preparing for home birth

[Marzipan23]

hello,
I'm 11 weeks pregnant with 1st baby and planning a home birth (unless anything comes up medically to suggest I shouldn't)
I was wondering, how do you prepare your home for a home birth? obviously it can (will?!) be quite messy.
Are there any "must haves" for a home birth or anything you found comforting?

I hired a birth pool, it was fantastic! No mess at all! (I mean, there was in the pool but the lovely midwives dealt with that)

I absolutely loved my home births, both of my babies born at home. They were both back to back labours and I convinced they went smoothly because of being at home and being able to stay relaxed and mobile.

Also recommend doing hypnobirthing, it made a massive difference

I had a pool but couldn't fill it up in time. I ended up giving birth on my brand new cream sofa, not a mark on it afterwards. Bought a couple of cheap shower curtains, were about £1 I think. Midwives were absolutely brilliant. Tidied everything afterwards and looked after my previous sofa 🤣

The mess is generally contained in one area, really don’t worry about that at all. The things that make your home feel cosy and safe, hygge, whatever that is for you personally. All of your senses - are there smells that make you feel peaceful? Photos that you could have out that give you strength or shine out love? Ice in freezer in last month to add to water to sip, some good bread for the best-tasting-toast-ever afterwards, sparkling windows if they make you happy whatever, playlists etc.
Oh, a rocking chair!! For a couple of mine I just rocked right through till I gave birth it really helped the back ache.
Also - I like knowing I have a wooden spoon in just in case I want to bite/bear down on it at end. I swear the thing I actually like about the gas and air is being able to bite the mouthpiece at the end.

I bought a home birth pool which we filled up as soon as labour started. Felt really lovely and comforting to be in that space.

Lots of nice nibbles to keep you all going.

Music or tv you like. We had Michael McIntyre stand up in the early hours. Laughter is pain relief!

Plastic sheets / shower curtains and towels in case you decide to deliver in bed or on the sofa.

Would suggest you plan for hospital to tell you they have no community midwives available. Despite encouraging home births, they never have enough staff to facilitate them. I deliberately had a good friend at home with DP and I so she could advocate on my behalf. She told the hospital we absolutely weren't coming in! Sure enough a midwife turned up an hour later.

That said, you'll need a bag packed just in case.

I'm having my first home birth (3rd baby) and I would like to see what people say! 18 weeks tomorrow

I had 2 home births, they were amazing.
I would recommend hypothbirthing, you can do basic courses online,
Making a good music play list and solid headphones to listen to It
A births pool - you should be able to hure from your midwife
A.crop top to wear (if you want to)

Get some shower curtains or plastic backed dust sheets. Old duvet covers to go over the top of them and plenty of old towels. It's not actually that messy in some ways and the midwives do an amazing job of just clearing up afterwards.

The mess can be the blood and fluid, poo and wee which yes is usually fairly localised but also the vomit. Some people vomit a lot. Nt all but some. Personally that was the only non nauseated part of the pregnancies. Just worth bearing in mind it may not be contained.

How far are you from hospital? For me that's the big issue. I strongly considered home birth with dd2 but I didn't really feel safe enough and in hindsight I think that was a sixth sense. Meconium in fluid and cord round her neck and a tiny bit of paediatrician care needed. She was fine but we would have ended up transferring in. So think about that. It really isn't all snuggles and toast. It can be. But it can also be being loaded in to an ambulance with tits flying one way and your uterus beggaring off in the opposite direction whilst your friends are passing on their way to brunch in a lovely cafe.

And the midwife availability thing. They don't say there's nobody for a laugh or to make your life hard. There are midwife shortages across the country. It's a real problem and in that situation refusing to go in isn't the safest thing for you, your baby or anybody else giving birth that night.

And I'd think long and hard about what you stand pain wise. Options are limited at home, having done it 3 times I reckon it's the duration not intensity that's the problem. You can stand anything but standing anything for a long time, unable to sleep is much harder.

Last thing - who's going to be there? Because you want them 100% behind you. If your partner or mum or whoever isn't sure about being at home it will be much harder. You don't need them looking worried, you need them looking calmly excited. You can't bully them in to loving the idea so if they have doubts I'd take it seriously.

Good luck!

Forgot the last thing!

Fluffy socks, cheap and multiple pairs. You don't want cold feet.

Not that messy, hired a pool, got a tens machine (that I didn't end up needing) and did a hypnobirthing course!

Had both mine at home and it was brilliant.

I had my third baby at home. We hired a birthing pool and most of the mess was in there. After she was born I got out to deliver the placenta but a couple of cheap shower curtains and a load of old towels were put down and just bagged into a bin bag afterwards. Within 20 minutes of her being born you’d never have known there was any mess at all.

