List of things I need for a homebirth

[Reallytired]

I am planning a homebirth for my second baby. I am make a list of things I might need. I just wondered what people think.

1. Birth in a box mini pool
2. Hire Tens machine
3. Old towel/ blankets to protect furniture
4. Nappies/ baby clothes
5. Breast pads
6. Maternity sanitary towels
7. Hypnotherpy/ Hypnobirthing CD
8. Pack a hospital bag incase
9. Tea, coffee biscuits for vistors/ midwives
10. Plenty of food in the freezer.

I am thinking of getting some hydrogel pads I had horrendous cracked nipples and they really helped with my son. However they are quite expensive.

Last time I had to express milk for my son and I am wondering which breastpump is best to get. The cost of hiring a hospital grade machine seems pity steep. Especially as there is no real reason to think I will have complications this time round.

Don't piss yourself laughing, but I was planning to borrow a space hopper that belongs to my son instead of getting a birthing ball.

Plastic sheets to put under the blankets/old towels.

I was told to make sure i had an angle poise lamp incase they need to ahem have a look!

And normal large sanitary towels are better than maternity ones in my opinion.

Looks like a good list. I will also add the angle poise lamp.

Also my midwives asked for a thermometer to check the room temp for the baby being born, and a clock, so they could keep a check on the time.

My midwife also asked for a small mirror...to put on the floor of the pool if she needed to have a look and see what was going on up there!

Oh, and a blow heater to get the room temp up for when the baby was born (but I live in a damp and cold basement flat...so if you have good heating I guess you don't need that)

Reallytired- am going to try out hydrogel pads, are they worth the money? I had awful cracked nipples last time too and am shuddering at the thought of having them again (DC2 due in 1 week...arghhh!)

A sieve, if you're going to use the pool

Otherwise, looks like you've thought of everything.
I also had some lavender oil (to put in oil burner for nice atmosphere) and some arnica (to take during labour to help with healing afterwards).

I'm loving the space hopper idea! Hope it all goes very well.

Mary Cronk has a pretty comprehensive list - I think you've covered the essentials but it might give you some more food for thought.

Good luck

I was given hydrogel pads when I had terrible cracked nipples in hospital. They were fanastic. Although I didn't have to pay for them.

midwife asked my dh for a bowl of warm water to clean me up a bit with and he pulled out an old paint spattered one from under the sink, not very glamorous or hygenic, no one told me until after.

My midwife suggested toddler nappies as a better alternative to sanitary towels for d; painkillers for the after pains (I was not expecting these, I believe that they tend to occur more with subsequent babies) how about favourite music and celebration food? Oh and lots of straws, you need to keep hydrated. My midwife was annoying me throuhgout my labour by forcing me to drink by offering me drink plus straw, it is so easy to become dehydrated and if you can get someone to get you to take in fluids regularly all to the good.

Ooooh, good point Kafka- the afterpains I had during my first breastfeeds with DS were completely horrendous- almost as bad as the contractions. Totally took me by surprise.

I too am planning a home birth for DD2 and have just had my midwife over for a home check. From what she said they are only going to bring the bare essentials and it is down to me to provide all the mess catching accessories! (They don't even offer Pethidine! I've got two bottles of Entonox and then I am on my own )

Anyhoo ? MW suggested buying loads of those Pampers disoposable changing mats and decorating sheets to protect floors and matresses however I thought that to be a very expensive way of doing things.

I know it sounds grim but look up the 'toiletting' section in the 'independant living' part of The British Red Cross online shop, its got everything you need for floor and bed protection. I have invested in some polypropylene mattress protecting sheets for the floor and my bed and a load of disposable incontinence mattress pads which are miles bigger than the changing mats and you get 25 in a box for less than a tenner ? much better value and I suspect more suited to the job than Pampers mats and Homebase placcy sheets!

...Oh she also said, when I mentioned hiring a birth pool, that the on-call MW's may not be qualified to deliver in water in which case I could only labour in the water and would have to get out for the actual delivery. So I am probably not going to bother with the pool as I managed to get to 6cms on my own with DD1 and was quite happy hopping in and out of the shower for the warm water relief.

Mine asked for a clear bit of table to lay out their emergency/resus kit and sterile equipment they needed.

I had a home birth with DD1, i'm 25wks pg and plan to have a home birth again with DC3....

With DD i wasn't set up until 3 days before i delivered and was told just to buy a few protective sheets (bought waterproof decorators sheets from B&Q) and have a few towels handy.... All that was used in the end was one of the sheets and 2 towels!!

This time i'll be getting everything well in advance but again i doubt i'd be needing too much in the way of things!!

I have got:

A seive
Some Milton
A bucket with a lid
A packet of paracetemol
A polypropelene fitted sheet for the bed or floor
A roll of greenhouse insulation bubble wrap
Random swimming towels
A hospital bag all packed just in case
A crib all made up ready

MW is bringing a birthing pool with submersible pump, and a TENS machine.

Boffin- your list (without pool as i have no room for one) looks like a good one for me to follow... will be starting to get all the bits from about 35wks, and MW said she'll set me up at 36 wks and check we have everything, then i still have another week until i can deliver at home to get anything else needed.

I forgot something - you probably want a hot water bottle as well, because you will most likely get after pains as the uterus contracts, particularly when feeding, and the hot water bottle is very therapeutic for this. I have also got three cartons of juice with straws from Tesco, because you get very thirsty.

There is always room for a pool, btw!

In our postage stamp sized London flat at the time of DS1's arrival we kept it inflated on the dining table and then dumped it on the floor by the side for meals. On the day we just sort of wedged it between the table and the sofa. Our mean little hot water tank only filled about 20% of it so DH had to boil kettles and heat up water in saucepans to fill the rest of it, but we managed it in the end - DS1 was born after four hours in the pool.

I'd love a water birth, but DH is also worried about how heavy it'd be on our old floorboards... they need replacing very soon, but we can't afford it before the baby comes... It'd only really fit in the living room, and thats saying we moved one of our 2 sofa's either out of the room, or into a very odd space.... or in the dining room which is a much colder room than the living room as its not used for most of the day.... i will look into pool size and weights though...

I got some 99p smart price shower curtains from ASDA, they covered a really large area and were excellent at protecting the carpet.
I had a birthing pool but ended up giving birth on the floor at the side of my bed - you never know you might change your mind about the pool

What is the bubble wrap for?

When full, it's the same distributed weight as 9 people all standing in the same spot. So if your building meets normal building regs there is not likely to be a problem.

I would be inclined to get a fan heater for the dining room and maybe set it up in there, from what you say.

I would give it all some serious thought, because it really is a great form of pain relief and also contains the mess!!!

The bubble wrap stuff isn't slippy if you walk on it, and protects your floor and soft furnishings. Shower curtain for 99p sounds good as well though.

also on the same note DH wouldn't be able to clean it out so it'd have to be down to the MW's or myself to clean it (he has a fear of blood and stuff like that and will pass out at the very mention of anything gory etc...

I've managed both labours without any pain relief so far, i'm just more interested in the 'relaxing' feeling i expect a pool would give me... if that makes sence... The house will definatley take the weight of 9 people in the same spot... maybe i could get DH to dismantle the dining table so i can labour in there.... got me thinking now though!!

A couple of buckets. One for any floating unmentionables (!) or to be sick in and one for the placenta. I sat on a bucket and that helped the placenta come away. Get builders buckets as they are cheaper.

A thermometer for the pool.

Pack everything for you and the baby into a post-natal bag (note I haven't called it a hospital bag!). That way if you do need to transfer it's all ready. But as you WILL be having your baby at home you will still have everything in one place

Good luck

If you have a submersible pump, that will deal with most of it in 20 minutes, and apparently you then clean the rest of the stuff (ahem - the 'solids') out with the seive. I am told it is indeed somewhat messy, but my DH is a boy scout type, so I never bother with any of this personally.

If you don't give birth in it then you will just get the detritus all over the inco mats the mw brings, which may be a worse shock for your DH - there is generally speaking blood, poo and a small amount of unidentified blobby fleshy stuff, as a rule. The good thing about the pool is that it keeps all the mess discreetly in one place.

As I understand it, squeamish blokes are usually advised to remain up the head end!!

I think you can buy a Pool in a Box and return it unused within a certain time frame if you change your mind for a refund.

Some items for the baby - vest, nappy, blanket, cotton hat. All in one bag so when nobody wants to leave the baby to go and find the poor little mite something to wear, it's all together and handy.