I would like a home water birth next time around...

[Pearls18]

But I am very clueless! Basically, my first labour was ony 4 hours long and a water birth, my nearest hospital was 40 miles away. As I had such a straightforward labour last time I feel a little more confident about the prospect of home birth. Tbh it's not that I particularly want a home birth, it's just I REALLY want a water birth and I figure home birth is the closest I will come to 'guaranteeing' it although I know there are no guarantees in labour. Ive also not heard good things about the hospital we now live near. Where do I get a birth pool from?! Where should I start in looking into this a little bit more?

 

[lynnikins]

theres lots of places online to buy birthpools, i got mine via Gumtree.com but and hired a kit from homebirthsupplies.co.uk

lots of times birth pools come up on ebay and so long as you buy a sterile liner then they are safe to reuse

 

[MindUtopia]

Yay! I'm so glad you're thinking about this! I think at least from what I've read you have a really great, positive attitude to pregnancy and birth and that's a perfect place to be in to start thinking about home birth.

www.homebirth.org.uk and our website with the group on here is https://homebirthersandhopefuls.com/

Those have lots of info. As for where to get a pool, it depends on what's available in your area. We have a home birth group at my local hospital and they have a pool hire scheme. It's £40 for about a 5 week hire or longer if you need it. Basically, the pool is free, you just need to buy a sterile liner from them and then return it in good condition. You might have something similar in your area. Also, the Homebirthers and Hopefuls group (see above) is trying to get together several pools for hire to anyone who needs them, so you don't need a local group. I don't think they have them yet, but they should soon. You might also ask your local midwife or if you decided to go with an IM, they would most definitely know where to find one. Or yeah, gumtree or the Facebook group on here is a good place to post if you want to buy a secondhand one (then you just need a new liner and some basic equipment, like hosepipes, pumps, etc. which may or may not come with them, I know with mine I got everything I need for it).

If you are interested in some books to read, I've found Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and Sarah Buckley's Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering to be really informative. They are natural birth focused, not specifically home birth, but most of what they talk about refers to home births. Also, Nicky Wesson's Home Birth: A Practical Guide is supposedly good, though I haven't read it, and my husband read the Father's Home Birth Handbook and said it was good (lots of home birth stories written by dad's) if your partner needs some encouragement. I'd also just really, really recommend seeing if you have a home birth group near you. I've been to mine a few times, especially early on when we were still learning, and it was really helpful.

I'm due in 4 weeks now, so assuming all continues to go well and I birth at home, I'll let you know how it goes!