vit K, third stage planning etc etc and fortunately it all went well.

You are right that the plan needs to focus on your wishes, but explain to dh that he could be instrumental in helping you achieve them. Good Luck

I had a homebirth with DS2, didn't plan on a water birth so didn't get a pool but ended up having him in the bath, was great, MW and I managed fine with me in a fairly small bath.
I didn't do a birth plan with either of mine, first time I just couldn't get my head round planning for what I just could not imagine if you know what I mean and second time I thought well I managed last time. I was fortunate to have two speedy straightforward births but I do think whatever you plan you need to keep an open mind.
MW brought everything on the day, was a totally amazing experience, good luck!

Fantastic, hope everything goes really well.

Agree that it helps to think about Birth Plan as a way of clarifying your thoughts, feelings and expectations of birth.

My main areas of concern, in my experience, are ensuring that I stay at home and am not just swept into hospital for the NHS's convenience. These are the main reasons an NHS midwife may request a transfer.

TAKING TOO LONG/ FAILURE TO PROGRESS
Says who? My family have real long labors. The NHS have a very short time limit on labor after waters go, so do familiarise yourself with the info (EU points to 70hours before infection becomes issue, yet backwards NHS in some areas say 12!)

BABY IN DISTRESS
Is it really? Meconium in waters is, in and of itself not an indication of baby in distess. It is the sign of a fully developed gut. If heartbeat reflects distress as well, then this is a real concern of course. And getting baby out fast should be a priority.

Talking to other mums too, these seem to be the main reasons for a transfer in the UK.

Hope everthing goes well, and you have a really positive birth experience.

ok,

can I just ask loopymumsy about the internals - were your MWs cool with this?

Im going to have DP here and my SIL and I would really like to be left to curl up and get on with it - I dont like the idea of being constantly asked to be checked -

Plus, vit K - I have sort of agreed, just said yeah yeah when asked but havent really asked about the reasons for or not? What should I be reading to make this decision?

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm the sort of person who tries to find out everything before making a decision so at least if I do that then I can tell my OH what he needs to insist on when the moment arises!

onlywantsone I googled the vitamin K thing and it's administered to counteract the very slight risk of bleeding on the brain when baby is born. The affects of a haemorrhage are pretty catastrophic but there's no conclusive evidence of any risk associated with the Vit K. There was some research to show a possible link to leukaemia but this hasn't been backed up elsewhere.

I'm really keen that I don't want the midwife to break the waters if they haven't broken on their own, and that I'd like either myself or my husband to catch the baby. Things like this I think are good to put in your birth plan so that everyone is aware of them. At the time you might not feel able to articulate things like this, and often things are done a certain way and your midwife won't specifically ask you if you'd like something different when it comes to every thing she does.

I also think it's a good idea to make sure you have thought everything through and not missed something important to you, a way of organising your thoughts and your research into a final set of decisions/instructions.

Good luck!

i didn't have any internals either, the mw didn't ask if i wanted any, she could see what was going on by my behaviour etc.

something soft for the floor would be good, birth ball too?

on my birth plan i put things like,

do not tell me to push,
no talking in 2nd stage,
to find the sex out ourselves,
physiological 3rd stage - (in big bold letters 'umbilical cord not to be cut until cord stopped pulsating')
i would like to look at my placenta after birth.

Carlyvita - totally agree with your post.

OP - it will be amazing. my hb was the best experience of my life.