Homebirth - what the frig is the shower curtain and bucket for?

[StarlightMaJesty]

Sorry but i'm very confused. Also about the lots of clean sheets .

I thought I knew quite a bit about birth.

i planned to birth in the sitting room.#i ended up on the bed.

thankfully my friend had already covered it in plastic and sheets.

point being, there will be a lot of mess, and you won't know where it will end up going.

Be Prepared.

Well it won't be in the bedroom. Can hardly even get to the bed and both me and the mws will have to wade through dh's dirty underpants as well as toys with wheels and used receipts and bus tickets from dh's trousers - yuck!

How about in the garden if its a nice day star??? You know..under the blue sky, communing with nature and all that

As a hb midwife???.they are optional. In the olden days we used newspaper on the floor. Some people are very concerned re spots and splashes and a big shower curtain gives good protection. Buckets are multipurpose, I have used them
:for puke
:for peeing
:as a bin
:impromptu birthing stool (needs to be strong, with folded towel around edge)
Every home needs buckets...

There's a hosepipe ban Bad!

I have one word for you - Kettle

Thanks mehew. Glad to hear they're not essential safety equipment then.

I'll feel free to take responsibility for my own splitting and not blame the midwives if it's messy.

Don't midwives get very messy then?

mine did, poor woman!

i found the actual birth was much less messy than walking about to bathroom afters.... (in post natal daze!)
i had promised myself a new bedroom carpet after DC3 but now we are selling the house..not much point. blood spots clean out fast when fresh...

i've never had a bucket to hand, placenta went in one of those cardboard hat things they carry (that go in the loo) or on an inco pad....

though if you did feel like chundering it would be useful.

my cocking washing machine is broken and i don't have a repair booked until next tuesday. best cross my legs then.

can't believe you have messy bedroom - aren't your hormones driving you crazy with urge to tidy??

i almost ate DH due to his habit of leaving undies on floor....

No. I never did get that nesting thing. If anything I get the opposite. Nesting for me is surrounding myself in clutter to bury myself in I think.

I can't remember exactly but I am sure that the MW had like a yellow bucket thing, that looked similar to those needle bins, that she put the placenta in.

I certainly haven't been told to have buckets.

yep, I was most vehement it wouldn't br in the bedroom.
apparently, it was the only position she would move in, and the mws made me go there because they couldn't find DD's heartbeat when i was on the floor.
and then i had thecut there too, of course.

I was never asked for a bucket! I would have probably thrown up in it anyway, I seemed to do it everywhere else..
We got some of those decorating sheets from B&Q, less rustly than a shower curtain, plus you get 2 in a pack, we only used 1 so when we decorate the house we can use the other
the sheet was actually pretty useful, I gave birth on the floor of the front room and the sheet was big enough for me to put half of it on the sofa along with copious amounts of towels so DH could help me up there after the birth and I could sit there like the Queen while everyone cleared up the mess.
I think I posted on another thread of yours, so glad you're getting your HB!