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ateal2490
member
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Need tips for laboring at home....
ateal2490
member
DH and I have come to the conclusion that attempting the labor at home for as long as possible will help keep me in a peaceful state, allowing me more opportunity to have the med-free birth (as long as circumstances allow).
So,
How do you prepare the home for this?
What should we make sure that we have on hand?
Who should be there (we don't have a doula)?
and how do I make the decision as to when I need to get to the hospital?
I don't think my MW's do housecalls.....so we may be going into this blind.
Thanks in advance for the tips, ladies 
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Re: Need tips for laboring at home....
For my first, i labored at home for about 8 hours...most of which was easy labor. as time went on and contractions demanded more of my focus and i couldnt talk through them but in between i was fine. I took a bath and rested. We are 40 minutes from the hospital so we left when contractions were about 7-8 minutes apart but much more intense. By the time we arrived I was much more uncomfortable and i was completly inward focused even in between contractions. (I was still only 3.5 cm)
Anyway in anticipation for a shorter delivvery this time (labr/delivery was about 17 hours before) I plan to head in as soon as i have consistent contractions less than 10 minutes apart. I do not want to be in the car for the hard part of labor or after my water breaks if I can help it. i will be much more relaxed & able to cope if I am where I need to be.
So I would say to base your decision on how far you live from the hopsital. I am sure you will not want to be in the car during hard labor. If you are working with a NB friendly MW you should be ok. i would just make sure you or your support person tells the nurses your plans for a NB so they dont ask you/offer pain meds etc.
HTH! GL to you.
(I am on my phone so sorry for typos)
Just have any of the tools on hand that you wanted to use for relaxation, ready to use at home (so maybe don't pack them up in your hospital bags?) You might want to have some old towel on hand or some big pads in case your water breaks or you have bloody show. Some for your car too.
With my first two I used my exercise ball to sit/bounce/lean on, took a shower, rocked in our glider, and took a walk outside. Nothing really special to get ready.
If you want music ready for playing for relaxation you could have that done and prepared to play somewhere in your house.
I labored at home for most of my labor. The best advice I received was from one of my midwives..."ignore it until you can't ignore it anymore." I woke up at 3am when my timeable backache wouldn't let me sleep. I watched TV on the sofa trying to sleep between contractions. Once day began, I got out my work computer and started working. I would walk around my kitchen during contractions, then sit down and work...lol. We went into the birth center at noon for me to get antibiotics (GBS+). At 1pm we went back home. I joke that my midwife slipped some pitocin in the IV because things started to pick up. I stood in the shower (tried a bath, but I couldn't get the water high enough). My friend came over and made me a rice sock that she microwaved...that felt good. We went back to the birth center at 5pm when my contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting 1.5 minutes each. K was born at 6:47pm.
In conclusion, the things that helped were...
1 - ignore it
2 - shower
3 - rice sock
4 - walking
5 - taking it one contraction at a time
Good luck!
Things I did:
pack my hospital bag
have a shower, shave my legs (lol)
watch a movie
My labours from the start were fairly quick (longest was 9 hours). You will know when you are ready to go. I went when I figured I'd be no more uncomfortable at the hospital than I was at home.
I didn't really do anything to prepare. Once I realized the contractions were regular and getting stronger (and I knew that I wouldn't be going to work that morning), DH got us some breakfast and I ate, then took a shower. It was a work day, so no one else was there with us.
One thing that I will definitely try to do again this time (if the timing allows) is that I called my OB's office and they had me go in there to get checked, rather than going to the hospital. If I had found out I was only dilated a little, then I could have left the OB's office and gone for a walk or back home, rather than having that mental blow of being sent home from the hospital.
It turns out that I was at 5cm, so we went to the hospital. I was 6cm once we checked in, so we knew we would be staying.
TTC since 11/05...ectopic pg 4/08...early m/c 6/09...BFP 10/5/09!
Nora B...June 15, 2010...8lbs, 8oz...Med-free birth!
