Home birth...

[InNeedOfCoffee]

Requested home birth today at 34+4, midwife coming over with kit for next anti-natal appointment.

Can anyone who has already had a homebirth tell me what you needed and how you prepared?

Thank you

The midwife brought her own kit and told me to buy cheap shower curtains (paid £2.99 in Tesco) and cheap bedding (I bought a single duvet and pillow from Tesco for very little).

I also got one of those big balls from freecycle which was really useful.

Then things for the baby - blankets, nappies, vests, babygro, cardigan. This was all in a bag in case we had to transfer to hospital. I also packed another bag for me for hospital just in case (clothes, book, old pants, jumbo maternity pads, chocolate, money, phone)

Food - for me, and husband and midwives.

Old blankets and towels.

I think that's all.

In terms of how I prepared, I spent a lot of time cooking soups and cakes and stashing them in the freezer. This was very useful later.... And making lots of different plans based on different scenarios to ensure the older DC were looked after.

Hope that helps and best of luck to you

i agree with the above, shower curtain, birthing ball #( i actually gave mine away on freecycle#), bag in case of emergency needing to be transferred to hospital, towels, old blanket to put over the shower curtain for comfort, hot water bottle to warm the babies clothes on, plebty of tea bags,

also i used aromatherapy during the birth so had some oils mixed with the carrier oil already made up in abottle,

i used you tube to practice the birthing positions on the ball and yoga for pregnancy!

good luck

a good light somewhere (or a torch) so the midwife can check your perineum for any tears afterwards.
dimly lit bedrooms arent ideal!

Are you having a pool birth? - if so, something to fill it easy and something to empty it easily. A thermometer to check temp of pool

Lots of easy to eat snacks.

a nice warm house to welcome your new baby into!

comprehensive list!

One thing our MW suggested that may or may not be there was to consider whether you would like the MW (or your DH!) to answer the phone while you're in labour and how you want them to answer - it could prevent unfortunate situations, such as if Auntie Mabel tends to call often and would, on hearing you're in labour, say "I'll be right round with a pot of tea"... Even once the baby's arrived its quite nice to be able to catch your breath and invite people when you're ready

A nice pair of PJ's in which to recline on the sofa are also useful - its a nice subtle way to emphasize "this is a woman who needs some TLC". Jumping back into normal clothes can read as "Oh good. She's back. Milk and 2 sugars, please!)

DD1 was born at home. I took over the dining room with a great big heated, filtered pool - which was the most fantastic wallow when I looked like an elephant :o I tried to collect everything we might need into a box in the corner of the room. Didn't actually manage to pack a bag, which was a mistake as I wound up transferring in (not blue light - DD quite happy but I had a slow continuous bleed from a tear that needed stitching) and had to send DH chasing around trying to track everything down

Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly for you :). I loved my HB :)

www.homebirth.org.uk/

...is extremely useful for information, including lists of what you might need, research if you want it, and birth stories to get you excited :)

Thank you all, just another quick question, how much mess is there (cant really remember for dd's hospital birth).

There is mess, but MW's are very efficient at keeping it under control and clearing it up. I think we were left with one spot of something on the arm of a sofa and that was it.

I think the least controllable bit of mess is likely to be when your waters go - with DD1 it was as I stood up in the pool, so all neatly contained. With DD2 it was when I stood up off the toilet and they spread all over the hospital's lino floor. (We'd planned a 2nd HB, but circumstances dictated otherwise - that's one bit I'm quite glad I was in hospital for :o). But then wherever you plan to birth your waters could go at any point in any location...

I'm sure there was a bit of blood during the birth (I know there was) but the MWs were so good at dealing with it it really didn't become an issue. We did get a massive waterproof sheet that covered most of the lounge, including the sofa - so wherever I went in there we were OK. That was a bit excessive, though

As others have said - not much needed really other than midwife's pack and towels or sheets to cover the floor.

Regarding mess - there isn't much - midwives do a great job of putting those waterproof mats under you and replacing as necessary so mostly caught in there. Unless of course you move around too quickly for them!

Hi, I had no mess - but that was with pool births.

