Home Birth Prep - What You Need In Your Home
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Please note: I am not a doctor and I am not giving medical advice. Information on this website is not intended to diagnose or treat any form of any disease or medical condition. This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only.
When I decided to switch from a “traditional” hospital birth to a home birth with a midwife, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was eight months pregnant and had about a month to get myself, my husband and my house ready to welcome our first baby in the comfort of our own living room.
(If you want to read more about how I came to the decision to do a home birth, you can read about it here.)
With the help of my midwife, I was able to quickly gather all of the necessary supplies in order to have a very successful home birth. Some were items I had to get from a special home birth site. Most were items easily found on Amazon. I’m listing them all here in one place (with links for your convenience) so you can get yourself ready with minimal stress. Any non-Amazon links are for a website called In His Hands. This is a site dedicated to home birth supplies for midwives and mamas.
Some of the items are pretty self-explanatory. For the ones that aren’t, I’ll make a note of why they’re on the list.
I hope this article can be your one-stop-shop for all your home birth supplies.
Birth Pool and accessories
Birth pool and pool liner
My midwife gave me a birth pool (with liner included) about a month in advance to keep at my house so we could have it inflated ahead of time on the day I went into labor. Many midwives do this, but in the event that you need or want to get your own, you can get it here.
Potable hose
“Potable” means that something is safe for drinking. You don’t want to use any old garden hose to fill your birth pool. This is the one I used.
Sink attachment
With the hose I recommend above, I needed an attachment in order to connect it to my kitchen sink. I recommend that you test the hose and sink attachment ahead of time so that you have confidence that they will work on the day you go into labor, as well as ensuring your hose will reach your pool, wherever you decide to place it.
Air pump
Pretty self-explanatory. I also recommend getting a pump and testing this ahead of time so you know that it works before going into labor.
Thermometer
This is handy to have so as to keep the water temperature at a comfortable level (between 95 and 99 degrees fahrenheit). You can get a submersible one that stays in the pool, if you want. I had a touchless thermometer that had an “object” setting and that worked just fine for me.
Large pots for boiling water
Have these handy to quickly warm up the pool in case it cools down too much while you’re laboring. Make sure you add the water while you are out of the pool so as not to accidentally burn yourself.
Plastic sheet
Protect your flooring by putting down a plastic tarp beneath your birth pool.
Labor and Delivery
So many towels
You’ll want lots of towels for staying dry and warm during labor as you’re getting in and out of the birth pool. You can put some down on the floor to keep from slipping on your plastic tarp. You’ll want some for after you deliver to get you and your baby dried off and cleaned up. I think I had about ten towels and that was sufficient.
Receiving Blankets
Get some soft receiving blankets to put over the baby while you are doing your uninterrupted hour (or more) of skin-to-skin after delivery. I also found them very handy for loosely wrapping around my newborn during the first week or more. Some of the onesies that we had seemed to put pressure on his umbilical cord and clasp, so just keeping him in a diaper and putting a light receiving blanket around him was what we opted to do.
Flannel backed vinyl table cloth
This acts as a waterproof mess-preventer to place under your sheets. The flannel backing helps to keep it from slipping all over.
Extra sheets
We used some old sheets (placed over the vinyl table cloth) on our couch as my "landing spot" after delivering my baby. Birth is messy and you don't get fully cleaned up right away. We snuggled, skin-to-skin, for over an hour there while my midwife and birth team cleaned up the living room, drained and deflated the birth pool, etc.
We were ready to toss the sheets after all this, but to be honest, they cleaned up just fine in the laundry so we kept then and will probably use them again for the home birth of baby number two.
Washcloths
We had maybe a dozen washcloths available. During my labor, we used them to wipe away sweat, cool down my forehead, warm compress during crowning… just have a bunch on hand, trust me.
![Utopia Towels [12 Pack] Premium Wash Cloths Set (12 x 12 Inches) 100% Cotton Ring Spun, Highly Absorbent and Soft Feel Essential Washcloths for Bathroom, Spa, Gym, and Face Towel (Grey)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51y5rd8iwKL._SL500_.jpg)
Two big bins to store everything
We kept all of the towels, wash cloths and receiving blankets in one bin, and most of the other supplies in the other. (Some of the smaller items - such as measuring tape, pain relief items like Dermoplast and arnica tablets, gloves, etc. - we kept in a little basket nearby, which later doubled as a place to store all of my breastfeeding supplies.)
Trash bags
For easy cleanup during and after, have a few large trash bags available for garbage and laundry.
Hydrogen peroxide
You’ll need peroxide on hand to clean and sanitize things around the house. It’s also very effective in getting blood stains out of fabric.
Gallon sized zip lock bags
Have a large zip lock bag nearby to store the placenta after the cord is cut. You can also use these to store and organize supplies.
Two large bowls
Once I delivered my placenta, it went into a big plastic bowl and I left it attached to my baby for the first hour or more while he and I snuggled and nursed.
