Homebirthing mamas, come on in!

jhunter89 · November 2013

Since we're all starting to get down into the home stretch, I thought i'd see how everyone else's prep is going and do a little check-in of sorts if you're up for it!

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up?

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available?

3. Do you have your birth kit yet?

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there?

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far?

Feel free to ask your own questions too, I'm curious to see how many there are!

ChuggingWater · November 2013

Inquiring mind: What is in a birth kit?

jhunter89 · November 2013

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? We are and i'm so excited for it! It's a La Bassine. I'm thinking we'll set it up in the dining/living room. We're in the process of buying a house and FX we get in and have the time and $$ to put some wood laminate flooring down, right now everything is carpet

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? Since we will have just moved in, i'm not optimistic they'll be much mood setting, but i'd love some lavender candles and dim lights and of course my playlist in the background.

3. Do you have your birth kit yet? Yup, ordered it from yourwaterbirth.com. We added a few more chux pads in there just to be safe!

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there? The plan is DH, my mom, midwife and student midwife. DD will be at a friend's house unless she's asleep.

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far? Good! I think we're really looking forward to the relaxed atmosphere and having everything we could want right at our fingertips. Also, I am overjoyed that I won't have to get in the car! We live in a city where traffic is horrible and it could end up taking 30-45 minutes to get to the birth center, yuck!

Feel free to ask your own questions too, I'm curious to see how many there are!

jhunter89 · November 2013

ChuggingWater said:

Inquiring mind: What is in a birth kit?

Mine has chux pads, gauze, cord clamp, gloves, newborn hat, sterilizing stuff, nose sucker bulb etc. The midwives bring all the emergency stuff and we also need to have a warming pad, old towels etc at the ready.

ChuggingWater · November 2013

jhunter89 said:

ChuggingWater said:

Inquiring mind: What is in a birth kit?

Mine has chux pads, gauze, cord clamp, gloves, newborn hat, sterilizing stuff, nose sucker bulb etc. The midwives bring all the emergency stuff and we also need to have a warming pad, old towels etc at the ready.

What would the emergency stuff be?

I'm not asking in a judgmental way, I promise. I'm genuinely interested.

jhunter89 · November 2013

ChuggingWater said:

ChuggingWater said:

Inquiring mind: What is in a birth kit?

Mine has chux pads, gauze, cord clamp, gloves, newborn hat, sterilizing stuff, nose sucker bulb etc. The midwives bring all the emergency stuff and we also need to have a warming pad, old towels etc at the ready.
What would the emergency stuff be? I'm not asking in a judgmental way, I promise. I'm genuinely interested.

No worries! I'm happy to share! From what I understand, oxygen for mom and baby, pitocin to help with bleeding, stuff to suture tears etc.

ETA: I'm sure there's more to it, those are just what I could think of off the top of my head.

ChuggingWater · November 2013

Thanks.

Kristinfm · November 2013

Great idea to do a check in!

jhunter89 said:

Since we're all starting to get down into the home stretch, I thought i'd see how everyone else's prep is going and do a little check-in of sorts if you're up for it!

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? Yes, we are renting a tub from our doula. I think we will set it up in the living room because it's the biggest room (our house is very small). We have home visits scheduled over the next few weeks with our midwife and with our doula, so I will make sure they agree, but that's the plan as of now.

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? Overall, I just want things to be peaceful and quiet. I hope to have some candles burning, maybe some really soft music (or maybe just silence). There is a specific tea that I love and always drink to help calm me down on a stressful day, so I definitely plan on having some of that on hand. Our doula brings a little food kit with her, but we will also have some other things ready to go. I'm planning on stocking up and just haveing a lot available, because who knows what I will want/be able to eat. I'm just going to buy a lot of my favorite things! We also want to have food available to everyone on our birth team that will be here (maybe a bit pot of soup?).

3. Do you have your birth kit yet? We have started picking up the supplies our midwife requested and we will be picking up the actual birth kit at our next appt (which is next week).

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there? Maybe 4? Our midwife, the nurse, possibly a student midwife, and our doula. I think that's it.

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far? Awesome! We just finished up our Bradley class this week and we finalized everything with our doula (who was the instructor of the class). I feel a lot more confident about everything since we decided to hire a doula.

Feel free to ask your own questions too, I'm curious to see how many there are!

Kristinfm · November 2013

jhunter89 said:

ChuggingWater said:

ChuggingWater said:

Inquiring mind: What is in a birth kit?