Hi, I had a home birth (water birth) in Sept 2010 and there wasn't any mess at all as my waters broke in the pool. Labour was quick and relatively pain free (2.5 hours in total, and I was only in pool 30 mins) and the midwives and my partner were great. The only practical things I got in for myself other than fruit smoothies and drinking straws (not needed for energy as labour was so quick) ere the hired pool (£80 for five weeks), plastic shower curtains, which were not used and went to charity shop afterwards, and a head torch which also wasn't needed as my baby arrived during daylight (2.55pm) and I was only examined once anyway when the first midwife arrived only 45 mins before I delivered my DD. It was a magical experience - I lifted her from the water myself so she took her first breath in my arms.

Other preparations - well I did write a birth plan and made a 4 hour long relaxation playlist for my ipod but only heard about 35 mins of it before my DD arrived! Do write a birth plan with your partner and do get in smoothies and soups you can drink through a straw etc in case labour is long. I got through massive quanitites of smoothies, soups and dried fruit afterwards anyway (was absolutely starving all the time for the first week after the birth) so you might as well have it in ready. Also I made 40 portions of meals in boxes for the freezer about two weeks before which really helped in the first month afterward. Hardly had to cook at all for about 6 weeks!

Oh yes, I did pack a hospital bag - it's best to have your big knickers, maternity towels, baby clothes and nappies ready for afterward anyway, so you may as well put them in a bag along with a few toiletries, change of clothes and towel/s and then it's all together. We actually used the baby bath along with a bag to hold everything we thought we'd need for the birth and afterwards, so it was easy to locate it all.

My HB list...

Pool
Cheap plastic shower curtains on the floor covered with old curtains and cushions.
Pampers Bed mats (used for toilet training!) to cover things quickly in case you move around!
Box of stuff for the baby so dh has everything in one place and isn't bothering you with 'where are the babygros/nappies/hats etc while you're being stitched!
Plenty of tea, bacon rolls and choccie biscuits
Champagne in the fridge
Food and drink for dh to get you whilst in labour.
Hospital bag for you and baby by the door just in case.

That was it for me really. The mw's were fabulous at clearing up any mess - they just rolled up all the curtains and mats into a bin bag and 15 mins after ds was born I was sat on my sofa with him with no evidence of anything on my cream carpet!

Good luck - it's an amazing experience

Just in case anyone is panicking about making sure they have everything on the list - I had absolutely nothing at all. Unplanned homebirth. And we managed just fine .

Obviously it helps to be a little bit prepared, but don't worry if you don't have a massive list with ticks beside each item.

I had a homebirth with DS2 and planning another one in July.

Top tip is to get everything organised in a box. I didn't do this and poor DH virtually missed the birth due to running around getting things!!

You need lots of towels. I gathered old ones from my airing cupboard and my Mum's that could be ditched afterwards. Although midwife actually bunged them all in the washing machine and they came out good as new.

Was quite a bit of mess but fairly contained.
I had pastic decorating sheets on the floor with an old sheet on top (actually a newish sheet in my case due to DH picking up the wrong one) These all went in the bin for ease. Would recomend a dark colour, mine were burgandy, so it looks less messy!

Recommend getting disposable bed wetting sheets (Pampers I think?) great for using in bed afterwards as save your sheets.

Nice snacks, biscuits for you, DH and midwives. Completely unintentionally I had baked a cake the eening beforw I had DS2 and it was greatly apreciated by me and midwives with a cup of tea half an hour after the birth!

Planning to be more organised this time round so watching with interest

The shower curtain tip is great, I'm having 1st homebirth (fingers crossed, due Monday) I found the smart price ones in asda are reduced from £1 to 25p yesterday, so I brought a load! Enough to cover the floor, Walls and celing! Dp thinks I'm planning a Dexter type bump off, lol! I'm not how many Towels though? Got 2 large and one hand, hope that's enough :/ My Mum also suggested making a big birthday cake with dc, which they love, there more excited about the eating 'birthday cake' than the baby :)

I also found it useful to know what we ought to do and more importantly what we ought not to do if the midwife didn't get there in time. As it happened she made it with :) 3 minutes to spare.

EEEK! Margles, And what did they tell you? Cross your legs?! Put it down on list as q to ask at 40 week app on Monday if I make it to there :)

A bucket. Don't forget a bucket. And binbags.

What we were told to do in an emergency:

Keep calm, wrap the baby up so that it doesn't get cold, and leave the cord alone.

Hello,

Thought i would pop back to this thread to say that I had a succesful home birth on mothers day . Was an amaizing experience and would do it again in a second. DD slept through whole thing and woke up just as the cleaning up finished to meet her little brother.

Thankyou for all the advice.