homebirth gunk question?!?!

[missjackson]

I am probably worrying unnecessarily, or missing something obvious, but here's my question: once you've given birth, which I imagine will be on my carpet (covered in shower curtain and old towels etc), do you then get straight into bed for baby cuddles, feeding, skin to skin etc? In which case, isn't there a horrendous mess in the bed from you and the baby? Or do you wait for the placenta delivery, then have a bath, put knickers with mat pad on, get baby dressed, then get into bed, which all seems like a lot of hassle? At the midwife unit last time there was a lovely huge beanbag that I first gave birth on, and then leant against while feeding, placenta delivery etc. I don't want to be just crouched on my bedroom carpet while all that takes place! What am I missing? Please tell me your experiences!

Give birth, get into bed (prior to birthing put clean sheets on bed,cover with plastic dustsheet, then cover with sheets and towels you are happy to bin) with baby wrapped in towels, feed/skin to skin for a bit. Hand baby to DP/2nd MW, deliver placenta, have a shower, MW whips off dustsheet layers, put knickers on, get into lovely clean bed, with brand new baby, drink tea, eat toast, stay exactly where you are for a minimum of 24 hours.

It depends where you give birth!

I delivered ds on the bedroom floor... Plastic dust sheet, towels, pillow...

Had cuddles where we were (skin to skin etc) shifted up to bed (absorbent mat thing plus towel) for stitches and more cuddles

Mw scooped up all mess and got rid off it

Then I went to the loo and she also changed mat and towel on bed

A bit later on in the day, I got a bath and DH changed the sheets on our bed (which weren't messy, but it was nice to get into a clean bed!)

There was certainly no hassle for me... Just cuddles and lots of sitting

OK thanks, that all makes sense. I'll check with my midwife too. Love the toast and tea bit

Have a waterbirth, that's what I did :o

I gave birth in dining room (Ds1 asleep upstairs, handy for kitchen so everyone had lots of tea :o)

Delivered on sofa (well protected), stitched and first skin to skin. Then upstairs for shower, into clean bed, more tea and raisin toast. Everyone in bed by midnight, brilliant!

Its a matter of pride for a mw to leave the home looking as though nothing unusual has happened.

I tidy up a bit while mum and baby have some skin-to-skin (clinical waste bags for anything manky) then do the rest while she has bath/shower.

If you leave a change of sheets handy, then you can get into a lovely fresh bed! I put an absorbent pad or an old towel to lie on in for the first few hours in case of leaks.

Clinical waste is taken away. Placenta ditto unless parents want it, do say. sheets, towels, cushion covers in washing machine before they stain.

OP if you liked the beanbag, get yourself to Dunelm or somewhere for a cheapy one you can chuck afterwards, or a wipe-clean one. I loved my homebirth so much, it was just wonderful. good luck! :)

I gave birth on the living room floor, had skin to skin there then waddled off to the bathroom while the mw cleaned up. When I gpt back you wouldn't have thought anything had gone on in there at all apart from the clinical waste bag by the door. Had coffee and paracetamol curled up on the sofa while dh cuddled DD and we just waited for the other 2 to get up for breakfast and to meet their new sister :)

Thank you everyone, you've all been very reassuring - and sounds like you all had lovely midwives! I'm sure mine will be too - it's a small unit and I've met them all. Just hope I can survive without the pain relief of the birth pool - we have the wrong type of boiler - and last two times I loved the pool in the MLU. Now if the baby would just come along, I'm all ready with my old sheets, old towels, clean sheets etc.... 40 plus 10 today!

I popped out DS on living room floor. Then sat feeding for half am hour. Handed baby over, squatted and placenta fell out. At somepoint the place got tidied until it was spotless, baby got dressed and midwife unpacked our ocado order! Then I had lovely shower and lovely sleep in my own lovely bed.

We had a birth pool. Unfortunately DH started filling it far too late, and the delivery speeded up a little faster than expected :o My baby was back to back, but i was still fine with just entonox. Being able to be so active and with all my own stuff around I'm sure just made me so much more relaxed.

I had baby in living room on the sofa, cuddled and fed where we were, baby went to DH and my mum for cuddles while I delivered placenta. Went to loo and got new pad/pants etc. Went downstairs and it was all tidy with a cup of tea ready (I never drank it, too busy cuddling baby!) Midwives finished their paperwork and checked we were okay and happy for them to leave, and then they went, a couple of hours after baby arrived.