Giving birth at home | Homebirth supplies

Most of us desire a more personal birth experience as opposed to being seen as an ill patient occupying a hospital bed.

Believe me, I am not attacking the health professionals,although some of them definitely have to work on their bedside manner or get hospitalised once in a while to see what it feels like to be in our shoes :)

Here in UK, the maternity wards are very under-staffed,the personnel are overworked and under-paid. It is virtually impossible to develop any one-on-one relationship or patient-doctor trust.

They are running from one patient to another.Your fears and emotions? Forget it -they just need to make sure your IVs are properly inserted, you are dilating at a certain rate and your baby's heartbeat is steady.

However, there is so much more to giving birth than that. Put a freaked out woman in labor (like me) on a hospital bed and often that's what happens:

I am feeling apprehensive right away as I've never even been to the hospital before. Now I am in an unfamiliar place and have to follow rules enforced by strangers in gowns. And some of them are not so pleasant.

Hey,they are the experts afterall so that automatically means they know your body better than you do...

Before you know it, you have IVs in your arms, blood works taken left, right and centre, blood pressure cuff painfully squeezing your arm and a catheter is in, just in case.

Hey,how are those contractions going?

Sometimes, depending on your hospital's protocol, you are not allowed to eat or drink properly...

You are VBACing and want to have your freedom to move around? Forget it...

Confined to your room and sometimes your bed only, you have a never-ending stream of nurses, midwives and obstetricians examining you and putting you on the clock for dilation, effacement,etc.

Suddenly, you are not as excited about your baby arriving as you were before. Your anxiety levels rise and we know that anxiety and fear interfere with the production of endorphines helping you to deal with labor pain.Then you are either offered or end up asking for pain relief much earleir than you anticipated, if at all.

Painkillers, in turn, can slow down your "progress" and interventions start escalating. Before you know it, oxytocin (Pitocin in US,Syntocinon in UK) is out followed by forceps and C-section.

Look, I am not trying to scare you, I am just painting a general picture of what might happen. And it actually does, to so many of us.

I know that they are qualified and trained professionals and they save our lives but they are also human and do make bad judgement calls.

That's why I feel so strongly about doing your homework and educating yourself before labor.

Now, negatives aside, wouldn't it feel wonderful to give birth and climb into your own bed, in your own sheets and have a big bowl of chicken soup while your midwives are clearing up the mess?!

I leave you with that thought...

For some reason,once you mention that you've decided to give birth at home,you get that horrified look on their face as if you were giving birth alone in the forrest (although I know some women who would love that :).

It's simply not true. You will be attended by a midwife or two who are normally trained specially for homebirths. If you are in the US and interviewing midwives - make sure they have home birth experience.

They are well-prepared and have all the supplies needed, even in emergencies (if baby needs oxygen or you are bleeding heavily, etc).

You have to organise a couple of bits and pieces too. Read further for my tips.

Well, first of all, women who have home births are less likely to use drugs for pain relief than mothers who have hospital births. Whilst this may be partiallly because the the home birth mothers are more likely to want a natural labour (ie no drugs or interventions at all), it is also partiallly because mothers generally find labour and birth less painful at home, because they are more relaxed and free to move.

However, we all know that childbirth hurts.Some of us (like me) aren't so good at dealing with pain.

There are many many ways to help you through contractions naturally but if you absolutely must have drugs,remember that epidural is a no-no as it is only administered by the doctors. Of course,if it gets really tough you can always transfer to the hospital.

The alternative is Pethidine (or Demerol in the US)- an opium derivative, which a midwife can give by intra-muscular injection. It can have serious side-effects for the baby such as breathing difficulties at birth and problems in establishing breastfeeding. An antidote (Narcan, Naloxone) should be available whenever Pethidine/Demerol is used in case the baby is born in trouble, but it may not solve all problems caused by the drug. For these reasons, many midwives and mothers do not want Pethidine/Demerol used at their home births.

Childbirth is unpredictable,and sometimes,no matter how perfect your pregnancy has been,or how well prepared you are for your home birth,things go wrong...

A good homebirth midwife, however, is well trained in avoiding and handling complications and performing neonatal resuscitation. She has the proper instruments to control hemorrhage if needed.
Should the worst happen, transport to the hospital during the birthing process may be necessary for the health of the mother or baby.

The rate of cesareans is very low for midwives attending homebirths compared to hospital births. Part of the reason for this low rate is the fact that most homebirths are kept low risk by good prenatal care. Furthermore, midwives generally don't hurry the birth, which actually often speeds it up.

Labor and childbirth are such a natural process, and unless distress to the mother or baby is indicated, no one interferes with this process through drugs, medical equipment or cesarean intervention.

For labor:

Food and drink: energy drinks, glucose tablets, ice chips, coconut water, straw, food that is easy digest. Don't forget to prepare snacks for your doula and the midwives!

Pain relief: TENS,birth ball,water pool or bathtub ( put towels at the bottom for your knees),shower,essential oils (e.g camomile) to help you relax.

- wash cloths (e.g I loved having a warm washcloth on my back, and a cold one on my face and neck).

Delivery and after:

Old shower curtains to protect the floor
Also,put one on your bed and old sheets on top,in case you end up giving birth there. Afterwards,just strip the curtain and top layers and get into your clean sheets.
Mirror (if you want to see your baby crown)
Few old towels
Receiving blankets
(you can put them into your dryer beforehand so they are nice and warm for your baby)
Bucket/Container for placenta
Garbage bags to clean up the mess.

Tearing and bruising:

Sport water bottle to help you pee, as well as an empty toilet roll to help you keep the pee stream from touching the tears
Frozen maternity pads (a must!)
Arnica gel for bruising
HONEY (great for healing).

Also:

Depend underwear (incontinence products)- if your bleeding is too heavy,they work great!

Stool softener
Big dark underwear :)
Chicken soup!

Planning your homebirth - Your guide to a better birth experience here

Many of us,ladies, feel like we missed out on a "proper" birth experience when we delivered by Caesarean. And many feel/know that their C section was unnecessary,and they are not willing to risk it again by going to the hospital.

That's why many choose to VBAC (aka to have a natural birth) in the safety and comfort of their own homes.

HBAC (homebirth VBAC) is a real option!

Do your research, know your rights and negotiate.

Here I share all I know about VBAC.

Labour and birth - Great tips!!!
http://www.gentlebirth.org - Check out their Midwife Archives -Great stuff!
http://www.homebirth.org.uk
http://spinningbabies.simplwebsite.com
http://www.midwiferytoday.com
http://activebirth.org
ICAN
www.vbac.co.uk
www.naturalchildbirth.org
www.childbirthconnection.org
www.caesarean.org.uk
www.vbac.com
http://vbacfacts.com
plus-size-pregnancy.org-GREAT info on C-sections and VBAC
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