Home birthers please come here!

[savanahnana]

Coming up to 35 weeks with 3rd baby and I’m planning on my first home birth. I have a midwife coming for my home birth assessment (?) next week but was hoping to get some feedback on here in the mean time!

One of my main questions for you is where in your house did you actually give birth? I won’t be using a pool so I don’t need to worry about space issues for that, but just unsure where in my house to actually try and be? Bedroom, living room, bathroom?!

I’ve seen people say to get shower curtains etc to lay down to contain any mess, what did you use and what sort of things would you recommended that either you had prepared that were super helpful or something you wish you’d had or done differently?

I love reading home birth stories so feel free to share them with me!

If you have a pool don't get in too soon. that was the mistake I made first time when I think it stalled my labour. Keep walking and being upright for as long as possible.

Have some comedy on TV or the radio/CD
Make sure the midwives can access food/water (not sure about COVID rules so they might have to bring their own).
Have some energy drinks or full-fat soft drinks - I managed to avoid hospital due to ketones by drinking 2 l of Lucozade Sport in 5 minutes.
Dark towels on your side of the bed.
Incontinence pants - they are comfy and more heavy duty in terms of containing dressings and leaks.
Make sure you time your contractions - there are apps available.
But it was so nice to have my own garden and things to watch - video games were a dead loss when the contractions were 90 seconds apart.

I had a pool both times in my dining room. Both were born in the bathroom. The midwives said on both occasions that women will tend to go to the safest place they can find if they're at home which seems to be the bathroom 80% of the time apparently. The paramedics at my second said the same thing (all fine, baby just arrived before midwife got to me).

@pleaseplop I had various plans involving my mum depending on what time I went into labour. In the event it was in the evening so my daughter was asleep (husband did bedtime!) and my mum came over in case we needed to transfer to hospital.

Yes, you should pack a bag for you and baby in case you need to transfer. I hadn’t (and didn’t need one luckily) but I was packing one in the middle of labour! Although just gave up in the end!

DD2 born at home. I had expected to give birth in our bedroom but once in labour I wanted to be in the smallest room in the house, our downstairs bathroom. Gave birth in there, not sure how midwife, DH and I all squeezed in. No mess, just one towel thrown away, midwife managed everything.
Birth was amazing, from first twinge to birth was three hours, two hours of established contractions. I loved being in my own bed afterwards with my baby. DH made me a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. Bliss.

And as @OneEpisode had, our GP at the time came at lunchtime the next day to do the well baby check. I have very fond memories of how lovely she was and how positive about home birth.

My first home birth was in a pool in our kitchen. My second was after we moved house and the kitchen was smaller so we put the pool in the dining room. For my first I had a couple of stitches on the covered sofa in the living room before going up to bed. For the second I went up to bed straight after. I went to sleep pretty quickly after both. The first one was a long labour and I was exhausted. For the second it was pretty quick but LO was born at 9pm so I was pretty tired anyway.

I gave birth in our bedroom without a water birth.

Old shower curtain on the floor. Old duvet with old bedding on so I made myself like a little nest.

My husband sat on the bed. I stood while leaning on him and gave birth and brought the baby up between us. it was perfect. Then sat on a towel on the bed. All bedding got scooped up and taken away. Then delivered the afterbirth. Had a bath while my mum held the baby and my husband cooked for me. Got out the bath. Sat up in bed. Feeding baby with husband bringing food for me and baby gazing all day. (Baby was born early morning).

The only tiny thing I would change is I would make sure the shower curtain was tucked underneath the edge of the bed as it moved a bit when I was in labour and moving around. I hope that makes sense