Home birth advice please (Mervs mum?)

[MrsR]

My mw is behind me having home birth but is waiting for me to get signed off by my consultant (at 36 weeks) which I've already had the unofficial ok from him but she obviously needs it official so I have an appointment with him dead on 36 weeks and then she's going to drop off home birth kit the day after if I get the official sign off and will go through other stuff then BUT I don't want to have to wait to start collecting things in preparation! So after a very long winded explanation (well done if you got this far!) my question is what would people who've had a home birth recommend, what couldn't you of done without and what did you really not need!!! Also I know when water breaks a bath with bubbles in is a no no but can you bathe with lavender oil in after water breaks or just plain water? x also we're thinking of which room would be best to give birth in and we're thinking kitchen as lots of surfaces for mw, floor is vinyl (easy to clean as we have just had new carpets fitted in lounge and I don't wanna risk getting any blood on my bed plus bedroom is tiny) do you think that's the best idea? I'm thinking I could stock kitchen with cushions/pillows etc to be comfy x lots of questions! Lol x sorry x

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

try not to over-predict things... if you are comfortable birthing in the kitchen then go for it but it sounds a bit uncomfy to me! I would buy lots of boots maternity pads for beds and things, they are very absorbant and quite comfy so you could use them to prevent blood spillages.

I ate loads of bananas, really handy because they are so easy to digest and chew.

Get some nice massage balm (rather than oil) for your back because its lovely and the bit of friction is really helpful.

to be honest we didnt use much else, i went into hospital before my waters properly went so dont know about your other queries xx

 

[MrsR]

Thanks honey x I will go with the flow but want to have the stuff ready x I hate being touched in labour so massage is out x x

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

my homebirth was an impromptu one, so i cant really help much, but id say stock up on towels!! i went thru about 10 million, we ran out in the end! and my mum has about a thousand of the bloody things! and socks! from me getting from the bathroom to the ambulance i went thru about 4 pairs! i did bleed excessively tho! i think once your waters have gone its just plain water you can have in your bath, but id check with your MW! i know bubble baths out cos of infection so i would assume lavendar oil is the same!

 

[MrsR]

We've bought new towels to match decor in bathroom so we've stashed our 'old' towels for use during birth x must make a list and include socks x we were wondering if disposable dust sheets (usually used for decorating) would be good as they're polythene and cheap so can go straight in bin after x

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

i yhink MM got cheapy shower curtains!

 

[Mervs Mum]

Ikea sell shower curtains for £1 so we had a few of those but never ended up using them. I had a pool which I had set up in my kitchen as its a fairly big space and easy to fill and empty in there. We had lots of candles for nice low lighting. Straws for drinking at strange angles are a must! I forgot energy drinks which I wished I had because I didnt want to eat and when I got tired they would have been better than a can of coke which immediately made me throw up!
We got the MWs to bring a birth stool as I'd used one with my second and really liked it for actually giving birth. Borrow lots of towels if you are using a pool or like the idea of the bath during labour so you can get in and out as many times as you like. As far as where to give birth I had the birth stool in my dining room as the floor is laminate so it would be easy to clean up but honestly there as very little mess. My waters went first so that was dealt with before the labour really started and birth stools have a pan under them to catch anything and are placed on an incontinence pad so it was a 2 min clean up job then I bathed myself in the birth pool

I wouldnt put anything in the bath once your waters go - you could burn lavender in an oil burner rather than bath in it.

 

[(Bex)]

I made list after list for my home birth and had boxes of stuff ready in the kitchen! The only thing we used were the towels!!
I had lots of ideas on how I wanted my homebirth to be but in reality once the contractions started I really didn't care! I ended up giving birth in my (very small) bedroom on the bed. There was no mess apart from a tiny bit of blood on the duvet cover which the midwife popped in the washer for me and the marks came out.
I did get shower curtains but didn't use them. I'm not sure if the plastic sheeting would be a good idea because you may sweat or could slip. I found the incontenance type sheet things good, i got some from mothercare but the midwife had lots aswell. There will probably be very little mess anyway to be honest.
I did also pack a hospital bag aswell (just in case!) and that came in quite useful as all the things i wanted were in one place and my hubby didn't have to hunt for things.

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

yea defo do a hospital bag!! my mum made me pack mine a few days before i gave birth and i was so glad cos youre in a right flap after baby comes!!

 

[MrsR]

Thanks so much! x midwife advised to have loads of towels not only for clean up etc but also to put on floor to stop slipping as shower curtains can get slippy too might just get tesco own shower curtains as the nearest ikea is Newcastle and I'm not traipsing up there just for shower curtains lol x baby bag is packed, just got mine to do-doing Seb's bag was much more fun than the boring necessity if mine though so must find energy to do it! So far list is;
lots of towels (going to ask family to donate any they no longer use as well as our unused ones and keeping an eye out for cheap ones)
socks
straws
energy drinks
bananas
lavender oil for burning
lots of candles
music
maternity sheets (incontinence sheets)

Is there anything I'm forgetting? Or that would be really useful?

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

a torch! if the lightings a bit tricky they're really useful so the MW can have a good look down there