What would you have in the house for a home birth

[lickencivers]

4th baby so not like I'm new to this fgs but at 38+2 yesterday I finally packed a hospital bag and washed the baby clothes etc

DP and I then laid in bed last night and discussed what we needed to have in house for the home birth - other than some towels and some inco pads what else? Biscuits for the midwives? And? Do I just have the hospital / baby bag some where accessible? Youngest is 7 and I've forgotten all this.

All previous 3 were SVD in hospital. Last labour was 20 minutes

Space. I’d assumed upstairs but midwifes wanted downstairs. Cleared space to front door in case plans changed and needed stretcher exit. At one point there were 4 of us; we had me and Dh hugging me, walking around and two midwives and all their kit. Early on one midwife who did some paperwork sitting in a chair using a table edge.

I went over to b&q to buy some bubble wrap stuff but tbh it was annoying. It kept bursting. Just plastic sheeting with some old towels would have been better.
I didn't buy anything new really , apart from some black towels. ( thinking about the hassle of washing the stains out later) the pics of ds straight after del still look funny as all other dc were del onto white hospital towels!
I did really struggle with being so wired afterwards. It was a late night birth. Midwives went home, dh fell straight to sleep but I was totally buzzing.

Ah, I always assumed it was going to happen downstairs. I don't like laying down to labour. Isn't it funny our different expectations

I didnt buy anything, wrapped ds2 up in an old towel (he was a BBA).
Midwife cleared away the after birth.

Probably not a sensible assumption about upstairs! I remember dh getting a shower curtain and putting it over the carpet...
Will you have 3 dc at home? Do you have a child distraction plan? A movie? Books? Dunno..

Hilariously Mw has told me need to plan to deliver downstairs due to extrication if unwell. Im a paramedic and every birth I've attended has been upstairs and we don't see it as a problem as so used to getting people out of houses!!

You could be me! No 4 at home, previous 3 v quick.

I had vests/babygro ready to go on radiator (was December)
A cheap shower curtain and old towels in a bag down by the sofa and that was it!

I had one contraction then pushed about 6 times and he was born! I had woken to my waters popping, felt really odd and shaky so DH called the midwife due to previous v quick births, they were good and called on call to come straight away but they still didn’t arrive until 40 mins after DS was born.

I really didn’t think I would need anything else as had always laboured so quickly, the shower curtain and old towels were just wrapped up and disposed off and it looked like nothing had happened!

Like a PP I was wired for hours after, but I think you are wherever you give birth. Just spent time cuddling on the sofa with just the Christmas tree lights on, it was lovely 😊

Good luck!

Bread, they get concerned if you don't eat toast after.

And the hospital bag basically still gets used because it's easier to have the nappies and first clothes (for both of you) next to you.

If your labours are that quick you might want a bowl or tub for the placenta, just in case the midwives aren't quick enough (they'll bring one though).

I bought plastic sheets and a cheap fitted sheet for my bed that could be binned afterwards. Inco pads and navy towels that was it.

It's your home and your birth and you can do it in whichever room you choose. So if you want to birth in your bedroom then you tell the midwives that is where you are labouring and birthing.

I chose to give birth in my living room. I had a shower curtain on the floor over a couple of blankets. Cushions under my knees. It's really not very messy at all, and midwives had some absorbent pads in the home birth kit which caught what little mess there was. (and they cleaned it up too)

Things which were invaluable: straws so that husband could give me sips of water easily. Ready made snacks for post birth - I was ravenous! but wanted fresh fruit and crudites!

My DS was born at 37+1 and I thought I was unprepared but in reality you need very little for a successful homebirth. I had intended to put up fairy lights and make a playlist of music, but hadn't got round to it and didn't miss either of these things.