We are only 10 minutes from hospital which is worth thinking about. She was my third and I’d had two easy, quick, straightforward labours before her. She got stuck and it was almost an ambulance transfer but luckily the midwives made me change position a few times and it freed the little monkey. Then she came flying out. I’d have another home birth in a heart beat but three is enough!!

Good luck!

2 home births here.

I had old duvets on floor covered with plastic dust sheet then towels and sheets on top. Midwives brought pads and took everything disposable with them at the end

I recommend at least 3 towels for baby as you'll want to swap them after initial wrap because of birth crud.

Make sure you sort out your lighting. You want ambience but the midwife needs to see!! Especially if they're doing any stitches so just make sure there's a decent light to use if they need to properly see your vulva!!

Birth pools are best for containing mess. I wanted one but my hot water system couldn't cope with the amount needed!!

Cheap shower curtains.
Lots of old towels
Wooden comb to squeeze
Tens machine
Bucket
Torch
Snacks and drinks for everyone

Ooh and a big pack of puppy pads

Ooh, puppy pads are a good idea, had my middle one at home and ruined new cream carpet 😫 (automatically squat)......in fairness final stage came very quickly, two pushes, with midwife shouting hang on I'm not ready........baby wasn't listening😂

I got a list from the midwife team, they asked us to provide the stuff below
Birth pool if you want one (plus inflation pump, water draining pump, long hose, pool liner)
A sieve for fishing bits out!
A mirror to allow them to see you in the water
(Above obvs only relevant if you have a pool)
Lots of towels, at least one for you, one for baby and one for the midwife
Puppy pads
A washing up bowl to catch the placenta in (!)

We got some new cheap fleece blankets and decorators plastic too, put down the plastic and then put the fleece blanket over the top to make it waterproof but soft but I know others use a shower curtain.
Honestly though there was virtually no mess and by the time the midwives left you wouldn't know anything had happened.
We didn't manage to fill the pool unfortunately and still had a lovely birth on dry land in case you think the pool is too much faff

Ooh and less practical things...

Some pastries for afterwards. We got some frozen pain au chocolates and they got bunged in the oven. Lovely.
Lots of snacks, and a drinking bottle with a straw.
Fairy lights

Definitely have a hospital bag ready - sounds silly but I didn’t and planned a home birth with my second. We put up the pool etc, called the home midwives and they were busy! Had to go to hospital in a bit of a hurry (fast second labour) and had only half heartedly packed a hospital bag - couldn’t remember what was in it!
Most random thing I bought was a head torch in case the midwife needed to do stitches!

wow this is great thank you! Its so nice to hear so many positive stories too!

I had thought about puppy pads but shower curtains is such a good idea. My Husband is on board for a home birth, we only live ten mins from the hospital so if for any reason we do need to go in its not too much of a drive. I was planning on packing a bag for the hospital too just incase I cant handle the pain or if anything goes wrong.

A large proportion of first time mums do go to hospital with a home birth but this is for various reasons. We ended up in hospital due to some stitches which they wanted the consultant to have a look at, it was an unplanned home birth with community midwives who didn't usually do stitches. So of the high proportion there are many non emergency reasons like that. A hospital bag is a great idea to have ready.

But you've got this! My second planned homebirth was wonderful, we were tucked up in bed a couple of hours after the birth. It's the best feeling

I ended up going in after a PPH but I am still a massive advocate for homebirths. I felt so much more empowered compared to my first birth, I felt more in control and as it was my own home, I felt I could go and do whatever I wanted and the midwife just kind of watched me and kept an eye on everything.

I hope you have an amazing experience.

I had home birth (FTM) hardly any mess, just lots of messy towels - mainly cause little one pooed as soon as he was out and then didnt seem to stop!!
So being able to drop towels round to mum to clean and dry was very helpful !!! (im not one to throw things away) - all the stains came out.
I bought puppy pads but in the end towels and some plastic sheets tapped to floor ( used for painting ) where most useful. (also no poo in pool either which was a bit of a worry before hand)
I wasnt going to get a birth pool - but i was soo pleased i did !! I couldn't imagine giving birth on dry land now - the water felt so supportive.

Also had a new sofa - and no stains at all on sofa!!
Also remember you can always go into hospital when labour starts if you feel you want to. I really liked that a midwife came out to assess me as i had been having contractions for 10 hrs and nothing seemed to have happened. It would have stressed me out having to go into hospital and then home again at that point.

good luck with the rest of your pregnancy

thanks for this, its so nice to hear first time mums that have actually managed the home birth, makes me feel like I can do it!