what 'stuff' do i really need for home birth?

[frazzledfairy]

hello am booked in for a home birth and am 37 weeks tomorow so in theory it could happen any time from then!

what do we really need? (ie towels, bedding etc) and um... how messy was it?! have got visions of dp following me round with a groundsheetand not letting me walk on any carpeted area!

thanks in advance

I started labour in the downstairs loo then ran upstairs between contractions and jumped on the bed and stayed there.

I bought cheap Asda basic shower curtains put them on the bed first then a cheap fitted sheet, the heating was on but I remember DP opening the window as we were all sweating (it was January). Had loads of old towels ready too. I had my hospital bag packed with everything I needed just in case and it was close to hand for all the essentials. Have a nightie, sanitary pads and big pants in it.

Co-codamol and arnica are good for afterpains and healing.

I had a kit delivered by the hospital with all the equipment needed by the MWs it included some incontinence pads (not enough) and a plastic sheet.

MWs had a incinerator bag for all the waste and they cleaned up and made the bed back up whilst I had a shower, then climbed back into my fresh bed with DD2 and DP, DD1 came in an hour later and caught the 2 of them meeting for the first time on DVD. It was a lovely experience.

Black bin bags. I seem to remember the midwives asking for one and we couldn't find any.

We were advised to have a hot water bottle to put in the cot before baby arrived to make sure it was warm(in hospital they put the baby warmer on in the last stages).

I wouldnt worry too much about mess. I had a great birth. We bought a huge piece of plastic from the local builders supply,(sold on a roll by the meter and dead cheap). In actual fact there was very little mess and the midwife was fab and cleared away everything.

My special request was bottles of bud in the fridge for after. Imagine my shame when the GP let herself in minutes after MW left and caught me in bed with my brand new bubba in one arm and a lovely ice cold beer in the other! I tried to explain that I wasnt an alkie but thought I deserved it after 9 months of abstinence and 3 hours of labour. She looked most disapproving but who cares. It was lovely!

It was a magical experience and I would do it again tomorrow, were it not for the fact that DH had the snip yesterday. BOO HOO!

Glucose tablets. I liked the lemon flavour and it's supposed to be good for nausea. Rescue remedy for when you get the shakes.
The glucose tablets are good postnatally too. My hypnotist told me to get 15 packs. Five for each day post birth. She found it helps with the baby blues which she thought was due in part to exhaustion not just hormones.
Just remember if you have to transfer to hospital its not the end of the world and to have your bag packed for such an eventuality.
If you have your baby at home just relish in the fact that you'll be sleeping in your own bed. BLISS. Another tip. Don't be tempted to get dressed after. If you are still in your nightie it suggests you still need looking after.
good luck!

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i am planning a home birth in November and havn't had much discussion yet about this sort of thing, but had been assuming the mw supplied sheets to collect mess!

I am kicking myself as last week i through out three sets of old bath towels during my decluttering exercise to make room for new baby! I should have thought they would have been useful!

The midwives took my placenta away in their own special box.

AHA - remembered what I wanted to add! - I used lots of cushions to kneel on when dealing with contractions.

(who would want to choose a routine hospital birth when you can't make sure you've got all this stuff with you?! I'd have needed a juggernaut to transport all the guff I used - birthing ball, birth pool, cushions, food...)

i had a hb 4m ago - my waters broke on the living roomrug but after that i lay a plastic sheet on the floor with sheets on top for exams and then we used sheets and towels for the birth which was also on the living room floor - keep a soft clean towel handy for wrapping baby immediately post birth - it is handy to have plenty of sheets buy some from a charity shop or carbootif necess. other than that plenty of tea and biscuits for midwifes and sucrose energy tablets for you. i found a birthing pool fantastic pain relief. Don't worry about the mess midwifes clean up as they go very unobtrusively and bag up everything. Good luck

I had piles of sheets and towels ready but didn't really use most of them. The midwives do bring absorbent sheets with them which soaked up most of the mess.

Oh, and I ate a lot of honey because it was quite a lengthy process and the midwives insisted it would give me energy - plus they kept making pots of raspberry leaf tea with honey because my contractions were quite irregular.

