If you had a homebirth, what were your essential items?

[Mij]

I'm hoping for a home birth with DC 2 (had an intervention-free birth with DD, only got to hospital at stage 2 so did most of it at home anyway) and just wondering what things you were either very glad you had/did, or wished you hadn't bothered with (or bothered worrying about in advance) when you birthed at home? Apart from having the right people around, of course .

I'm also wanting to hire a pool (NHS one is booked but we have an immersion tank and I'm told most people don't get theirs filled up in time having to wait for the thing to reheat!) so any recommendations there also gratefully received.

Thanks

Ooo - access and some parking to make mw lot a happeier one. If you're in a place whee you park on the street and often up the road - stick a few cones out!
Well lit entrance/passage for night time mw arrivals is nice too.

Not essential and not for you though - more a mw ideal world

Would second the plastic sheeting or tarpaulin from B&Q (v cheap) - if you put that into an old double duvet cover you don't mind throwing away after, you have a movable, waterproof, soft-covered, non-slip surface for bed or floor or anywhere else...

Hope all goes well

My top tip is to put fresh linen on your bed, a plastic sheet over the top of this, then towels/sheets you can bin. Then, having birthed, MW will whip off plastic sheet and top layer, bag up and dispose of while you have a shower, then you can slip into lovely fresh bed with beautiful baby to gaze at while your partner brings tea and toast.

Can you do that to my bed now? The bottom sheet is all bunched up and the pillows have gone down the back of the headboard, and I can't be bothered to make it. I'm on matress here have a heart!

i have immersion tank, depend on fire to heat water or immersion switch. we had fire on and switch and a hose from electric shower and filled pool in a box in about an hour and half. Was perfect, waters broke 2am, pool up and filled by 4, getting sore around 4.30 big fat 9lb 9 girl born 5.42am, currently attached to booby as i type....lovely. good luck

great suggestions on here - I had HB with ds2 and was supprised how little I needed

We used duvet on lounge floor with decorators sheet from Focus over top (really thin plastic one that cover sofa and duvet) then old double duvet cover (red ) over top - all old towels collected from family before hand, and a lovely fluffy new towel for baby (warmed on radiaitor)

Other essentials for me were - bucket - I get v sick during transition
MW asked for angle poise lamp or torch in case she needed to do stitches (didn't need any tho - phew)

dh moved cars when I was sure I was in labour as parking by us is rubbish and made sure we had space for MW

Packed hosp bag, baby baby and ds1's over night bag

Also (and only because my brother is a paramedic and not because I'm a pesimist!) its really useful to have written directions to your house for the ambulance that dh or MW can just read out over the phone if you live somewhere complicated to get too (down farm track for example) and make sure you have a clearly displayed house number - makes MW's finding you much easier espec if you have quick labours (in fact you should all have this my bro recons vauable time is lost with him running up and down roads looking for the right house number - espec where children/babies are conerned)

and as everyone said loads of yummy food, bisuits and tea for MW's (and take out pizza meal for them too) DVD's for early labour, birthing ball and Tens m/c

Not much mess at all - second having an empty washing machine - MW's cleared up and gone within an hour of ds2 arriving - but it was 4pm on a Sunday

also put out clothes you want to change into after birth in bathroom (with old towels you are using and maternity pads easily to hand) I ended up getting in shower then shouting to dh to get me everything I needed whilst he was trying to dress ds (got him a bit stressed )

ooohhh getting all excited about dc3 arriving now!
good luk with everything x

The practical things everyone else has covered, but what I would say is make sure you have enough of your chosen floor coverings to cover a wider area than you first think - we covered about a third of the room and still managed to wreck the carpets! Make sure you overlap the coverings well if you're using a number of smaller ones - this is where we went wrong

Would also second the take away menus - baby born at 6:03pm after fast 2hr 'proper' labour, chinese on the table by 8pm Was the best thing I've ever tasted!

Also, not essential for the birth itself (unless you're really weird ) but having access to a scanner/photocopier so that you can copy your notes before they take them back when they sign you off is one of the little added bonuses of a home birth - we've got copies of all my notes, and it keeps a dp occupied for a while too!

