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Natural Birth
Home birth
Hello! I am beyond excited for my planned home birth. This has always been a dream of mine and I'm so glad that my pregnancy is going well enough to allow me to birth at home.
I gave birth to DD1 in a hospital med-free and had an amazing experience. This time around I feel comfortable with staying home with midwives.
Any advice from experienced women who gave birth at home?
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Re: Home birth
I am planning my second home birth... although my first one was at my midwife's home. She has a great deal of her home set up to take clients in who may be from out of town or don't want to go to the hassle of setting everything up at their own home. She had an amazing birth tub which I gave birth in!
This time around it is a bit different and has been rather stressful trying to go through a lot of belongings and getting rid of things, organize belongings, and purchase things like furniture (still need to get a changing table/cloth diaper storage thing). Overall, once I get through the stress of getting everything ready, it will be about making it a more intimate experience - having flowers and candles, a bottle of champagne for after the birth, taking a walk outside and hopefully enjoying the weather. I am planning on doing a partial lotus birth, so I will be looking for a pretty bowl to carry the placenta around in for a few hours. I will probably also do a placenta/cord imprint, so I will have things ready for that. And then my placenta will be encapsulated, so I will probably get a special jar for that and decorate it.
The first time around was a bit hectic and I didn't know what to expect, so with #2 I am focusing on really embracing the beauty of birth. No rushing, pretty much ignoring the clock, and losing ourselves in an incredible, "once in a lifetime" event. While every person goes through death at some point, not every person is born... and I think in this day and age we need to take some extra time to really soak in the beauty of a child's birth.
That's such a great way to look at the experience! I like the idea of flowers, candles, and champagne for after.
We have a TON of cleaning, organizing, and setting up to do also. But I figure we'll wait until the summer time to do all that. I still have a while. Good luck with everything!
I'm happy you asked this. Same boat, here.
The champagne I had chilling for after DD's birth is still in my fridge
Maybe we'll get around to opening it when I get the go ahead to DTD! Ha!
I would just make sure your house is super clean (maybe hire a maid service?) bc messes stress me out. And that your fridge and pantry are stocked full of good, quick foods for you and your MWs. Also, maybe look into hiring a dog sitter if you have one bc having my dog be home while in labor would've driven me bonkers!!
Are you planning a water birth?? I rented a birth tub and brought up Dh's old college futon from the basement so I could deliver in the tub, then hop out to deliver the placenta and BF. I put all the birth supplies my MW asked me to have on the table near by so I wouldn't have to send Dh all over looking for stuff. GL!
I think you'll do awesome especially since you've already experienced natural childbirth. Just be prepared, have your supplies in bins easy for anyone other than you to find (since you'll be in labor). Have a list of what DH should do as soon as labor starts (ie turn up heat, turn on crockpot, fill pool etc if any of that applies). Don't worry about having your house spotless...mainly keep generally tidy and keep the bathroom clean in case you spend a lot of time in there in labor. I found it to be more work getting ready than simply getting a hospital bag together, but it was worth it. I did write up a very short birth plan, and I included things like "I'm open to suggestions on positions" or "we are not allowing any immediate visitors", things like that. I can find it if you're interested. It was of course so much shorter than even a birth center plan or the hospital plan.
I have a question about birth tub location for you guys - we have a ranch with a daylight basement, so our main living area is the second level, but our garage and entrance is on that level. So we have a full downstairs with a couple bedrooms. Last birth, we set up the tub in a room down there with hose access to the laundry sink. This time however, I think I would like to set up the tub in our living room, and the hose access would have to come from the kitchen faucet. Has anyone done that and does it just take ages and ages to fill? My labor with DD was only two hours...there was no time to even fill the tub or even get downstairs - I gave birth in our uncomfortable bathtub. I anticipate a quick birth this time but for some reason do think it'll be a little longer than 2 hours. I hope. It was a little fast to get my head around it. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Thanks for the advice! Messes stress me out also so I will make sure everything is clutter free. We are not planning a water birth (I was surprisingly uncomfortable in the tub during labor with DD1) so I don't have to worry about that.
And crack open that champagne, mama!
So most of the preparation will be the few days leading up to my due date. Good, I can relax now