The other plastic bowl was for when I was throwing up toward the end of my labor. I know, it's not glamorous, but delivering a baby comes with some less-than-glamorous moments and it's good to be prepared for them. I got these bowls at Dollar Tree, but here’s a link for similar ones on Amazon if you prefer to get them there.
Disposable underpads (chux pads)
These things are amazing. The amount of liquid they can catch and hold is mind boggling.
My midwife had these under me anytime I was laboring out of the pool, while I was pushing, when I delivered my baby, while we had our uninterrupted hour, in other words, all the time. My water broke during a contraction while I was outside of the pool. I delivered my kid on my living room floor. I am not exaggerating when I say that there was ZERO mess after the fact. Get a bunch of these pads. You'll be glad you did.
Net
Have I mentioned that childbirth isn't exceptionally glamorous? Laboring and pushing in the pool may result in some poop coming out of you. It's normal. Have a small fish net on hand so your midwife can remove it and you can go on laboring as if nothing happened.
Sterile latex gloves
Have a few pairs on hand (no pun intended) for your midwife to decrease risk of infection during cervical checks (if you choose to have those), catching the baby, dealing with perineal tears, etc. You can find these on Amazon, but I would get them here - they’re much more inexpensive.
Kitchen Items
Hydration: coconut water or “laborade”
Labor is very aptly named. It's hard work and it is important to stay hydrated throughout. If you like coconut water, this is a great source of electrolytes (minerals that, among other things, help your body distribute and utilize water). Vita Coco is my favorite brand.
You can also prepare "laborade" ahead of time. There are lots of recipes for this online, and you can augment it based on your preferences. At some point I'll write up my recipe and link it here.
Straws
Especially as you get to the later stages of labor, you will need all of your focus and energy to bring your baby down the birth canal and out. My husband had the job of ensuring I stayed hydrated and using a straw to get my laborade down was a simple but very effective way to make it a little easier.
Light snacks
In a hospital setting, you would be told that you cannot eat anything during labor. The only real medical reason for this is that, in the event of having to get general anesthesia (such as for an emergency c-section) there's a small risk of you breathing in small food particles and that could cause complications.
If you are having a home birth, I'm assuming you have no major complications, and an emergency c-section is very, very unlikely to be in your future.
That said, labor can be exhausting, and it can help to have some light snacks to keep your energy up. Don't go heavy (no steak or lasagne). Keep it light, and have a variety to choose from. Maybe some toast, some fruits, a light protein bar. For me, bananas and cucumbers were my go-to snacks during labor.
Food for birth team
My birth team consisted of my husband, my midwife and her assistant (who was also a doula) and my mom and dad. My dad's job was to take care of the rest of the birth team while the birth team took care of me. He had snacks for them, made them coffee and ran out and got pizza for the team.
Easy meals
After you have your baby, the last thing you're going to want to do is spend time in the kitchen, cooking up a big meal.
Make some food in advance, if you can. Have some freezer meals waiting for you that you can just quickly reheat and devour. Ask your best friend to bring sushi with her when she comes to meet your baby.
Newborn Items
Nose suction
Have one of these on hand in case you need to clear out fluids or mucous post-delivery to help the baby breathe.
Our kiddo had some intense boogers when he was about two weeks old. It was handy to already have the nose suction bulb to make breastfeeding easier for him (and me) in spite of his congestion. Some people swear by the nose frida, but I liked the old-fashioned bulb syringe.
Umbilical cord clasp
Pretty self-explanatory, this one. After a little over an hour of snuggles, my midwife put the cord clasp on and my husband cut the cord. You can get these on Amazon, but I’ve only seen them there in packs of 50 or more. I, personally, am not planning on having 50 children, so I got mine here. Maybe get a couple, just in case. They’re very inexpensive.
Sterile operating scissors
You can get sterile scissors for cutting the umbilical cord at the same store as recommended above for the umbilical cord clasp. Link here.
Paper measuring tape
A disposable tape measure is great to have for measuring your baby’s length and head circumference after birth. You won’t have to worry about cleaning it, you can just toss it after you’ve used it.
Amazon sells these in bulk, also. But you can get them here if you just want one or two.
(Your midwife will probably bring her own scale for weighing the baby - if you’re having an unassisted birth, you can find various kinds of scales on Amazon. My midwife brought her own, but here’s one that has decent reviews in case you need one.)
Newborn diapers
Have a few newborn diapers nearby so you’re not scrambling to find them when the time comes. Just a note, my first born came out weighing 9 lbs 6 oz, and we skipped right over size 0 and used size 1 from the beginning. I’d have both sizes on hand, just in case.
Note - I did not include hats, socks or mittens on my list - though these are commonly listed as necessary for newborns. I’ll write a separate article on this topic and link it here once done.
Postpartum items
There are a few must-have items for postpartum care, but I have a whole separate article on that which you can find here.