uk homebirth water birth help needed

[leighbunny]

ok so im seriously considering a home water birth. but my question is to ladies who have had a home water birth already.

other than your pool what else did you find you needed or didnt need?

im getting an inflatable pool, but wondering if i need a heater for the pool or a drainage pump. or will a bucket and bowl do for emptying? i have my mw due to come round on weds for an antinatal app so hopefully can ask her lots of questions about this.
i had my ds in hospital 2 years ago and had a fast labour and delivery so this time i really want to stay at home and be in the water.

 

[JenStar1976]

I had a home water birth and bought the "birthpool in a box eco". I bought the filling and emptying kit with it (much easier than using bowls I'd say!). You don't have to have a heater (but they can be purchased) as the pool is quite good at keeping it's heat (you can also purchase a lid to keep the heat in). Here's a link to the website's FAQs page which should answer your questions. x

https://www.birthpoolinabox.co.uk/faqs

 

[blue_kat]

I got a la bassine...it came with all bits to fill and empty it although my OH used a bucket for both to make it quicker (seemed to take hours to fill at the time) - he also topped up with hot water every so often to keep it toasty.

Apart from the pool I had lots of towels - worth getting as many as possible as we kept having to shove them in the wash as they got so filthy after my waters kept gushing and I had to keep using them.

I also went through loads of maternity pads and PJs/Nighties with waters. In the end I was walking around in just pants(with pads) and a t-shirt and dressing gown as I got fed up getting changed.

other bits I needed : lamp for if needed stitches (didnt in the end but MW used it for other things), more lamps with dimmers to 'set the scene', straws for drinking water in between gas and air, glucose sweets (long long complicated labour), hot water bottle (as previous - helped me for a few hours when was ordered to rest), lots of toilet roll (seemed to spend hours on the toilet before and after labour/birth),

didnt need: candles,music etc for mood setting -we put a funny dvd on but I ordered OH to turn it off after few hours as it just irritated me and stressed me out....same with music! the sieve! lol I didnt poo! (mw kept making me get out of the pool to empty myself - nearly fell out with her over this at the time lol)

another thing that was useful to remember - our front door is glass (the sort you cant see through although you can see shapes)....my OH put up a sheet so I could wander around in privacy lol....very pleased he did now although I didnt care at the time!

hope this helps!