Homebirth General Discussion #5

[~Stoked~]

Tashy, I'm so glad you have such good support via your midwife and GP. And that you're feeling alot better after your chocolate and rest.. Its amazing stuff, chocolate. Just about to have some myself actually! Although, weighed myself today and have put on 13kg so far already.... Eeeekkkkk!!!! should really give it a miss but unfortunately don't have the will power!

[LionsandBears]

I did kind of overdo it on the choccy. I bought a block of plain and a block of Snack and alternated i didnt eat it all, so they're on the bench tempting me.

Lady-bug: how are things going? All prepared?

Which room do people normally set things up in? We have an open plan living/kitchen at the back that might do. Close to taps. Just wondering if it's 'nesty' enough. It's got a big TV which I might cover. Otherwise it acts kind of like a mirror.

Did anyone worry about making noise and the neighbours? I dont really want to tell people our business but dont want the cops knocking on the door either. I'm not a screamer (not during birth anyway ) but I can really roar. I dont want to scare the old dears next door.

[meow]

Tashybabe- I just want to put this out there as a resource for you but I strongly suggest you DON'T READ IT NOW. This is an amazing short book written by a mother about her journey to deciding to homebirth her son who was diagnosed with trisomy 13. I think if it becomes a decision any of us have to make then she has written a great resource to support anyone through such a difficult choice, no matter what decision you make. But it's a full on story to read. I still recommend it to everyone though.
Welcome - Trisomy Oz Prenatal Support

As for making noise, I didn't worry about it. You only make the really loud noises for short bits. It'll be fine

[Lady-bug]

Tashybabe-Sounds like you've got a great plan worked out. I am amazed by your strenght
Thanks for asking about me. All is ready to go, although bubs seems very comfy in there and doesn't appear to want to make a grand entrance anytime soon. Had a shocking nights sleep (brain was in over-drive) so really hoping nothing starts today as I will be super tired

Who else is close? PumpkinZulu??

[onthefly]

We used our front room, as it's a bit cosier, and left the kitchen/dining area for the midwives to have their tea I made a lot of noise and I was sure neighbours must have heard me, but nobody's ever mentioned it, though one of my neighbours did get worried about the ambulance turning up. Never mind about the old dears

[~Stoked~]

We have an open plan living, dining and kitchen area so we only had one area to use really. We ended up putting the pool in the perfect spot really, close to the kitchen taps and also close to the backdoor for emptying. We live on six acres so didn't need to warn the neighbors as they don't live close, but our closest neighbors knew anyway. I do wonder if they thought we had bought ourselves a cow though, with all the mooing that was happening

[PumpkinZulu]

We'll be doing a letter drop for our neighbours...we live in a block of flats! Lol! I don't really want to tell everyone, because I hate all my neighbours (they're soooooo rude), but at the same time, hardly any of them speak English very well, and I don't really want a knock on the door and them yelling at us, or the police rocking up! We're setting up the pool in the loungeroom, it's a pretty small flat so that was pretty much the only spot. We'll cover up/move thongs like our tv, computer etc.

36 weeks today, I week until I can birth at home

[meow]

One of the reasons I convinced myself I couldn't homebirth my first baby was because we lived in a small apartment and I thought everyone would hear and I wouldn't be able to relax. I ended up staying at home till I felt like pushing so I spent the whole night labouring in the that small apartment and making a heck of a lot of noise I remember having my head mashed against the cool, open window at about 2am, groaning away in the shower and thinking "I guess the neighbours must be able to hear that". But I didn't care and no one ever said anything.

[Cassius2]

i had our birth space set up in the dining. there was the heater there to heat the towels for bubba and also was within reaching distance of the washing machine taps to fill the birth pool up from and close to the kitchen that DH could lug hot pots of water and bring me ice. my big 'thing' was to not be in sight or line of the front door. it felt too exposed for me. in the last 3 months i really began collecting the things for the room and 'tweaking' them all until it felt right (ie oil burner, oils, photos, affirmations etc.

as for the neighbours: well thankfully we are all friends and they were supportive of our choice. i wasn't a screamy loud birther with DD1, but didnt know how this would go as it was my first go at home (and i didnt labour at all at home with dd1). in the end they heard nothing! i wasnt loud i am told at all, but i was sure thst one or two were pretty guttural as DD2 descended. but nup, nada. i also figure that being an afternoon birth all the day noises probably would of covered alot of sound anyway....