I had my birthpool set up in our large study, DH got huge plastic tarpaulin to cover entire room and then we put old duvet covers over the top of it to make it cosy. Would suggest you be sure to have an anglepoise lamp - so midwives can get a good look at the important bits whatever postion you are in. Also lots of stuff for a hearty breakfast - both my sons born in the very early morning and there is nothing in the whole world nicer than having it all over, being in your own bed, tucking into a huge cooked breakfast with sleepy new baby. Hope it all goes splendidly for you.

It all sounds so lovely!

Had hospital births with mine which I anjoyed very much - but no fry up.

I put a request on Freecycle asking for old towels and sheets and got heaps of replies. Just put them on a hot wash when I got them although to be honest they were all perfectly laundered by the lady that gave them to us.

We bought a couple of plastic sheets from B&Q and then put sheets over them so they weren't slippy. Agree with everyone else that there really wasn't much mess anyway.

Good luck!

We had a Bassine pool, the tarpaulin that came with it was big enough to contain any mess. My one essential item was a doula who was able to dash over and be with me for the first couple of hours before I wanted to call DH home (labour moved very quickly but he had a full surgery to get through first). DD arrived bang on 39 weeks so we weren't really very well prepared - first baby so of course she was meant to be late and everything went fine. Midwifes brought most of the stuff, all I was advised to get in advance was towels and anything I thought necessary for the pool. The rest was brought on the day.

Second bellebelle's suggestion of freecycle, we got all our dodgy old towels from there and they covered the sofa while I curled up on it post birth with dd.

Some easy to eat food for energy - I didn't manage any breakfast and once I was into second stage, all that DH could find to feed me was little mouthfuls of chocolate panettone [middle class] and they made my mouth go all dry. Frozen grapes meant to be good as they give you fluid as well.

A birthing ball - I found it really useful to sit on when I was pregnant as well.
Hopefully you won't need it - but I was really glad I had packed a bag as I had to transfer to the hospital.
My midwives brought their own biscuits!

the boxed set of Gavin and Stacey kept me entertained in between cx.

Nice mood lighting things helped more than I thought they would (we have a mathmos LED colour changing lamp that cycled through pretty lavenders and blues and greens and I didn't expect to appreciate it but I did).

If you go for la bassine it has an inflatable tube base so your knees are OK, but otherwise something soft for kneeling on.

we stocked up on really cheap and cheerful plastic mattress covers from the pound shops to make a waterproof nest to protect the sofa and afterwards the bed.

I bought some of those disposable bedsheets for kids which were supplemented by MWs inco sheets.

bottles of water (or sports drinking bottles)

ice cubes.

a cheap disposable sieve for the pool if you use one, to catch any unmentionables ;-)

lost of really nice finger snacks to keep everyone going. I got through a lot of cocktail sausages, mini scotch eggs and pizza fingers!

A cheap and cheerful dressing gown and slippers (I got ikea ones) that yu don't mind getting covered in gunk.

hth

Towels! Lots and lots and lots of towels. I had a Made in Water pool which was wonderful, but I was in and out of it quite a lot and we were about to resort to the dogs' towels by the time R. actually arrived! The midwifes had told us to buy lots of cheap shower curtains, but they were far too slippery - I love the idea of putting them in an old duvet cover though!

If you're going to have a pool at home, have a practice run at filling it beforehand. We had a farce of a morning when I went into labour the day after the pool arrived, at which point my other half discovered that neither of the hose conenctors fitted any of our taps and our best mate was sent out to trawl the hardware shops looking for one. He found one, which my other half promptly broke, but they managed to cobble something together with miles of hose coming from upstairs. Then we discovered that our tank was nowhere near big enough to hold a pool's worth of hot water, so my OH spent virtually the entire day boiling pans and pans of water on the hob and passing them to the midwives through the hatch in our kitchen wall. It kept him busy and out of the way, but it wasn't exactly the way we'd planned it!

Another vote for TENS and birthing ball here, although the TENS was more of a distraction than anything else once things really got going.

Easy food - our house was littered with cereal bar wrappers and banana skins the next day!

Good luck

Hello all, just found this thread. I'm expecting my 1st dc in August and am planning a home birth, so this has been very useful, thankyou.

For anyone interested there is a homebirth thread (although it's been a bit quiet of late) link to it here.

Responding to posts from a couple of days ago, my DH was horrified at the idea of a homebirth; he thinks that hospitals are good places to be and that at home isn't safe. However, I've completely ignored his views as it's me that's giving birth and I want to be at home where I feel safe and comfortable. Fortunately we've got a fab independent midwife who has blinded him with science about the benefits of homebirths Just gotta work out what to do with him when the time comes as I can quite see him vomiting/passing out!

If you go for a birthing pool I'd recommend putting a large floor cushion or two under the liner, it gives you something to sit on/lean against and takes up some of the volume. We had a tired old boiler first time around and used our electric shower to fill the pool when we ran out of hot water.

I was surprised by the midwife asking for a small mirror so that she could peer at my bits (I don't have a make up mirror, I'm low maintenance me ). The only thing we had with a small mirror on it was a sighting compass! The second time the midwife was too busy drinking tea to take any notice of me, she only came over when I said 'here's the baby'!

Oh yes, ice cubes, great if you feel both sick and thirsty.

Hi Mij - I had DS in November and planned a HB but due to complications got transferred in. However I did 90% of my labouring at home (DS was born 1 hour after arriving at hospital) and would highly recommend it. The things we needed and used (for labouring only) were (sorry if its repeating stuff, I didn't have a chance to read all the posts):

• food: chocolate, biscuits etc - sweet things to keep your energy up.
• films/tv programmes recorded/ board games - helped pass the time til the pain kicked in.
• birthing ball - bounce bounce bounce! And good for leaning over too.
• we had a la bassine pool which was lovely but I didn't use it until too late by which point I was in too much pain and getting too hot or cold to enjoy it.
• sick bowl/bucket to hand
• I saw you liked kneeling on the floor - we put duvets on the floor and then topped them with plastic sheeting (you can buy it in rolls from wickes) and then on top of that put old sheets. This meant it was a comfy place to kneel/lie and lean over the sofa.
• packed hospital bag - in case you need to get transferred in
• someone to run around and get stuff!

This is what I can remember - good luck!!!

ooh, one thing I forgot - if things arent progressing quite as quickly as you want and you feel the need to move it along, try sitting on the toilet for a few contractions. It will make you as it is "intense"* to say the least (I only managed 5 of these before having to get off) BUT it certainly got things moving, so I would put myself through it again in the same situation.

this is a euphemism for fcking agony

dust sheetswww.trade1st.co.uk/productdetail/Dust-Sheet-Cotton-Twill/271.aspx

birth-pool in a box with all the kit/pumps etc and the heat retaining cover

mirror (for midwives to see what's going on down below)

anglepoise lamp (for stitching)

lots of disposable changing mats (incontinence pads)

lots of towels (they do wash up i.e. don't need throwing away if you do them at 90 degrees - mine were all white)

check how much gas and air the midwives will be bringing

tea and biscuits to keep the midwives happy!

oh and a bottle of champagne in the fridge - good luck

I rented the octagonal pool which has a heater and it was great in the couple of weeks before the birth to have a nice relaxing soak in the evenings. Plus there was no panic about getting it ready/filled/right temperature when I was in labour as it has its own heater. But you do need a reasonable amount of space for it!

Other things for me were lots of towels (charity shops/freecycle) and mattress protectors on the sofa for when I was being checked over afterwards.

Good luck - enjoy your homebirth!

SausageRoleModel,
I sat on the toilet when in labour with my daughter and the poor thing narrowly missed having an unplanned waterbirth.

I thought I was having a poo, but it was the baby's head!

Hand wash & kitchen roll for the midwives for handwashing & drying. My midwife stayed with me for almost 12hours and was offered drinks, breakfast, snacks and a meal during the day.

lol @ reallytired. cant say the procedure didnt work i guess!

We planned a homebirth with DD but ended up after 3 days and nights of stop-start contractions and not much sleep going to hospital at 2 in the morning. I hadn't even packed a hospital bag as I assumed baby would just arrive at home, as planned . So my top tip would be, make sure you have your hospital bags packed just in case, so you don't go wandering round the house at 2am, trailing a TENS machine behind you, stuffing random things into bags that you think might come in handy.