TTC #2 since 7/11...cycle #3 of Clomid + IUI = BFP
Malcolm...September 21, 2012...8lbs, 6oz...Another med-free birth!
I labored at home for ten hours, got to the hospital, and had DD 1 1/2 hours later.
To prepare I made sure that all of my bags were packed and that's about it. I had my relaxation CD's on hand and DH to support me. You will know when it's time to go the hospital. I called my MW when I was six hours into labor and she talked to me. By the sound of my voice she told me that I wasn't ready to come in yet. My MW was very pro-labor-at-home so I'm not sure if this will work with your provider. By the time I was puking, contractions were 2 minutes apart, and I started freaking out that I couldn't do this, I knew it was time to hit the road.
Good luck
My hospital bags are already packed in full, other than tiny things. So we'll have to throw them in the trunk, and then go. I really hope to deliver within 2 hours of arriving at hospital. Enough that it isn't a panic and I'm crowning upon arrival, but I also don't want a lot of monitoring and am going to try to avoid the hep lock/IV. I recently have been looking at pictures of mamas with their babies in my due date groups, and I just can't stand to see the needles in their hands, and DONT want that!
The only special thing I had was a yoga ball.
During easy labour, I was actually out of the house. I went garage saling. I went to church. That part lasted from 11 am to 8 pm. Once things started getting serious, we came home.
Once it was about 10 pm, contractions were hard and I was scared of the 10 minute car trip - that's how I knew it was time to go. You go in when you'd rather be there than at home. That's probably after you've lost interest in eating, when you're no longer cracking jokes or carrying on conversation. Once you're serious, it's time to go.
I was happier at home, but I was also happy to give birth at the hospital. I was lucky and my water didn't break until we got to the hospital, so I didn't have to worry about that. It would have been a mess, but so be it. Having a baby is messy.
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I've been seeing and thinking the exact same thing! I hope it works out for the both of us that we can just skip that part entirely.
This is all such great advice, ladies, thank you so much. I'm typing up a little info packet for DH to study and its looking really good!
With #1 I labored at home for about 3 hours. I ate some food, swayed on my birthing ball, walked up and down the stairs and back and forth across my living room. When it got tough, I sat in the shower to help me relax, kept using my birthing ball, and then would drape over the back of the couch with H rubbing my back. It was just hte two of us there, he slept for part of that time since it was the middle of the night. I called my MW when I could no longer walk or talk through my contractions and then slowly made our way to the hospital (both H and I showered first, picked up a little around the house, let the dogs out, even stopped at the gas station on our way there so H could get a couple Red Bulls haha). I ended up in the hospital for a little under 6 hours before DS was born.
The time at home was nice and relaxing. I don't think you need anything or anybody specific there, especially if you don't have a doula. Just make sure you're comfortable.
I love all the advice in this thread! I'm bookmarking it for later.
(I wrote a big long response about GBS+ and laboring at home, but decided it needed its own thread.)
I labored at home for about 7 1/2 hours, and had my son about 2 hours after arriving at the hospital.
get a plastic sheet for under your sheet (and make sure it is a sheet you are ok with maybe not keeping *though hydrogen peroxide will take out almost everything)
Have lots of pillows on your bed, have a shower available (duh
)
Just you and DH, IMO, everyone else would just be someone to think about, you want it to be relaxing
Make the decisionto go after you feel like things are getting difficult almost to the point where you feel like you can't do it anymore (though I never had that part), but you are going to want to continue being relaxed as much as possible as you transition from your house to the hospital, make sure you've done your registration so you don't have to stop and do that once you get there.
Try to stay in your "zone" during that time and know that it will be done soon and you'll be meeting your LO
I actually went in pretty quickly ( contractions were nothing then 2-1 min within 15 min) because my H got scared it was happening so fast. Start to finish was twelve hours with two pushing( little bugger got stuck)'
Take one contraction at a time
Hot water, shower or bath, is great
For me, the biggest help was me, and my h talking about the hard contractions. Things like, "well that wasn't fun" or "I know it hurts honey, but we are getting so close and you are so strong"
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