Planned homebirth

[mustbemad17]

ANyone who has had one that can talk me through it/suggest the must haves??

I want a water birth this time but the MW has strongly recommended a HB because my labours are relatively quick; 1st was 4 hours, 2nd was 2. 2nd was planned hospital water birth but we never made it out the door & she was born at home in a panic!

I haven't decided for sure yet what i want, just exploring my options. The home birth i had wasn't exactly magical with it being unplanned, where as my 1st was a hospital water birth & it was lovely.

Please talk me through your thoughts/experiences so i can weigh up!

I am currently 31 weeks with my first and am planning a Home birth.
I’ve gone with a midwife group called One to One midwives as they specialise in this.

I think the key is preparation. Hypnobirthing classes are recommended and ask your midwife if she has a portable birthing pool.
Read as much as you can about what to expect, what you will need (plastic sheets for floor, towels etc) and other people’s experiences.

Have a hospital bag ready just in case :)

Hope it all goes well xx

Never heard of One to One, will google. Our community midwife has gone on sick so we have a rotating team...would be nice to recognise who was helping out!

Thank you, and you too ☺️

Ensure all the towels are clean and if you want a water birth, hire the pool now to ensure one will be delivered in time. Mine came with a ground sheet, hose and pump but didn't come with a mirror or sieve which are needed by the midwives. You also need to have available a really bright light like a desk lamp just in case they need to help baby or you need stitches.

Pack hospital bag and leave it near the front door, it's so useful when they ask where babies clothes are and you can just point them at the bag!

Other than that I didn't really do anything to prepare, DH sorted the pool when I went into labour, midwives encouraged me to exercise during labour to get baby moving and then they dressed DC, tucked us all into bed then cleaned up and left.

It was really nice, about 80% to plan and I have very positive memories of it even though DC was back to back for most of it! I'm planning on another HB with my second next year.

I had both mine at home, in water. The first time i borrowed the 'community pool' - a curious affair made of sawn off floorboards held together with a ratchett strap, the second time, the midwives lent me an inflatable pool. I had to buy the liner. I had a trial run to know how long it would take to fill, i had to factor in the time for the hot water tank to refil/reheat. But other than that, i had to supply a sieve (mmm nice!) and a good torch. I think that was about it. I had lovely new, freshly laundered fluffy white towels ready for MPF, and some old (clean) dog towels for any mess...guess which ones were used to wrap my beautiful, new baby in? Had my bag packed, just in case and that was useful so midwife could get the babies clothes. I really recommend a home birth, there was no mess (husband dealt with the pool afterwards), was lovely to shower in my own bathroom and be tucked up in bed a couple of hours afterwards.

I’ll be back.

DH was in charge of towels, unfortunately we'd run out by the time DC was born so he got a quick rub down with a clean tea towel!

I think I just chucked all the towels into a cold water bath with half a box of bio powder to soak for two days (too tired to get them sooner). All the blood came out of them, even the (decades old, threadbare, fraying) towels I'd hoped to ruin so we could finally get rid of them. DH was thrilled his favourite towels came out unscathed

I think this time I'll throw them in a cold wash in the machine, I don't know why this didn't occur to me the first time.

One to One midwives are fab! It’s a free service and you have one midwife with you for the entire pregnancy. They come to your home for all appointments except scans and you’ll be able to contact your midwife 24/7 by phoning or texting. Their hypnobirth courses are £35 (instead of £100+ like most places) and you get 6 weeks post natal care.
If they have them in your area, it’d be so helpful for your home birth xx

I got everything ready just so in the living room where I planned to deliver... Ended up happening in bed after following MV advice to try to get some rest. The mattress survived but duvet won't be the same.

Also recommend Hypno birthing, even if you just do tapes.

The one thing I'd do differently is really insist DH had read up on what to do if baby arrives without MV.

It's great your MV is encouraging a home birth, you'll be glad you did.

Thanks everyone 🙂 Sadly i don't think i'd fit a pool in my lounge, it is rather tight!
I remember the urgency for towels, think we went through every single one i owned haha.

Did anyone have other children? I'm hoping my folks will come, mum's my birthing partner & dad is watching DD; if it all kicks off in the night my DD might freak out 😂

My 5th was born at home, it was a planned home water birth with one to one midwives which didn't end up going to plan but was the most amazing experience.

I was labouring upstairs, DH was downstairs blowing up the pool, I progressed very quickly and started pushing so shouted for him and called the midwives to say 'ooops, need you here now' (they were just getting showered and dressed before heading to us). Baby arrived ten minutes before the first midwife arrived, DH delivered her. We just threw some toddler bedmats on the floor underneath me which caught all the mess and we have tons of towels in the airing cupboard, other than those and tea and toast we didn't need anything

Planning another HB this time with one to one but have told the midwife that she'll need to come as soon as I start contracting lol.

Ooops, forgot to add that all the kids were downstairs, it was morning time so they just got themselves breakfast and sat watching TV, playing on their tablets etc. They were thrilled to be able to come upstairs and see their little sisters when she was just minutes old.

Awww! That sounds quite lovely! Sadly i'm in a tiny flat so no option of having small downstairs/upstairs.

I've already warned the MW here that once i start it's quite speedy...she said if i do decide to hospital birth instead she will make sure nobody sends me home when i rock up at the first twinge 😂

Planned HB with DC1 and will do it again with DC2.

Tried the pool but tbh I found it such a faff and I ended up spending lost of my labour in the bath, which was great! I hired a tens machine for the earlier stages which was wonderful.

I had 2 NHS midwives which was wonderful. They brought loads of plastic sheets and cleaned the bathroom afterwards. It was spotless.

DD will be 4 when DC2 arrives and am not worried about her seeing me in labour. Netflix does a pretty good job of babysitting if need be.

I kept a hospital bag packed just in case and had tea/bread for toast/cake out for the MW in case they got hungry. That was it really. Think they even put the towel wash on at the end!

I’d love a home birth, I wanted one with my youngest but he was late and had to be induced in hospital (which was a good job as he had his cord tightly wrapped around his neck and we didn’t know until he was out). My BMI is high this time so I don’t think it’s possible. I know women who have had Home births though and swear by it!