What do I really need for home water birth?

[wtftodo]

My midwife has dropped off a birth pool (the regular birth pool in a box) but it doesn't come with anything - I know I need a liner for £30, and the hose-to-tap connectors, but what else is essential? Do I have to buy the £50 all singing and dancing fill kit, or can I just use our garden hose, buy some kind of pump for emptying the pool etc? I was a bit naive and the extra money "needed" for various bits and pieces has come as an unwelcome surprise... But equally I want this to be as straightforward and stress free as possible! So, if you had a home water birth, can you come persuade me what i need to buy and where from? Thanks

You need a new hose so it's clean.
Water pump for emptying is helpful.
Does it come with an electric pump to inflate and deflate?

You'll need a water thermometer and a sieve. I used cheap shower curtains as a waterproof carpet protector. Can't think what else I used really.

Thanks Fourormore.
No electric pump with it, and only the submersible pump for emptying is included in the kit you can buy. So that would be another £15, unless I can find our old airbed pump and see whether that works!

Didn't manage a home birth, but just to mention I had to get out of the pool a few times for examinations, so you'll need an area set up to lie down on, and a waterproof but not slippy path to and from.
YY to thermometer, the water needs to be surprisingly hot.

We bought a £6 hose from asda including tap connector. Some places recommend a "food grade" hose but we were happy with a new one - prob worth flushing out before use.
Then eBay for cheap air pump, submersible pump (look up aquarium pump), floating thermometer and sieve. And asda smart price shower curtains.

Reckon you can do that lot for about £20-25. Submersible pump not essential if your partner is prepared to siphon!!!

Plenty of towels! I think dh filled the pool with pots of hot water from the hob, as I had emptied the tank from my bath and hour-long shower earlier in the evening!! By all accounts he was back and forth from the kitchen for a log while filling it up by degrees.

Thanks. How much of a pain is it really to empty without the special pump? Do I need an electric pump to inflate the actual pool? And do I need all the other stuff in the kit, like the heat containing cover etc?
It's turned from "a free pool" or actually "£100 incl delivery for all the extra bits" which is the same as hiring one or buying an unused set on ebay! Bf not happy...

You definitely need a pump to inflate it. Saw them for a tenner in Tesco today.
I don't think I had a water pump the first time; I think my (now ex)H emptied the water onto the garden.

I've never used a heat containing water cover. I never used a liner either - just cleaned it thoroughly before I used it.

You absolutely have to have a thermometer, that's a definite.

You need a sieve and a mirror.

I didn't have a heat containing cover nor a liner. I also didn't have a thermometer thankfully the midwives did.

I didn't have a thermometer either so my sister had to run to the hardware store and buy what they had - a meat thermometer

Oh and exh emptied the water into the garden.

Lots of cheap shower curtains around the pool so once you get out they can just be binned.

Depending on your heating system don't forget to put the water on. It didn;t occur to us and our water was on a timer so we were boiling the kettle and boiling water in all our saucepans!

In terms of emptying it, just remember that without the pump, it won't be a pleasant job. It won't be clear water. It will be full of blood, gunk and poo.

I got a 2nd hand pool from eBay. Luckily it came with the pump to pump the water out. I got a heat cover but didn't need it. I got a liner, hose and thermostat from La Bassinet. My midwives were hands off, I wasn't examined once. Never got out the pool once. Both mine were water births. The best thing ever.