Being prepared for home birth? What do I need?

[littleraysofsunshine]

Also having a hospital bag just in case ... (Dc3, first potential hb)

Oh, and I was quite loud but the neighbours didn't hear - it was overnight, they were upstairs and I was downstairs. They did however hear the arrival of the paramedic at 6.30 am . Stupid man had his siren on on a deserted back street.

catsize I had a failed homebirth with dd1, ended up with syntoncinin (sp?), epidural & forceps. I was really anxious that my planned homebirth with dd2 would be a failure too but the midwives were always clear that having had a vaginal delivery was 'enough'. & I did have a successful homebirth with dd2

A few towels if you think you are having a poo in your bathroom at home but it turns out to be your babies head - stand and deliver! Thought I had plenty of time - ha ha!
The cord went white and my daughter was put straight on to my boob.. The paramedics turned up in shock - midwife about 40 mins later....
It really was amazing and she has been hyper since then (now two and a half!)

I had:

• a roaring fire
• a partner answering my whims - "massage me! tweak my nipples! leave me alone!"
• absolute belief that my body could do this and total surrender to the power of labour
• those indispensable disposable mats to catch the, er, juices
• quiet, calm and dark
• classical music and hypnobirthing CD (was, ahem, the first time I'd listened to it all the way through but was still helpful)

An amazing experience in all. Totally expulsive birth (no pushing). I ended up birthing before the midwife arrived as I didn't realise how far gone I was!

Completely different to my first difficult, induced hospital birth.

Bealos - Tweak your nipples. Eeeeeeew. The thought of anyone touching my nipples during pregnancy, let alone labour, actually made me wince. Each to their own I guess!

@penguins - all I'm saying is that is TOTALLY WORKED! Fires up the oxytocin, cranking up the contractions. Was not like saucy or anything.

I would need gas and air to let anyone anywhere near them!

How do you know when the cord needs cutting after birth if MW hasn't arrived?? And the time scale for delivering the placenta?

I need the injection for this labour (advised for it as I had pph with dd1) dd2 had it and came out no probs.

I didn't have it with dd1 but I do remember delivering it, it was "ragged" completely different to dd2's... And it was about two hours after giving birth that I pph. So who knows ... Just wondered about the cord clamp, cutting, and delivering of afterbirth if no one is present

There's no rush at all with the cord - in fact a lot of people now go for delayed cord clamping as the baby actually has about 1/3 of it's blood still in the placenta at birth and if you delay clamping until it stops pulsating the baby gets the rest of this oxygenated blood.

The cord slowly closes up with a jelly like substance called whartons jelly (I think) and it's fine to leave baby attached whilst the placenta is delivered (if it is done without the injection - if injection is given to deliver the placenta then the cord is clamped so the drugs don't get into baby I think).

For placenta delivery I think with injection it happens pretty quickly and the mw helps to pull it out. Not sure what would happen with no mw as they would be the ones to give the injection so if they weren't there you would be having a natural delivery I guess.

I think this is supposed to take about 30 mins - 1 hour (and if you can get baby to latch on that can help placenta delivery as it stimulates oxytocin which encourages contractions). I think the nhs don't like to leave the placenta undelivered for longer than an hour - but hopefully mw would be there by then anyway and could give the injection if it still hadn't delivered.

You don't do anything!

Assuming you are not on a remote island, a paramedic will be with you very fast if you have a BBA. You are high priority. They carry all necessary equipment to cut the cord.

At least in my area, they do not, and cannot, administer the injection. All they can do is watch, wait and transfer if there are concerns about blood loss.

The MW, however, can administer the injection even if she misses the birth. They prefer not to, but may on a risk/benefit analysis, in my case that happened as it hadn't shifted in nearly an hour and was showing no signs.

The worst thing you can do in this situation is mess about trying to cut the cord without knowing what you are doing, or (far, far, worse) do anything to 'encourage' the placenta. There is masses of time for it to be dealt with. And if there is excessive blood loss, there is an ambulance on its way!

