Getting ready for a homebirth mentally and emotionally

[Cassius2]

yeah Jen, it was pretty insane at times with the colostrum. also happened when i did my calmbirth breathing and visualisations in bed of a night...so cool.

[meow]

A few things that helped us feel ready were:

- Setting up the birth space. For me that included painting an orange feature wall behind the birth pool. I just needed to have a huge splash of orange. I knew I wouldn't read words or look at pictures in labour but colour really connects to me.

- Watching births. I found the Orgasmic Birth DVD especially good as it helped my H and I talk about the birth and my expectations of his support. He was an awesome support first time around anyway but there were some things I wanted to clarify.

- Preparing the house for after the birth. I really struggled afterwards the first time around so for our HB I had a freezer full of home cooked meals, a zillion healthy snacks, organic fruit/veg box delivery and cleaner all sorted. I even sorted the linen cupboard and labeled where everything went because my H throws stuff in and I DID NOT want to have to help find a fresh cot pillow case in the middle of the night if our older son needed his bed changed!

- Homeopathics and herbs. I saw a homeopath and got a birth kit of things from her. That was AWESOME because she asked all about the previous labour, my support systems etc. and it was such an emotionally nourishing experience. She then gave me a kit based on my needs and I used them in late pregnancy, labour and after birth. I also got some herbal teas and bath soaks from Blissful Herbs and again they were AWESOME. I felt so well cared for and loved having these healing herbs to soothe my body before and after birth (and help with healing my tear that I decided not to stich). It all just felt like the icing on the HB cake!

[Cassius2]

- Homeopathics and herbs. I saw a homeopath and got a birth kit of things from her. That was AWESOME because she asked all about the previous labour, my support systems etc. and it was such an emotionally nourishing experience. She then gave me a kit based on my needs and I used them in late pregnancy, labour and after birth. I also got some herbal teas and bath soaks from Blissful Herbs and again they were AWESOME. I felt so well cared for and loved having these healing herbs to soothe my body before and after birth (and help with healing my tear that I decided not to stich). It all just felt like the icing on the HB cake!

oh yes! this was super for us as well! i got the arnica (for swelling and bruising etc.) and saw a naturopath to prepare a post birth concoction that would help my body adjust to the loss of the super placenta and all it's goodies. i struggled after the birth of DD1 and wanted to stave off any possible PND recurrence. i reckon it helped heaps in that it kept all my good vitamins etc up there until i could produce them myself again ITMS.

i also bought a bottle of calendula to pour onto maternity pads that helped with any grazes/stitches (thankfully only a graze this time!). that was so so soothing.

Like Meow mentioned, I also needed to have all this in place before she was born as i needed to basically bunker down when i was near the end. this was such an intense thing and i do believe that it is intrinsic to mamas birthing at home.