Money Saving and Homebirth

Gingham_Ribbon

My midwife provided everything at 37 weeks including a birthing pool, gas and air and pethedine. I just laid the canvas base of our tent on the floor with an old quilt cover on top. I borrowed a tens machine which was useful for the first couple of days.:rolleyes:

I went into early labour on Thursday afternoon (using accupuncture) and had him by emergency section under GA on Sunday morning and was glad to be in hospital by that time so a good thing to have with home birth (or any birth) is a mind open to change!

Best wishes for a safe, happy birth. x

halia

we had a birthpool in a box but didn't use it in the end cos DS arrived unexpectedly and VERY fast.

I'd say the stuff you need is-
old towels, old duvets, newspaper (for floor protection) free
couple of old t shirts and knickers for afterwards - I got a cheapo pack from tesco in a size up from my usual size at £2 for 7 pairs
pack of knicker pads - for bleeding
camera - dont' forget to get the first sight of baby on film - if yours is expensive go for a cheap disposable one
pack of disposable nappies (even if you plan on using cloth a small pack helps in the first few days) about £2-4
Pack of formula (again even fi you plan to BF if there are any problems then you know you have something in the house) less than £1
A couple of baby bottles (see above or for EBM) £2-3
roll of bin bags £1
tea and biscuits £1
juice for yourself £1
glucose tablets £1-2
Ice water - sucking on ice cubes is a good way to relive thirst and hlep focus in between contractions and I was boiling hot even in april!
Notice for door - mother in labour/ new mother and baby please be patient (make it yourself)
soft receiving blanket for baby (ours cost £5)
Strong painkillers for after birth (I recomend co-codomal) £3
bottle of bubbly £10
icecream - I screamed so much I couldn't eat anything harsh for 3-4 days! plus I needed stuff that was eatable with one hand and kept my strength up!
ready meals for the first couple of days (you WON't want to cook!)
top up mobile phone voucher - sounds daft but your phones went off the day after littleun arrived and my mobile had run out of credit so I couldn't call anyone!
presents for your older children 'from the baby'

actually giving birth I found to be dirt cheap - 2 old duvets and my DH thumb to break and I managed!

But do spoil yourself a bit afterwards.

Loopy_Lobes

Just want to say hope all goes well with your homebirth. I gave birth to our daughter at home in February and it was a fantastic experience.

I had loads of old sheets and towels, a couple of tesco value shower curtains and my 'hospital bag' all packed just in case I needed to be transferred. I also prepared a box of dvd's, comics and food for my older children in case they were home when it happened... which they were as she was born at 9am (they were happy as they got the day off school!) and plenty of biccies for the midwives (at one point I had 3 midwives here plus a student!).

In the end none of the old sheets and towels were thrown away as they all washed fine. The midwife put some large pad type things under me as I delivered and they caught most of the mess. We did however manage to get a small stain on the carpet but the midwife scurried about cleaning it straightaway so it's gone.

I had a birthing ball - found this to be more useful to sit on while heavily pregnant than for use during the actual labour to be honest. I spent some time in the bath in advanced labour which was great and really speeded everything up but looking back I think I'd have liked a birthing pool as it was a bit of a wrench to get out of the bath for the delivery.

Best of luck!

Loopy x

AnnaFS_2

I'm a bit confused about what everyone needs all this plastic sheeting, old sheets and towels and old duvets for (although I can appreciate a little of the plastic sheeting bit at least for a waterbirth, since you have to get in and out and walk around on the floor with wet feet etc.).........
The biggest kind of "mess" that I experienced was when my waters broke: yes, it did go all over the carpet, but nothing that couldn't be very easily cleaned, and in any case that could have happened in the shops, in the car or anywhere else, long before we called the midwives (it just all happened very fast for me: midwife didn't really want to get out of bed, but in fact he came out less than 3 hours later).
The only other "mess" was a very small bloodstain on the carpet.

