# Homebirth



## bbbbbbb811

I'm pretty decided on a home birth but I just have a couple concerns which I will talk to my midwife about but would like some personal experience too rather than just from my midwives point of view!
1. How much mess did you make? Giving birth is pretty messy, I don't want ruin everything. What did you use and what did you cover to prevent the mess? And I've heard the midwives clean up, how much of it do they clean up?
2. My main concern is the care afterwards for my baby. I know any major problems and ambulance will be called and baby will be treated at a hospital but for minor problems like some babies have after giving birth how equipped are the home birth midwives to deal with it? Do they have everything they would in the hospital if the baby initially needed that extra bit of help? Do they do all the checks on your baby that they would in the hospital?

I'm in the UK if that makes any difference!:)


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## Savannah11

Hi Hun I had a hb 5 weeks ago and it was the most amazing thing I've ever done!

The mess - they come equipped with loads of protector sheets so wherever you go or move the protectors are placed which soak up any mess that may be made. I had a water birth at home so I also brought some plastic carpet protector just in case. The midwives take away any mess in one of those yellow hospital bags/bins and dispose of it at the hospital.
They came with all the equipment needed so they had monitors for both me and baby to check my pulse/blood pressure and to check baby's heart rate during labour - they also had resuscitation equipment should it be needed for baby and they do all of the newborn checks at home :) xx


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## bbbbbbb811

Thank you! That's good to hear. The mess is just a small obstacle in the grand scheme of things but it was a concern as I don't want permanent stains on my carpet lol but glad they bring stuff too and take it away! But the baby part has really made me feel better, I didn't want a small problem which is normally resolved instantly by a midwife in hospital to become a big problem at home cause they aren't as equipped. So thank you again:)


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## UBC Mom

I had an unassisted home birth (no midwife, just myself), so I gave birth in a stand up tiny shower, much easier to clean up after the birth. It was the most amazing experience of my life, I would not change a thing.


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## MindUtopia

Your post is a little old, but hopefully you're still considering home birth and this will be helpful. 

It can be messy, depending on how and where you give birth, but it doesn't have to be difficult to clean up. If you're having a water birth, well, you'll be in the pool and a lot of the mess will just end up in there. You get a submersible pump, pump out the water, and then lift the liner out and dispose of it. If you do this before the midwives leave, they'll likely take the liner in their biowaste bags back to the hospital to be incinerated. They usually won't take down the pool, unless they are an IM, but they can take the waste from it, if you want. If you're having a dry land birth or for when you get out of the pool, some sort of floor/bed/sofa covering is good. Most people use shower curtains or a tarpulin or some other waterproof sheeting, often covering by blankets or towels just because it's more comfortable. Then you just wrap it all up after and dispose of it (midwives will take it if you do it before they leave). You can also wash things you don't want to dispose of, but most people get old towels and blankets that they are happy to just throw away. I got a load of cheap towels and shower curtains from Argos. 

I personally had nothing under me at all besides a maternity mat that the midwives somehow managed to slide under at the last minute. I'd planned to have a water birth and give birth downstairs, but I got out and went upstairs and no one brought any of the floor coverings up behind me. So I literally just had a thin pad about 24in square between me and my carpet! 
It did leave a big blood stain on the carpet (about 18 in in diameter), but my husband dumped a big load of salt (like a 2inch deep pile) and let it soak for a few hours and then scrubbed it up with Vanish carpet cleaner. It was as good as new and you would never know someone gave birth directly onto our pale blue carpet! It's best to get some floor coverings and make sure it's someone's job to actually use them, but even if you don't, the mess cleans up fine. After that, I got on the bed to deliver the placenta and have a cuddle. We put another bed mat down and then to clean that up, the midwives removed the bed mat and the sheets which has some stains on them just got washed on cold and they were fine. Anything else that was messy, like towels or things, just went in the bin. The midwives will help tidy up some of the biowaste or things that are bloody, etc. to take back to the hospital with them (it isn't supposed to go out in the normal rubbish, in theory), but they won't like clean for you. But if you just don't give birth in the middle of the carpet like I did, there isn't much to clean up, so something your partner or a family member could come over after and do. 

Midwives at home are able to handle just about everything that doesn't need surgical intervention. So they can recusitate a baby at home (and also you, they carry oxygen and a whole kit for all of that). They can deal with a PPH. And generally speaking, anything they wouldn't do at home, they can stablise you both enough to be transferred, for example, for a retained placenta. I had a nearly retained placenta and midwives were great. It took some time, but everyone was calm and they got me sorted in the end. I still wouldn't have wanted to be in hospital just for that though. They do all the after birth checks, like Apgar scores and length/weight/head circumference, and such. They don't do the newborn checks like for hip dysplasia or the hearing test (these are the sort of things you usually do before you leave hospital or at your GP, not right after birth anyway). So you'll have to go into hospital or to your surgery to have them done usually, though I have heard of GPs making home visits to do some of them. They aren't usually done until a couple days after birth anyway, so you might not even be in hospital if you had a hospital birth and might still need to get in the car and go somewhere. 

The midwives will stay usually for a couple hours after the birth just helping with feeding, getting all their equipment together, finishing up their notes, etc. And then just like with any other birth, they check in with you every day for the first few days, do more checks, weight baby, answer questions, etc.


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## bbbbbbb811

Thank you for taking the time to reply in depth MindUtopia as long as everything carries on going smoothly I am definitely going to have my homebirth and your answer has just confirmed it! I'm very much feeling relaxed and excited to give birth this time at home whereas the previous two times I was very anxious so hopefully there will be no complications and I have to give birth in hospital.


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