I birthed in the dining room twice - I had a blow up pool so had that and space to put it in, moppable floor so no covers or anything really needed. A playlist on your phone and a speaker. Lamps so you can have lights low.
Definitely bread - I had the biggest pile of toast in bed afterwards 😄

The paramedics brought those mats people use as puppy training /bed mat things.
They made me a path from the bathroom floor to my bed (and then cleaned the bathroom until the midwife appeared).
The whole thing was done with a couple of towels (unplanned homebirth, bba).
I'd put the hospital numbers in every phone. You dont want to be searching through notes for the phone number for delivery......

Plastic sheeting to make clean up easier (I assume. It was really messy, and I didn't get involved in the clean-up and have never asked.)

We also had a pool. MW said pools are good because they give fathers something to fuss over.

What should you have available for a delivery?
Well personally, as I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t predict what may go wrong, I’d want a fully equipped operating theatre, an obstetrician, anaesthetist, scrub nurse, paediatric crash team and six units of o negative blood. Which is available as standard in your hospital labour suite. Home - not so much.

Babdoc you seen the bit about the 20 min labour from birth number 3? I'd say a planned, hopefully attended, homebirth is probably better than by the side of the road attempting to get to a hospital.

New hosepipe (if waterbirth) - DH had to rush to B & Q when contractions started.
Plastic sheeting. Decorators ones are good. Nibbles for the midwives.
Old sieve.
Bucket for afterbirth.
Wine for after the birth.
Takeaway menu for same.

@Babdoc wow what a nasty, patronising post.
I'm also choose homebirth because otherwise is be in the midwife led unit in another town a 40 min drive away. If anything went wrong therenid be blue lighted to the hospital in the city which would be 20 mins. My home is in a village about 15 mins from the hospital. So it makes sense to me to start at home.
When people say home birth it's not like they can't ever go to hospital if required. My midwife told me there are many things they can do or try before needing to call extra help or ambulances.
Get off your smug high horse and understand there are different reasons people want to try homebirth.

Ok I was told basically plastic sheeting. Everything else will come with the midwife. And also a bag for you and baby that's ready to go to hospital.
I've just bought a TENS machine too so will get that on me from early on

I'm sure about pool, I imagine it's a faff to fill and drain.

I've had 2 home births, using birth pools so planned them to be in the dining room. Got a cheap shower curtain and used an old duvet over the top to deliver placenta etc. Delivered in the pool both times so nice and easy to clean up! Didn't really need anything, midwives brought inco pads. DH was on tea and toast duty all round, other children slept through the whole thing.

I got a wipeable tablecloth from Tesco (£2:50 I think) it was perfect. Put it down upside down which had a softer side to avoid the plastic sticking to me, but the waterproof top (now bottom) meant the floor was protected. Much nicer than a shower curtain.

MW brought loads of the absorbent bed pads and we had towels at the ready (some on sofa and some in tumble dryer ready for a quick warm)

We had biscuits and drinks available as we would for any guests.

Really not as complicated as I thought it would be and hubby went from dreading it to recommending home birth to anyone that would listen.

Good luck.

Our midwife recommended downstairs for the birth so the bedroom stayed nice and un-messy so we could go there once the birth was over.

We had food and tea/coffee for midwives, hospital bags ready to go.

Perhaps also have the car seat ready - I had to go into hospital by ambulance after the birth and DH had to get the car seat out of the car to put DD in so they could both come in ambulance with me. For the same reason I’d recommend having outfit and nappy easily available for baby (and easy clothes for you) just in case there is a speedy transfer to hospital for you. In my case it was due to heavy bleeding after the birth, all was fine, but would have been less stressful if we’d been more ready for a transfer after the birth.

Look at whether you want to hire a tens machine- if you do, get spare batteries!

The only thing I bought for my planned home birth was some plastic sheeting from a DIY shop. Everything else we either had in the house or the midwives brought with them.

We had an old shower curtain and some old towels over the floor which was lucky as he came out with a massive splash. I was downstairs as our bedroom was up two flights of stairs in converted loft and if I was going to be removed in an emergency situation I didn't want to make it any more complicated than necessary. Plus the older kids were asleep on the first floor. You definitely need floor space as both midwives (coincided with shift changeover) spread all their kit out on the floor so they could get to anything they needed quickly.