The midwives had lots of very absorbent small pads with plastic type backing in their big black big bag, and left a few of them for me afterwards.

RoxieW

Welshlassie wrote: »

We were going to get one of these. They were at the baby show a few months ago and I was really impressed with them.

Even though I'm having a hopsital birth I wanted to garantee (sp?) I could have a water birth and as our hosiptal only has one pool they suggested I could take my own.

Unfortunately I've been told I may not be able to have one now due to my pelvis so have decided against buying one and keeping my fingers crossed that the hospital one is free if I am able to use it.

If you do decide to buy one from this company, drop me a PM as I have a 15% discount code that I was sent that is valid until December. I can't remember the T&C for it, but think it can only be used once, hence I'm not posting it on here.

Hi there

I wanted a water birth in hospital with both my children. Unfortunately, the problem seems not to be having the hospital pool free but having sufficient midwifes to staff them. (A midwife has to be present at all times with a birthing pool). Due to this, I couldn't have my water birth so even if you had bought your own pool you wouldn't be guaranteed.
This is the main reason I'm hoping for a home birth next time.
PS I did labour in the hospital bath with my second and went from 2 to 10 cm dilated in an hour - so I would say that it speeds labour up!

izoomzoom

Oooh, I see this thread has been pulled from the archives.

In the end, I had my lovely homebirth in November.

I didn't get to use my birthpool - we ran out of hot water, and just as we got the 2nd batch hot enough to start filling again, my waters broke and DD was born a few minutes later.

I am not disappointed that I didn't get to use the pool and have recently sold it on ebay. I paid about £50 for the pool (un-used off of ebay) and then about £75 for the ALL 'accessories', but when I looked at selling the pool just after my birth (in winter) I was really disappointed as the going price of an unused pool seemed to be in the region of £50-60. I hung onto the pool until earlier this month, and was gobsmacked when I got £107 for it. I reckon I got more than my money back because liner was £20 and hosepipe was a few quid too, and I didn't sell these as DH left them outside (not that I would have sold the liner anyhow) but overall advise, buy a pool in the winter, and sell it in the summer :rotfl: .

Rikki

Belated Congratulations. I'm pleased it all went well.

Toto

I'm glad this thread was pulled from the depths. I'm seriously considering a home birth this time after 3 easy hospital births. I hate being in the hospital, I always feel like I'm ready and wanting to go home an hour after the birth but they keep me hanging around (sometimes overnight).

My 12 year old really wants to be around for the birth, but I wouldn't take her to the hospital because it would be too much for me to worry about. But if I do opt for a home birth she can be in and out as much as she feels she can cope with.

It all sounds so much nicer. The more i think about it the more I've decided it's right for me.

missyg_3

What a lovely thread - congratulations izoomzoom

I had my first and only child at home. I don't think I bought anything especially for the birth except for a 'miracle healing bath' herbal concoction for afterwards (won't go into detail but this massively overperformed - completely amazed the midwife - and was worth every penny!)

I laboured for a while in the bath but found this of no help whatsoever, so I was very glad I hadn't bothered with a pool.

The midwives requested fresh fruit so I made sure I had plenty of choices, and that was all

traveller

Toto wrote: »

I'm glad this thread was pulled from the depths. I'm seriously considering a home birth this time after 3 easy hospital births. I hate being in the hospital, I always feel like I'm ready and wanting to go home an hour after the birth but they keep me hanging around (sometimes overnight).

My 12 year old really wants to be around for the birth, but I wouldn't take her to the hospital because it would be too much for me to worry about. But if I do opt for a home birth she can be in and out as much as she feels she can cope with.

It all sounds so much nicer. The more i think about it the more I've decided it's right for me.

Hi I had my fourth child 3 weeks ago at home with my 11year old daughter watching.It was my best birth experience ever:j You have 2 midwives giving you undivided attention and they explained everything that was happenening to me to my daughter.The whole labour and birth took 45 minutes and it was lovely to go to my bed with my baby afterwards.I would definately reccomend it:T