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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

If you had a home birth...

21 replies

soundsystem · 30/10/2014 11:51

I'm planning on having a home birth, and the midwife has suggested we get shower curtains and cover all the floors and tape them down, also to cover the bed and the beanbag.

If you had a home birth, did you do this in advance (maybe not the bed, but floors, etc), so it was ready? I'm concerned that when I go into labour DH will have to get home from work so might not have time to do it, and not sure I want to be crawling about taping shower curtains to the floor at that stage!

We're lucky in that we could set up a room in advance and sleep in a different room untli then, but that leads me to my next question:

Did you end up giving birth where you thought you would, or did you roam around the house?

At the moment, I'm thinking I'd like to be in our room, which is at the top of the house, but someone we know who used to be a doula has mentioned that in her experience women seem to like to be at ground level. So don't want to set the room up if I'm going to come traisping down two floors and make a mess in the front room!

I know you can only plan so much, but want to be as prepared as possible! Any advice gratefully received :)

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lotsoftoast · 30/10/2014 12:34

That's serious overkill. A shower curtain over where you birth, and one where you get in and out of the birth pool are all you need

workingtitle · 30/10/2014 14:43

That sounds like overkill. I planned a HB (had to be transferred) - lots of cheap/old towels and blankets are more important imo. I also roamed a lot in early stages of labour.

DinoSnores · 30/10/2014 16:15

I was told to get ONE shower curtain (measuring at least 1.5m by 1.5m) and cover it with an old towel for delivery. I planned on having a water birth (had a pool set up in the living room downstairs) but didn't like being in the water and gave birth upstairs on my bed in the end.

WiseKneeHair · 30/10/2014 16:17

One shower curtain, put down once in labour, with several old towels. I gave birth in the living room as my other DC had only just gone to bed upstairs and I didn't want to disturb them

vitaminC · 30/10/2014 16:24

I had a HB with DD3. I gave birth in the lounge, sitting on the floor in front of the sofa, with XH sitting on the sofa behind me, rubbing my shoulders.

I had put a mattress on the floor, with a rubber-backed sheet on, but the midwife brought a load of those "Chux" absorbant pads they have in hospitals and just laid a few out on top of the mattress. After the birth, she just rolled them all up and put them in the bin! The sheet didn't even get stained!

QuicheConverter · 30/10/2014 17:03

I gave birth in a pool in our kitchen/diner which has tiles throughout - we had a stack of towels, blankets and disposable bed mats for when I got in and out and afterwards.

littlejohnnydory · 30/10/2014 17:48

I bought one shower curtain, didn't tape it down or anything like that, and put it over an old duvet on the floor in the lounge. That's where I gave birth. Both times. Didn't have a pool but if I did I suppose I'd just put another shower curtain underneath it!

enjoyingscience · 30/10/2014 18:05

We used a cheap shower curtain (£1 shop job), with an old duvet on top. I bought some pampers bed sheets which I used to kneel on before the midwives arrived. In the end, DS was born before they got there, so the bed sheets were a good buy!

There was zero mess - wed rolled up the shower curtain taking the duvet and the mats with it, shoved it all in a cardboard box and took it to the tip. DP was worried that people would think he was a psychotic murderer type if they looked at what he was throwing away

I stayed in the living room, as DS1 was asleep upstairs.

addictedtosugar · 30/10/2014 18:27

Unplanned homebirth here....
I got into the bathroom, and glad I did, but it was only a couple of towels, and the bathmat which got covered but then the paramedic did clean up, so perhaps I just didn't notice the mess I'd say so long as you don't want to move around too much, a shower curtain, with something sacrificial on top would be enough.

fattycow · 31/10/2014 17:59

That is serious overkill. Over here, home births are quite common and they don't recommend shower curtains at all. They tell you to get a few special mats, but those are provided in the 'home birth box' you can get from you health insurer.

StarlightMcKenzie · 31/10/2014 21:15

I had a homebirth and remember nothing about shower mats and tape.

I just gave birth. It was no military process.

Towels were handy, so I could have them in plentiful supply post-birth.

One thing that may have made a difference is that I delivered baby and also placenta in the pool, and then sat there for a bit longer to breastfeed so when I came out of the water, I was blood-free.

NoodieRoodie · 31/10/2014 21:24

I bought a couple of shower curtains from Poundland, they're still in my airing cupboard!