Have you had a look at Dirty Duncan and Shiny Shultz presentations of placentas? It's basically whether they come out with all the yuck wrapped inside or not. That might explain why they looked very different? Random link from google here

We left the cord pulsating until it stopped of its own accord. I passed the placenta (without active management, ie as would have happened if no medical staff had been there) after only thirteen minutes.

My baby was slow to breathe independently - it didn't matter a bit because he was still on cord blood while we were all encouraging him to get going.

If you are alone, you can clamp the cord but don't cut it. A piece of string or ribbon will be enough to stop any flow. Or use a kitchen clip like you'd use to seal a bag of crisps or something, so long as it's clean.

Thanks penguins and jane. Feeling better. I know that DC2 will be DCfinal, so would love to try to have a homebirth. Really sad it didn't happen last time. If I chicken out at the eleventh hour, I know I can transfer. Fingers crossed, but not legs.
Anyone done it with a toddler wandering around?

I am another one who would leave the cord well alone unless Armageddon had happened (if it does, boil 2 pieces of string and some scissors for 10 minutes, then cool and use to knot in two places tightly around the middle of the cord, once cord has stopped pulsating, then cut with sterilised scissors between the two knots).

catsize I went into labour after I'd tucked dd1 up in bed (& waved DP off for his night shift ). She was just 3. My mum came over to be on duty for her but in the event dd2 was born by 11pm & dd1 slept through me bellowing below her. It was very easy! Is there someone - family, friend - who could be on call for dc1?

We have a neighbour on stand-by, and I am sure there are others who could step in, but was just wondering if it would actually be nicer just to have him at home, with stand-by on stand-by in case of transfer to hospital. but maybe the pregnancy hormones are making me lose all sense and reason

If you have a BBA don't do anything with the cord, leave it, if your placenta comes then just leave it attached until a HCPS arrives. It's fine,some leave them attached purposely, google lotus birth.

Cat size, I always think that planning for a home birth and changing you mind at the last minute is far preferable to planning hospital and then changing your mind as that is impossible in most hospitals. You can change your mind at any time, before labour, during or even after.

catsize what I would do (which doesn't mean is the right thing for you!) is have a loose arrangement that means if when it comes to it you want your toddler to go somewhere else/you have to transfer to hospital that can happen, but that if you are comfortable & happy he can just stay at home. That's basically what I had my mum here for, so that DP could be my support & I knew that my mum would deal with whatever DD1 needed.

Bba here cord round neck - Dh removed cord and we didn't cut it left placenta to self deliver - subsequent labour I deliberately waited for placenta room deliver and cord to stop pulsing.

The more natural the better in my view.

what does BBA stand for?

Born before arrival, I think: baby born before midwives/medical help arrived.

I would have said unattended childbirth - UC - for that. Maybe that is an American-ism.

My mum had 3 home births, the 3rd one was born before anyone could get there. My dad's a doctor thought so don't know if it counts as being born before arrival?!

I don't understand why MWs tell you to have a home birth if they think you're going to be super fast (i.e. if DC1 was out like a shot). This assumes you're going to be at home pretty much continuously from about 7 months on. If you're one of those 1 hour start-to-finish people, I'd forget HB and start making all sorts of contingency plans for a middle-of-the-supermarket birth / on-the-bus-birth / etc.

Jane - I think 'unattended birth' carries some connotations here that you've planned it that way. Probably not officially, but in terms of how the term is perceived. Certainly my MW's were keen to call it a BBA.

So as my previous labour was advised active management of the placenta, and if I give birth without anyone (mw)there, would it just be best to latch baby on and let it pass naturally or clamp or?

I am having a big talk with mw on Monday (34wk check) about preparation for home birth and also in the event of transferring. What to do with dds 1&2, how to relax dp about it all too lol