I've booked a home birth anyone have any stories or tips they would like to share?

[kiki22]

Just that really. I'm 32 weeks had a traumatic for me but medically straight forward forceps birth first time around, hated the hospital stay and had a crap recovery thanks to the Mw missing infections in my stitches.

This time I'm planning on going the total opposite way as natural as possible instead of the induction and intervention I had last time does anyone have any nice stories or good tips to help me prepare? I'm rather shittin myself

This home birth website is full of helpful hints and tips and stories.

I'm 38 weeks with my fourth child and planning my third home birth. I had a text book hospital birth with my first but felt like an inconvenience and wasn't offered any food for 24 hours after the birth!

I have had a birth pool in a box for all three home births and would highly recommend them. You can pick them up second hand on eBay for about £50 I think, and you can buy a new liner for it. The water really helps with getting in a good position and is very effective pain relief.

I had a home birth after EMCS. I was so nervous, but it was amazing, the feeling of waking up the next morning in your own bed was just amazing.
Practical tips - you can't have enough towels, or incontinence pads (I bought pampers things for bed wetters), I really enjoyed having a pool, get nice fairy lights/candles to create a lovely atmosphere, relaxing massage oil, take warm showers if you're not far gone enough to get in the pool.
Birth type tips - I didn't use the bed, found leaning against sofas was better, I had a doula which was fantastic, I made sure I enjoyed the gap between contractions, and knew how many deep breaths each contraction would last.

I had one for DD. I labor fast so no chance of a water birth. I got waterproof mattress protectors, hospital pads and waterproof covers (normally used for camping) all off Amazon. The MW brought a home birth box up to the house ready for due date and the hospital dropped off Gas/Air. The only stipulation is a hard flat surface should CPR be required, we had an old coffee table in the room. Everything went to plan and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Just be prepared to transfer to hospital if needs be. When my waters broke, there was meconium in them, which is instant ambulance to hospital. Everything until that point was amazing so don't let it put you off. Wishing you an amazing home birth!!

Meconium can be an instant transfer but it isn't always.
So many home birth "rules" vary from area to area and some that may seem compulsory are often just advisory.

I was totally prepared to transfer if they needed me to, and any amount of labouring at home was a bonus to me, I was astonished that I was lucky enough to do it all there. The care and attention of two dedicated midwives was also invaluable after a more hectic first birth.

Thank you. I'm getting a loan of a pool thankfully will save me a fortune and if I need to go to hospital I will do hoping to avoid it but I know when it comes down to it I will do it.

kiki me too! Second baby, first one was in hosp, straightforward but we've moved miles away from hospital and I know far too many friends who've had unplanned homebirths second time around. I've borrowed a pool and stocked up on all the stuff above and am feeling pretty organised terrified

There's another homebirth thread if you go back a bit, too.

dats, 38+0

I had 3 homebirths following a hospital ventouse delivery for No1. It was reasonable labour and delivery but the after care was so awful that I could not bear to go into hospital for any of the others. Obviously if I had had to go in then I certainly would have but I was extremely lucky to have 3 excellent home deliveries.

I didn't have a pool - and tbh I would not have had time for a pool as No2 was 90mins as was No3 and No4 was 40 mins. I prepared everything as if I was going into hospital - so a bag for me and a bag for baby - and if I had needed to go in it would all have been ready to go. As I didn't go into hospital, it just meant that all my stuff was neatly to hand.

I delivered all three in my own bed - nowhere near as messy as I thought it would be. I put a rubber sheet over the mattress at about 37 weeks just in case as all mine came early and just had a large pile of towels, bed pads and bin bags at the ready.

I would change nothing about my home births but recognize that I have been very lucky in that respect.

I had a lovely home birth with my second. So nice to be in your own environment, with two midwives dedicated just to you. Lovely to pop straight in shower and own bed after. My eldest was around too and was so relaxed about the whole thing. And great not to have to undertake the car journey.

I find it's such a positive experience I look back on and still can't quite believe how simple and calm birth can be. (And I had my share of shit with the first one so have 'earnt' it)

Worth getting puppy training pads for protecting sofa/bed etc. Some towels. I really didn't have much other than that as everything is around if you want it. Oh some nice shower gel for after perhaps. I was given some fancy stuff and it was nice to have the treat of it after.

Hope it works out for you and enjoy.

It sounds lovely to be at home for my with ds one of the worst parts was dp being sent home while I was in early labour at first because it was so boring then because I was stuck alone in the dark in pain I actually cried when my water broke because I knew they would let him back, then after being in agony and out of it having to deal with ds alone shattered and unsure when he was sent home. Knowing I wont be left alone and will be able to shower, eat and sleep when I want relaxes me just thinking about it.