Mine has chux pads, gauze, cord clamp, gloves, newborn hat, sterilizing stuff, nose sucker bulb etc. The midwives bring all the emergency stuff and we also need to have a warming pad, old towels etc at the ready.
What would the emergency stuff be? I'm not asking in a judgmental way, I promise. I'm genuinely interested.

No worries! I'm happy to share! From what I understand, oxygen for mom and baby, pitocin to help with bleeding, stuff to suture tears etc.

ETA: I'm sure there's more to it, those are just what I could think of off the top of my head.

My midwife also brings infant resuscitation equipment with her. It sounds like she brings quite a bit of stuff and always has everything set up and ready to go should the need arise.

folkfemme · November 2013

Ah! Let me preface this wall of text with an apology. My ipad hates formatting and I'm not tech savvy enough to fix it. I'm planning a second home birth.

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? Yes. I delivered my first son in the water and plan to again. My midwives provide the pool, all I have to do it buy a liner. After a ton of deliberation, we have decided to set it up in our bedroom. I was really hoping to birth in front of my Christmas tree (hello, ambient lighting...), but because we plan to have our 2 year old there with us, we've decided on our bedroom. That way, if our son seems a bit overwhelmed, or if I need quiet and focus, he can be in the living room/kitchen with my sisters and we can be in the bedroom. 2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? Yes. Ambience is really important to me. I likely won't have candles, but our Christmas tree will be up (due Jan 3, but delivered DS early), and we have salt rock lamps in our bedroom that create the most serene light. My sisters (3) plan to bake our grandmothers chocolate cake with our 2 year old while I am in the tougher stages of labour and he needs distracting. We plan to sing Happy Birthday to Arlo once we are all snuggled into bed after. I feel like this will be a really special welcome for my older son. (Baby doesn't care!) 3. Do you have your birth kit yet? I have most things left over from when I had my first, but there are a couple things I need to get. My midwives bring most things, I really only need to provide things like blankets, old towels, basins of warm water, somewhere to store the placenta until I can start to encapsulate it, etc. 4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there? Oops. I answered this partially above. We are having our 2 year old there. He won't be in the bedroom with us the whole time, and only when it's comfortable for both of us to have him there. I will have him brought him for the final pushes though, because I'd like for him to be there when we pull the baby from the water. As for guests - we have decided on my three sisters (one of whom is also our doula), my mom (a retired midwife) and our 2 midwives. 5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far? Excellent. We are so excited to have another one.

Kismc · November 2013

lovelovelovelovelove said:
Ah! Let me preface this wall of text with an apology. My ipad hates formatting and I'm not tech savvy enough to fix it. I'm planning a second home birth.

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? Yes. I delivered my first son in the water and plan to again. My midwives provide the pool, all I have to do it buy a liner. After a ton of deliberation, we have decided to set it up in our bedroom. I was really hoping to birth in front of my Christmas tree (hello, ambient lighting...), but because we plan to have our 2 year old there with us, we've decided on our bedroom. That way, if our son seems a bit overwhelmed, or if I need quiet and focus, he can be in the living room/kitchen with my sisters and we can be in the bedroom.

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? Yes. Ambience is really important to me. I likely won't have candles, but our Christmas tree will be up (due Jan 3, but delivered DS early), and we have salt rock lamps in our bedroom that create the most serene light. My sisters (3) plan to bake our grandmothers chocolate cake with our 2 year old while I am in the tougher stages of labour and he needs distracting. We plan to sing Happy Birthday to Arlo once we are all snuggled into bed after. I feel like this will be a really special welcome for my older son. (Baby doesn't care!)

3. Do you have your birth kit yet? I have most things left over from when I had my first, but there are a couple things I need to get. My midwives bring most things, I really only need to provide things like blankets, old towels, basins of warm water, somewhere to store the placenta until I can start to encapsulate it, etc.

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there? Oops. I answered this partially above. We are having our 2 year old there. He won't be in the bedroom with us the whole time, and only when it's comfortable for both of us to have him there. I will have him brought him for the final pushes though, because I'd like for him to be there when we pull the baby from the water. As for guests - we have decided on my three sisters (one of whom is also our doula), my mom (a retired midwife) and our 2 midwives.

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far? Excellent. We are so excited to have another one.

