home-birth 101

We finally have everything in order for the BIG day!

So....I thought I'd share alittle on what we've done to prepare for our little mama to gracefully enter this world.

But first, here's what is going to help big mama relax during labor....

I will most likely be birthing in the tub. There's lots of great reasons why birthing in water can be ideal. Most women have a far less chance of tearing and requiring stitches after water birth. This is because the warmth and water work together to keep mama's muscles relaxed and aiding in softening and opening your cervix. Also for me, I found that water birth was far easier to clean up. Less mess is best :-) All your tubs come with a lining. Everything is drained through an electric pump and then the lining is rolled up and thrown out. Clean up is barely 15 minutes.

But there's still chance I won't be able to birth in the tub. If the tub seems like its hindering labor we also prepared bed linens as a back up:

here's what we have -

2 sets of sheets (one for laboring, fresh set for after birth)

several pillows and are covering them with garbage bags under the bases

warm blankets

6 towels and 2 wash clothes to have on hand

plastic cover for bed and drop cloth (using a shower curtain liner) in front on bed.

for baby:

6 cotton receiving blankets

winter weight baby blanket

diapers and clothing :-)

and look what my friend is letting me borrow!!!

so happy to have my moses' basket :-)

for the birth:

iodine skin cleanser

24 gauze pads

gallon of distilled water

fever therometer

40 disposable under pads

sanitary napkins

bowl for placenta

clean squeeze bottle for rinsing if there are stitches

large black trash bags

flexible drinking straws

clean, comfortable clothing for nursing and after birth

herb teas and organic ginger beer for drinking during labor

simple foods for people in my home.

and as a SWEET extra -

an herb bath:

1/2 c sea salt

1 oz shepherds purse

1 oz uva ursi

1 oz witch hazel bark

2 oz comfrey leaf or root

1 large garlic bulb

cheese cloth to hold it all in :-)

And we finally have a "birthing room" that we temporarily set up in the house. It's not completely together, but almost. It worked out well since we were transitioning the girls into this room anyways once the baby moves into their old room. So we have a little twin bed in there for birthing with a large open space for the tub. It's directly across from our bathroom so the indoor hose will fit nicely from our bathroom sink into the tub in the room. This will make things a little easier for birthing since I can enjoy myself all in one location.

Some additional things we'll be doing to make it a better experience and as intimate as possible is adding some dim lighting by using lamps and soy candles. And we have a CD player that will be playing worship music in the background. There's a tv if I am in labor for a long time....but I suspect I won't be watching any movies....lol.

So there you have it. My home-birth 101....

I'm just about 38 weeks, so it could be any day now (yah!)

....looking forward to sharing more as this experience is all too new!