Home Birth Supplies Checklist

Parents’ suggested supply list:

Six to eight (6-8) clean bath towels (more, if planning a water birth)

Two (2) sets of clean sheets (see instructions for making the bed, below)

Ten (10) clean washcloths

One (1) medium bowl for the placenta, plus a site selected for burial

Four (4) large black garbage bags

Four (4) kitchen-sized garbage bags

One (1) plastic drop cloths – for the floor underneath the pool

Five (5) infant receiving blankets

One (1) thermometer for you and baby

One (1) bottle of hydrogen peroxide

One (1) bottle of rubbing alcohol

One (1) unopened bottle of olive oil for perineal massage, if desired, it is also good for using on the baby's bottom for the first few days to keep the meconium from sticking to them

One (1) large cookie sheets or pizza pans (to make a portable birth tray)

Heating pad, microwaveable heat source, or hot water bottle

One (1) large box of unscented maxi-pads (for postpartum)

Flashlight with fresh batteries

Baby wash or shampoo

A complete baby outfit including: a warm gown, an undershirt, socks and a hat

Birth Supplies Kit--There are two places to choose from, check them both out.

Birth With Love you can order a basic birth kit here, with or without Vitamin K shot.  This birth kit is a little more expensive but comes with more supplies, sitz bath herbs for postpartum and you can add the herbal afterpain tincture here (good for cramps if you are a 3rd time or more mom). 

OR

Your Water Birth order a basic birth kit with a custom fitted liner for the LaBassine pool.  Click on the "shop by midwife" menu to the left of the page and find WV, Delphine Silvermoon.  Email me for the code to get a 10% discount!

The birth kit should be ordered before your 36^th week of pregnancy.

Home Birth Registration packet FREE from your county Health Department – you should request this from your local health department early in your third trimester (around 28 wks). This kit contains the birth certificate application, erythromycin ointment for the baby’s eyes (in WV.  Ohio residents who want this for their baby can get a prescripton for it from their pediatrician.), health information pamphlets, and sometimes the needed supplies for the PKU testing.

Food for yourself and the birth team – it helps to keep everyone’s energy up during a long labor by having some good nutritious snacks on hand. Soups, sandwiches, salads, boiled eggs, cheese, peanut butter, crackers, and fruit are all good choices. Non-citrus fruit juice for mom helps keep the labor energy going. Gatorade is also an option. (Don’t forget coffee for the midwives!) It is also nice to have a meal in the freezer for after the birth. Birthing women are usually hungry after all that work so it helps to have food ready and on hand.

Important things to know and have:

By 36 weeks, have all the supplies gathered together in an easily accessible place. Please show your birth team where everything is, when we come to your house for the 36 week visit, so we can find things quickly if needed. We will also bring midwifery supplies, so think about where you would like us to set up our equipment, too. Some things (like towels and washcloths) you may not be able to spare from your household, so make sure you always have a clean supply on hand, ready for use at a moment’s notice.

Your bathroom and the planned birth room need to be kept as clean as possible after 37 weeks. Birth is not sterile by any means, nor is the home setting designed to be, but it does make for a much more comfortable, safe environment for the area to be as sanitary as possible.

Prepare your bed. First, use your better pair of sheets to make up the bed for your postpartum recovery. Then lay out the plastic-backed sheet (included in the birth kit) or a plastic shower curtain on top of your "recovery sheets," making sure to cover at least your side of the mattress. Last, re-make the bed again with an older pair of sheets (you may want only a fitted sheet) that you don’t mind getting soiled. After the baby is born, it is quick work to remove the soiled sheets and the plastic and have a nice clean bed for you.

The midwives need at least one clean, flat surface on which to set the birth supplies. That could be an extra little table, a dresser top, or some other similar surface. This is where the cookie sheets come in – we can set our supplies on them making a portable birth tray, and then carry them from room to room to follow you wherever you want to be for birth.

Make sure there is plenty of hot water available come birth day, whether in the hot water tank, or heating on the stove. For non-electric stoves, it is helpful to show the midwives how to start your stove in case it is needed.

In the wintertime it is a nice extra touch to have a blanket or two available for the midwives to use. Sometimes a long labor requires us to catch a little sleep and a warm blanket is always very welcome.

If you have older children that you plan to have present for your birthing, please be sure you have one person on your birth team (usually a friend or family member) whose sole job is to be tuned in to them.  Most kids do great at home births, but they should have the option of other activities in case they need a break from the intensity of birthing energy.  Prepare them for birth in the weeks before.  Consider watching home birth DVDs together and discussing them after. 

"You do not need permission to let your baby out.  You will know when it is time to push, because you won't be able to NOT."