[Liz]

We will be setting up the pool in the dining room.. which is an open room with the kitchen and a family room. Not really planning on decorating the space or anything. I guess I'll set up a few candles or something for dimmer lighting if it's at night. But I'm not even convinced yet that I'll use the pool LOL.. so my 'space' might just be wherever I happen to drop to birth!

I had a scan today, which showed bub at a good size (they est 3kg already.. but not worried... just glad it's smaller than DD was!) Cervix is long and closed, so hopefully we'll get through the next 2 weeks without a hitch. Bub is still breech, so I've booked acupuncture for this friday to start doing something about that! Not keen on doing head down bum up.. hurts my breathing and gives me reflux! So hopefully acupuncture and moxa will work

Lady-bug! yay for being due! Hope things get moving for you soon Will look forward to hearing about it

[HotI]

Has anyone birthed in their normal bath? i think i would prefer that to a birth pool in the living area.

[LionsandBears]

I keep telling this bub s/he needs to slip out in the bath. The problem being, it's really shallow. My fear would be bub lifting out of the water when pushing, then dunking them back in again. Also, there's the whale factor to consider There will come a time I'm not going to be able to maneuver. Lying on my back in labour is the worst. I hope a bigger pool is better for moving and keeping back and front warm at the same time. Mind you, I didn't use a birth pool last time. I spent most my time in the shower or on the loo. I may prefer that again this time.

[meow]

I would have hated our bath- I couldn't move in there by the end of the pregnancy. I loved the deep birth pool. It depends on your bath though I guess. I remember seeing Rikki Lake birth in her bath on BOBB and it looked damn uncomfortable to me. I used the shower first labour but the pool kicked arse this time around! I had a super deep pool so could kneel and be upright.

We set our master bedroom up as the birth room. We didn't use it for ourselves as it's at the front of the house away from the other bedrooms, so it was only being used as a study/spare bedroom. It was great because it felt private and tucked away and had an ensuite so filling the pool was easy.

[LionsandBears]

How big are the pools anyway? How much room do you need, including people being able to get around them?

[~Stoked~]

There is no way I could've done it in a normal bath either.. Firstly, we don't have one! Secondly, I guess the only way you'd be under the water is if you were on your back, and there was no way I could've birth on my back. If you have a bigger bath, like spa sized or a corner bath you could probably do it.
The birth pool I used was a blow up one... Um.. LaBassine or something? Deep enough so that I was squatting and my tummy was completely underwater. It wasn't that big really, but deep. The area we had it set up in was about 3m sq and there was plenty of room. I know the wooden ones are much bigger. I loved the blow up one as the edges were like a pillow to lean on.

[Tegam]

Tash: NAH NAH NAH works for me!

Meow: Normally id race in there and read that link but just not feeling i have it in me, but thanks for sharing and super thanks for the warning!

LadyBug: Cant be too far away... well that is if you arent like Mad

I didnt set up anything special for DS birth and just had the important stuff in boxes in our room. Same really for DD3 but i just moved it to whichever room i was sleeping in that night LOL.

Never birthed in water... Normal bath looks too small to me tho!

BBL

[Cassius2]

Has anyone birthed in their normal bath? i think i would prefer that to a birth pool in the living area.

my concern would be size constraint...and the fact that it isnt padded... what i loved about my birth pool that i hired was that it was super soft on my knees and had a really wide inflated edge for me to really lean into and grip/hang off and also allowed my birth support to comfortably sit on...oh and did i mention the awesome size lol?! i loved being able to move away from my people so that i could get away from them to the far corner and just focus on Marta and I...

Tash: hmmmm cant remember the exact dimensions...but you can check out the picks on my FB i found there was enough room to switch sides and stretch out etc.

[PumpkinZulu]

Yay we got out birth pool from the midwife today! It's purple Makes everything more real and exciting, that's for sure. We also have drugs in our fridge For 3rd stage, in case of a bleed. Need to hire a TENS machine and we're pretty much set!