When push came to shove (no pun intended) there was no way I was getting off my knees to put a shower curtain down. I gave birth leaning over my sofa with an old sleeping bag under my knees and a couple of the inco pads the midwives had brought.

As others have said the midwives just rolled it all up and took it away. The couple of towels that I used DH shoved in the washing machine and a couple of hours later when he was asleep I stuck a hot wash on,

LizzieMint · 31/10/2014 21:29

Sounds like your midwife is a bit of a neat freak! I had two home births, both in pools. We had a plastic sheet under the pool, the beanbag in a corner covered by old duvet (for delivering placenta) and that was it. For the second birth, it looked for a while like the midwives may not make it in time, and I didn't want to get in the pool without them there so H arranged the beanbag/plastic sheet while I was pushing, just in case. In the end they got there just in time and I leapt into the pool and delivered 10 mins later.

isittheweekendyet · 31/10/2014 21:33

Sounds a bit much. I had a pool in the living room and a shower curtain covered with towels next to it. I had some old towels to hand if needed and some of those Pampers toilet training mats you put on kids beds close by that the mw's moved around as I did so I always had something under me!

I have a cream carpet and within 30 mins of the birth the mw's had claimed everything up and left no evidence of what had just occurred...baby aside of course It really didn't make anywhere near as much mess as I'd expected. Good luck.

isittheweekendyet · 31/10/2014 21:33

*cleaned

Churchillian · 31/10/2014 21:53

Labour is usually pretty long so you'll have plenty of time to do it at the beginning. I just bought a couple of 99p shower curtains and put one over our bed with an old sheet on the top and the same on the bedroom floor. I roamed around quite a lot in labour and spent some downstairs and in the bath, but the last and messy bit we spent in our bedroom. The midwives cleared up afterwards and you couldn't see any mess

MehsMum · 31/10/2014 21:57

I bought that builder's plastic you can get off a roll, about 4m. 2m went on the bed, and 2m was left for the floor.

I had it all ready in the cradle: top layer was the plastic, and an old sheet to go over the plastic on the bed, and some old towels as extra padding on the floor (plus I knew there would be inco pads provided). The cradle also contained an old nightie for me to wear during labour, a towel for cleaning off/wrapping the new baby, clothes and nappy for the baby, clean nightie for me, presents for the older DC 'from the baby' - and beneath all this the cradle was made up and ready, not that any new baby of mine ever spent much time in it. I'm not a neat-freak, but I am quite organised...

You might not roam at all: I didn't with any of my HBs. With the last one, I fed the DC their tea, put the kettle on for the midwife, told DH he'd have to finish making her tea or I might not make it up to our attic bedroom, got upstairs between contractions and delivered 2 hours later. I clearly recall snapping at DH that the towel to wrap the baby in was in the cradle: where the hell else was it likely to be?

Good luck!

DraaaamaghAlpacaaaagh · 31/10/2014 22:00

I had a HB with DS3. I wanted to give birth in the lounge and I had a couple of plastic sheets from a DIY store to cover the floor and the furniture, and some old towels. I had an old cot mattress on the floor which I could kneel on, and piled a beanbag & lots of cushions on the sofa so I could lean over them & stay fairly upright. There was very little mess and the midwives cleaned up everything.

AriaBanjo · 31/10/2014 22:14

I had home births with dcs 2 & 3. My births were quite quick (around 2 hrs) and each time I spent most of my time in the living room or walking upstairs to the toilet. When it was time to push we put a plastic sheet down, covered it with a blanket and gave I birth!

Following the birth, checks and bonding time, the midwives bagged up all the sheets leaving a lovely tidy room. I went upstairs for a bath and then straight to bed before the midwives left. Both were really great experiences.

AGnu · 31/10/2014 22:21

I used plastic dust sheets from B&Q with mats designed for bed-wetting toddlers. Worked well & was easy to transfer from the 'nest' I'd created & put on the bed while I was on it! We transferred in afterwards because I lost a bit too much blood but DH just scooped up the whole lot & binned it. There was a tiny bit on the sheet but it washed out fine.

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtle · 31/10/2014 22:23

Just an old duvet over the sofa. Floor is wood laminate so no carpets to worry about. Midwife stuffed the duvet in a bin bag afterwards and it was like it never happened!

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