If you don't mind my asking, did you also do placenta encapsulation after your sons birth? I have been looking into this and I was wondering...in your personal opinion, was it worth it? What were the benefits?

folkfemme · November 2013

@kismc - No, unfortunately I didn't. I really wish I would have though. Since delivering my first, I've helped 2 of my sisters and a couple friends encapsulate theirs. The ones who were second time moms were amazed at how much it helped balance their hormones those first few weeks and help them get back to themselves. I really struggled with my emotions after I delivered, almost to a point where I felt unrecognizable to even myself. I'm hoping that placenta encapsulation will help with some of that.

questisthebest · November 2013

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? Yes! I plan on doing a water birth, but if that isn't what i'm up for when the time comes, I am going to have other options open. I definitely want to have it set up for labor though.

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? I haven't thought too much into this, however I don't want lighting to be too bright and we might have one of those presto logs burning in the fireplace. I suppose i'll put a music playlist together in case I decide to use it, but I may just want quiet.

3. Do you have your birth kit yet?

No, baby isn't technically due till early February. I was planning on talking to my midwives about this sometime in the next couple of weeks to figure out what I need to provide and what they will be bringing with them.

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there?

My two midwives + student midwife and my husband will be there. I really don't even want anyone else in the house during the later stages of labor so I am trying to work something out with mom, MIL, and aunt. Heck, if it was my choice I would even wait a few days before anyone else was here, but that's a whole different story.

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far?

The closer I get to birth, the more confident I feel that this is what I really want to do. We are less than ten minutes from a hospital so if we need to transfer in case of an emergency, I am not too concerned. SO was nervous about it till he talked to a friend that who's wife had done a home birth. I asked him if we could just do a consultation with a midwife and fortunately the first midwives I spoke to were exactly what I was looking for. After the consultation he has been all on board about it.

Feel free to ask your own questions too, I'm curious to see how many there are!

pixieonboard · November 2013

lovelovelovelovelove said:
Ah! Let me preface this wall of text with an apology. My ipad hates formatting and I'm not tech savvy enough to fix it. I'm planning a second home birth.

1. Are you going to have a labor tub/pool available? If so, where are you going to set it up? Yes. I delivered my first son in the water and plan to again. My midwives provide the pool, all I have to do it buy a liner. After a ton of deliberation, we have decided to set it up in our bedroom. I was really hoping to birth in front of my Christmas tree (hello, ambient lighting...), but because we plan to have our 2 year old there with us, we've decided on our bedroom. That way, if our son seems a bit overwhelmed, or if I need quiet and focus, he can be in the living room/kitchen with my sisters and we can be in the bedroom.

2. Are you doing anything to make your home more relaxing etc. for birth time? Candles, lighting etc? Any special food you want available? Yes. Ambience is really important to me. I likely won't have candles, but our Christmas tree will be up (due Jan 3, but delivered DS early), and we have salt rock lamps in our bedroom that create the most serene light. My sisters (3) plan to bake our grandmothers chocolate cake with our 2 year old while I am in the tougher stages of labour and he needs distracting. We plan to sing Happy Birthday to Arlo once we are all snuggled into bed after. I feel like this will be a really special welcome for my older son. (Baby doesn't care!)

3. Do you have your birth kit yet? I have most things left over from when I had my first, but there are a couple things I need to get. My midwives bring most things, I really only need to provide things like blankets, old towels, basins of warm water, somewhere to store the placenta until I can start to encapsulate it, etc.

4. How many people do you think will be there? If you have older kids, will they be there? Oops. I answered this partially above. We are having our 2 year old there. He won't be in the bedroom with us the whole time, and only when it's comfortable for both of us to have him there. I will have him brought him for the final pushes though, because I'd like for him to be there when we pull the baby from the water. As for guests - we have decided on my three sisters (one of whom is also our doula), my mom (a retired midwife) and our 2 midwives.

5. How are you and your SO feeling about your choice to do a homebirth so far? Excellent. We are so excited to have another one.

Oh my green eyed monster is peeking out. I want a home birth very badly but because my husband is very uncomfortable and it is our first I'm going to the hospital for a non medicated birth (which I fear is going to be much harder in the hospital). Enjoy what sounds like it will be a wonderful experience with your family.

knevins87 · November 2013

I admire all of you who are doing home births! I love the idea of it, but I'm too nervous as a FTM. I'm having baby at a birthing center, but my thinking was that it would be a good stepping stone if I want to have my next baby at home. You guys rock!

jhunter89 · November 2013

knevins87 said:

I admire all of you who are doing home births! I love the idea of it, but I'm too nervous as a FTM. I'm having baby at a birthing center, but my thinking was that it would be a good stepping stone if I want to have my next baby at home. You guys rock!

@knevins87 my midwives say birth centers are the gateway drug to homebirth

Want a personalized experience?

Homebirthing mamas, come on in!

Re: Homebirthing mamas, come on in!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards