Decided on home birth, what do I need??

[mama2moo]

Do you need to get anything specific?

Anything that you found really useful?

As you can probably tell Im still a bit unsure but want to give it a go as I dont see the point of going to hospital - DD was a straight forward labour.

Also, if you have a tear (2nd degree with dd) do they stitch you at home or do you need to transfer?

Midwife provides a home delivery pack some weeks before the birth with everything necessary for a straightforward delivery. I can't remember whether there were rubber sheets in there for the bed or whether I provided those but certainly useful for cleaning up afterwards. Old sheets that don't matter too as beyond washing!

I tore with all of mine but never so bad as the first - with home birth the midwife put me back together no problem. If a surgeon is required to put you back together then a transfer to hospital will be required but these midwives are excellent at embroidery!

I had an oil burner in the room (lavender and tea tree) during labour for relaxation and antiseptic purposes.

old or v cheap shower curtains useful, and old sheets-I used these for sofa and floor. Also an old duvet to make kneeling more comfortable. All got binned. The mats they brought weren't really enough.

Midwife brings a pack round, but I made sure I had plenty of old towels and a big plastic sheet, I would recommend packing a hospital bag just in case, my homebirth didn't quite go to plan unfortunately and I ended up in hospital anyway and didn't have anything ready to take.

Tens machine if you want good early pain relief, nice food and drink, plastic sheeting, water pool if you want one. I had an episiotomy and the midwife did a brilliant stitching job while I lay on the sofa and cuddled dd. Had her on sitting room floor in the end so didn't need to protect the bed.

You might like to make a cd for labour, or burn oil. Also, I packed my bags in case I needed a transfer, with all the usual bits and pieces for me and baby, including some cereal/fruit bars and nice drinks. This was quite useful as it meant that anything I needed was all in one place, as well as having the reassurance and taking pressure off DH to find things for me if I needed to go to hospital.

Good luck, by the way. It was a really nice experience for us.

I had my 2 in bed - i put a nice sheet on bed covered it with a shower curtain and then another sheet on top - after Id had them whipped the shower curtain and top sheet off and threw in bin and jumped into nice made up bed.

Oh yes, the hospital bag was really handy - I didn't transfer, but it was very useful for DH to have everything in one place. As a first-time Dad if I'd tried to brief him on baby clothes beforehand I don't think it would have gone in!

Yes to waterproof mats (we bought plastic dust sheets from B&Q) and old sheets or towels.

I recently saw quite a useful thread which recommended having a bucket to hand - in case you're sick or need to make an emergency loo visit but can't get there - but also for the third stage. Sitting up can really help the placenta out - I'm sure mine was so tardy because I was reclining. My friend had trouble with hers too, until she sat on a bucket.

I would also recommend a waterbirth - we had an inflatable pool, and I loved it. Janet Balaskas's book on waterbirth is absolutely brilliant. I got it from the library.

Good luck - I loved my homebirth!

yes good luck, just wanted to add all my friends who have had homebirths had a very positive experience, it was only me that had to have a drama

Thanks all. Funnily enough I have a pack of plastic dust sheets that I have nearly thrown out a few times - I will hang onto them now!

Will pack my bag because I will ditch the home birth idea if its late at night - Was very loud when delivering dd!

Thats good that they stitch you at home aswell.

I love the idea of putting our massive sofa cushions on the floor in the bedroom and squating/kneeling to deliver - The cushions are for the old sofa and will be chucked afterwards.

Do they need something big and flat incase they need to resus the baby? Am thinking our footstool with something on??

Get plastic decorating sheets from Homebase or wherever, cheaper and bigger than shower curtains. Tuck one around the mattress as well as having one on top of the sheets. A big basin to throw up in is good - those cardboard ones the midwives bring along are a bit small. Anglepoise lamp with a 100 watt bulb is a good plan if the midwife needs to stitch you.

I've had four home births and the thing which always tops my list is drinking straws so that someone can help you have a drink when you are braying like a stuck donkey in most need of refreshment.

I also had builders polythene sheets so you can cover a room up (sofas, carpets etc) to protect it from carnage amniotic fluid.

I also put nice cotton throws on top of the plastic sheeting for comfort.

Get arnica for afterwards and perhaps some nice healing herbs to put in the bath.

I LOVED my home births. I couldn't do it any other way. I found Homebirth, by Shelia Kitzinger invaluable. Actually I love all her books. She has seven daughters.

Anyway, all the very best with your home birth.

I only once birthed in the bedroom. I prefer the furniture in the other rooms for leaning on. The dinner table was the perfect height to take my weight as I peaked with the contractions.

When having DS3 on the bed I found it a bit too wobbly under foot and really wanted to be earthed and solid.

Good luck. I loved my homebirth with DS2. It was fab.

Shower curtains, towels, homeopathy kit - esp arnica and aconite, some aromatherapy - jasmine was nice but can only be used in labour and after not during pregnancy I think. Music. Get a home birth preparation CD if you can - some visualization/relaxation techniques.

The midwife will have all the essesntial kit. Like the gas and air. But, yes, the angleposie lamp with 100W bulb a great idea. And a hand mirror.

they need a clear surface eg table

they will give you a list though, don't worry

nice soft old towel to wrap baba in

Ooh, this thread is making me want to do it all over again. that I just felt a twinge of jealousy at 'seven daughters' .

Drinking straws is a great tip mincepiedermama - will remember that for next time.

Arnica is great, too. And there is a really nice lavender milk bath by erbaviva that I would recommend for afterwards. Another lovely thing about my hb was the midwife taking me for a shower (or it might have been a bath - can't remember now) - anyway, I couldn't have done it on my own as I was far too shaky, and it was just so lovely having both midwives there all to myself for two hours after dd was born. I'd say that the two-on-one care that you get is the best thing about hb, and makes you feel very safe.

For my HB, the midwives didn't provide a kit in advance so I mad sure I had plenty of Tesco Value 99p shower curtains!

In the end, I spent my entire 2hr labour kneeling on an old duvet on the living room floor, leaning over my birth ball (fab thing to have btw, couldn't bounce on it for toffee during pregnancy and thought it a bit crap but was a life saver in labour) and the midwives brought plenty of incontinence pads (the big huge things they use in hospital) so had them underneath me. No mess left anywhere, we incinerated the duvet and laid a shower curtain on sofa for me to lie on afterwards but soon took it off as the midwives gave us loads of the inco pads to use instead - much less slippery!

Get some nice biccies in for after the birth for yourself and the midwives. Also, it's worth finding out what pain relief you can have during a HB, in my area you can pop along to the gp in the last couple of weeks and they will prescribe a couple of shots-worth of pethidine to keep at home should you need to up the pain relief - I did this and was glad it was there 'just incase'.

Have a big, fluffy towel ready for when baby is delivered to wrap him/her up in. Make sure your DH knows which towel you want to use - I spent a small fortune on a lovely, fluffy cream towel which was on the radiator all nice and warm and DH in his panic-ridden state handed the oldest, grottiest towel he could have possibly found (was in the room to use for 'mopping up') and handed that to midwife to wrap DD in. No wonder she looked at me a bit afterwards!

Music and candles are a good idea but if your labour is anywhere as quick as mine it won't be until afterwards that you remember all the things you planned to do!

I think towels are the only thing of 'mine' that I used - midwives provided all the rest. And did a fantastic stitching job on me too - a decent light is needed for that - anglepoise type, or just a table light is fine. And make sure the stuff for making tea is handy!

I make a point of cooking or baking when I start to go into labour. It takes my mind off things and means there's always some lovely food for the midwives and for me when it's all over.

Lovely thread. Happy memories.

Thanks everyone, some great ideas.

I must remember to stash some nice biscuits in the cupboard for the midwives (must not touch them before the event!!)

Im looking forward to it now

Not sure I have anything new to add but loved my homebirth so much I just had to join in! I can second having your bag packed so that everything is in one place whether you stay at home or transfer. I also had a separate bag of things that I wouldn't need if we stayed at home but would need for a few days in hospital (my DH can't pack for me for toffee!!) TENS was essential as my mw didn't bring gas and air until 2 hours before I delivered (I coped fine but TENS def helped).

I had a small 2nd degree tear, stitched quickly and efficiently by the mw at home. Anglepoise lamp came in very handy (borrowed one off my parents beforehand as it was on a list the midwife gave me when she did a pre-homebirth visit at 36 weeks).

I laboured on a nest of large sofa cushions in the sitting room for most of labour, with incontinence sheets spread about, but moved to the water pool (I bought the basic bpib kit from boots - can recommend) in the kitchen to deliver. As we have a stone floor we used an old duvet and some blankets to insulate the pool from the floor, and draped a plastic sheet covered with an old throw and towels over a futon in the corner. Any real mess was contained in the pool and everything else washed up fine. We didn't bin anything except all the inco sheets (which the midwives took away in yellow bags)

The midwives set up a little base for resuscitating the baby on the floor (my dog lay on it and luckily it wasn't needed.

If you have a waterbirth you will need more towels than you think - they used several for stimulating and putting over the baby while we were still in the pool and then more for me to sit on, wrap round me and dry with. I bought some dark fluffy ones from Primark and was really glad.

I had also bought loads of nice biscuits for the midwives, and oils/candles etc for me but all of this was forgotten in the heat of the moment!!

Hope it all goes well, mine was fab!!

Do you think they will turn me down though? My next mw appointment isnt for 2 weeks and I will be 34 weeks then. Should I phone and book one for early next week so that they are more prepared??

mama2moo - I dithered for ages, and didn't decide for sure until around 35 weeks, so that would certainly be no reason for turning you down. I think all areas are different. We have a relatively high rate of hb where I live (5% I think) so they encourage it, but if they aren't keen where you live it's definitely worth pushing for. The only real reason to turn you down would be if you are high risk or go into labour before 37 weeks (or if they are short staffed on the day).

It wouldn't hurt to ring htem and let them know that it is something you are considering, but as you can't have a HB 'til 37 weeks it wouldn't be a disaster if you waited for your appt. I know I was on a list of " HB maybes" for ages just to give them an idea. Good luck.