My number one thing was definitely an exercise ball though to lean over. Tried chairs, standing etc but the only bearable place for contractions was lying over the ball whilst my dh pressed the base of my spine REALLY hard. I used a futon mattress covered in a plastic sheet and then old cotton sheets in the living room - didn't want to risk any mess in my bedroom!

I've had 2 home births - each time I got a large box ready in our bedroom (put in your preferred room)with the following inside:
old towels
large floor cushions (not bean filled bean bags)
large bowl/bucket for placenta
sippy drinks
glucose tablets
arnica + strong painkillers for afterwards
lots of "incopads" supplied by midwives

I agree about being careful stepping on plastic sheeting eg on way to loo. Can be slippery.

Finally, a couple of binliners for the laundry and the err rubbish.

Really not too messy ....and the bliss of your own clean bath afterwards is not to be underestimated !

I haven't read all posts, nor do I know if you have other children, but my home births were dc 3 and 4; it's very bonding to let the older ones hold their brand new sibling at a very early age .

GOOD LUCK !

mine wasnt messy at all, i just had a pile of towels to drymyself & baby after getting out of the pool, clothes for us both & pads ect

wandering star, were your children at the birth?

my dd will be nearly 4 when i have the baby and she wants to be there. I kinda like the idea but anyone else i speak to thinks i'm mad. Dd is very clued up - she knows it hurts and mummy might shout - she's watched a birth with me on discovery health and found it fascinating.

I am very lucky that granparents aren't far away and they would take dd whilst i gave birth, i wouldn't really want them to look after her in our house during the birth as my house is very open plan .

so my options - plan for dd to go to them as soon as i go into labour and bring her straight back once baby is born.
or
Keep her with us, knowing that we could call on them if things took a turn and we needed them to have her.
What would you suggest?

thanks for all your advice, especially the towels for the landing and beer in the fridge!

oooh am quite excited now about the labour(in a strange way) had ds1 in hosp and he picked up an infection, we were in for 12 days after so not keen to repeat that experience.

hattie05 my ds is nearly 6 and although dp and i discussed him being at the birth we decided against it. we were worried in case something goes wrong or just him being upset by the blood etc. he has a bag packed ready to go and stay with a friend and then will come home probably straight away afterwards. a friend of mine had her ds1 present when she had her ds2. ds1 was 8 and she said he was fab she also has a dd who was 6 at the time and she chose not to be there.

my plan was to have ds (20m) looked after elsewhere when i went into labour we also have v open plan house! but as ds was just in bed when waters broke at 8.30pm and only woke up at 4.30am 1 hour before dd was born it didn't quite work out that way mil and fil arr just in time to allow dh to join me and were upstairs with ds so heard first cries of dd - at the time i couldn't care less as i was 'in the zone' - in laws left as discretly as poss just before i was stitched up on living room floor. came back with ds in afternoon once we had slept a bit. When you are deep in labour you could be in middle of piccadilly circus and not give a damn - keep your dd with you if she wants to be there and have in laws on call.

Hattie mine weren't actually at the birth either time, though for the 1st hb ds1 and 2 did watch me in labour for a bit before being taken to school/nursery (lift prearranged). They were 3 and just 5; tbh my labour really kicked off the moment they were out of the door. i think I "let go" once they'd gone, though everyone's different and if you can call on gps pronto if necessary, then worth a go ? Ds1 and 2 got to cuddle their sister when she was about 3hrs old.
Next time was 5 years later; they all woke about an hour before the birth and were quickly taken downstairs by dh who promised a glimpse of baby "really soon". I had a lovely bath, got into bed and they all cuddled ds3 when he was about 30m old. Unmissable !

ahh thats lovely, i am tempted to allow her to stay and hopefully at the first sign of her showing any distress we could call on gp's.
She is obsessed since watching the birth on tv, she keeps telling me my babies all covered in blood inside me so i don't think there will be much to shock her! Just my screams maybe

I had a wonderful home birth experience just 3 months ago. The mw brought round a 'home birth kit' (just a plastic bag with waste disposal bags, some sanitary towels and incontinence sheets) a few weeks before. My labour started a week early so we were ill prepared but these are the things I used:
large plastic sheet from B&Q to put on the carpet
old duvet
some towels (all the stains came out on a 60 degree wash)
hot water bottle
high energy food (jam sandwiches)
tea and milk for mw and partner (and you after)
lots of sanitary towels
old towels for lying in bed afterwards
lots of food in the freezer

I used the bath in the early stages - remember to put the water heating on - then tens and later, a little gas and air that was delivered to the house by taxi.

