setting up for a homebirth

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My oldest daughter was born in a hospital with a midwife (who fended off all sorts of interventions for us, it was a wonderful experience.) The next two girls were both born out of the hospital at the free-standing birth center where we live now.  I am entirely low risk when it comes to pregnancy/labor/and birth (thank you Lord!) so I wanted our son's upcoming birth to be at home.

After setting up for countless births at the birth center as an assistant, the thought of setting up my home for the birth of my very own babe seemed simple.  And it was.  Here is how I went about it.

Hombirth set up washclothes

Washcloths. Lots of them. You almost cannot have too many.  White is best because then they can be washed with bleach or hydrogen peroxide when cleaning up. Soaked in ice water with a touch a peppermint essential oil, (just a drop or two) and draped on the back of your neck feels wonderful when you are hot or feeling nauseous. Soaked in hot water, they also are quite helpful back labor or for supporting your perineum during the pushing phase of labor (your midwife will do this for you).

I also set out our rice pad. We warm it for 2 minutes in the microwave and it provides a wonderful heat source for cold feet, achy hips or round ligaments. 

Other items that might provide comfort in labor are:

tennis balls (for back massage)

unscented oil (for any type of massage)

physio ball (to sit on or lean on)

calming music

wickless candles (the sulfur smell of other candles can be awful for someone in labor)

water bottle with a straw (so that you can sip water while you are laying down)

honey, applesauce, yogurt, or ginger ale (sources of quick and light energy)

a bowl nearby in case any of those things directly above come back up (throwing up in labor is awful, but quite common!)

Homebirth set up sheets and bowl
Okay, the bed.  It is best to double make it.  You'll need two plastic fitted sheets (bought new), and two regular cloth fitted sheets.  I picked some up at the thrift store- I don't even want to bother with washing them.  I plan to just toss them after the birth.

Layer the sheets in the following order: First, against your mattress put one of the plastic fitted sheets.  Next, put down one of the regular cloth fitted sheets. Repeat the layers again with one plastic sheet and one cloth sheet.  After the birth, you can just pull off the first layer of soiled sheets (one cloth and one plastic sheet) and be left with a nice clean layer underneath.

Don't forget your pillows! Cover them with plastic garbage bags before putting their cases on. 

You will also need a large bowl lined with a plastic garbage bag for the placenta.

Homebirth set up blankets warming

Newborn babies can quickly lose body heat.  They emerge wet from their warm little wombs!  Rather than use the central heat and air to warm up EVERY room in your house, just use a space heater to warm up the room where you'll give birth. It needs to be a toasty 75-80 degrees. Having a cooler room to briefly retreat to will help the other members of your family and also the midwives stay cool. You also need to have blankets warming and ready for your baby to be snuggled in. I put mine in the bassinet along with a heating pad next to the bed. You'll notice there is also a cookie sheet in there.  A hard surface becomes important if the baby needs any kind of resuscitation upon birth. It would be a good idea to throw a little hat in there too.

When the midwives come, the will bring with them:

electric suction (for suctioning baby if meconium is present)

oxygen with both adult-sized and infant-sized bag/mask/valve respirators. 

These both need to be situated near the bed, or wherever you will give birth.  Have an outlet available for the suction.

Homebirth set up emergency 

In the event of an emergency, it is helpful to post your home address and telephone numbers. This information needs to be visible and accessible when dialing 911.

Homebirth tub

Lastly, and most importantly to me- the tub.  This tub belongs to the birth center and is loaned to out to homebirth families. It comes with a disposable liner that makes sterilization and clean-up a breeze.  We fill it from our bathroom sink with a hose.  The tub has a heating system that will maintain the temperature of water that we put in, but not heat it much more than that.  I expect it will drain our hot water tank at least twice when filling it up.  When to fill it is the tricky part.  Too soon, and you will deal with cloudy, murky, perhaps even green water.  Too late and well, too late. I purchased some plastic painting drop cloths from the hardware store to lay down under it.  I just used painter's tape to secure it to the floor. Pretty darn excited to get in that tub.  The girls think they might take a dip too. 

All ready, now all we need are some good, strong, contractions- real ones, not these braxton hicks that seem to be teasing me day and night!