I was also told to pack a bag just in case - even if you do end up delivering at home, it saves the mw searching through all your stuff for a flannel, clean pair of knickers or whatever else might be needed.

One last thing - my mw asked us to leave the curtains open and lights on if I went into labour at night - it helps them find the house!

Good luck!

I didn't deliver at home (transferred after 3.5 hours pushing) but had planned to.
We had
one pool and a plastic sheet under it.
bean bags (which I leaned on)
lots of snack food - and M&S ready meals for my dp, other birth partner and mw. I ate cherry cake and those little pots of rachel's organic rice pudding.
A hired tens machine which I used from the earliets twinge
A homeopathic birth kit - from which dp and other birth partner, and eventually the mws helped themselves liberally through the night and I didn't touch!
and that was it , really. I didn't spend any time in bed - I was leaning forward on the sofa, on the stairs, in the pool etc etc. When the mw thought we might be close to delivery (hollow laughter) she sent dp to the airing cupboard for a beach towel, but that was it in terms of 'protection'.

I was so determined not to go to hospital that i had not packed a bag. do packed in the heat of the moment and I ended up with 144 breast pads, some totally impractical knickers and ...can't remember what else but it wasn't useful.

I wish I had had: a small selection of loose tops and pj bottoms, lots of money to get a 'patientcall' card straight away, toothbrush, wipes, basic washbag with shampoo, deodorant, moisturiser etc, some of that calming lavender balm that goes on your temples.

Bumping on this old thread as my mw suggested a home birth for my second lo. Very useful info here but I'd like to know how well equipped the midwives are. I mean, what if they have to monitor the baby's heartbeat for example ? do they arrive with machines ?

they will use a sonicaid or pinard to monitor the baby as and when....although when my friend had a home birth, it was all very hands off..IFYSWIM

they will bring all the medical supplies, incl gas & air and some off those padded cloths to sit on....

old towels, sheets etc...to cover the area you want to deliver on.....plastic sheeting if having a waterbirth.....

my mw arrived alone in the night she needed help down our long footpath with her heavy bag

Exciting to have a baby at home, lovely not to have to get dressed and be moved afterwards.

My midwives brought most stuff. They did say in future they'd bring double quantities for twin births. They had a list of things I should buy like a bucket. Can't really remember. He was born over the carpet as I was standing up but we had plastic over the carpet so it was fine, no problems with stained mattresses.

We never had enough food (for adults) bought in in advance before births. Make sure you've stocked up for the days after.

I had a bizarre experience in the bath. They were monitoring me frequently, and I was on the old gas and air. It does space you out a bit, but I had to half get out of the bath so they could place the sonicaid on my belly. In the haze it sounded like the dub reggae version of the opening track on Dark side of the moon. The midwives thought

My midwife didn't bring much but suggested that we put builders polythene sheet over a fitted sheet and under an old loose sheet on the bed, and on the floor. However, as I gave birth in the bath we only needed dark coloured towels!

I had previously stolen from birthing centre lots of those large square absorbent pads - they're as good for leaking boobs as blood loss. If you're not a thief like me, Pampers bed mats (?) are just as good.

And we did buy a new sieve so that we could use the old sieve for fishing poo out of the water!

I have no idea what the midwife put the placenta in!?

My mid-wife delivered a home birth kit, a week or so before, it contained plastic backed paper towel things, and plastic bowl for placenta. It's not that messy, but I would try to stay off the carpets. I have had two home births, which were great. Both times I put a plastic sheet on the bed and old bed linen, but ended up on all fours on the floor(wood floor), very red knees the following day, but didn't notice at the time, funily enough.
Good Luck Julia