Birth is an intimate and life changing experience for most women. The choice to experience it in a carefully and intentionally prepared space in your home will enhance it even further.
Today we’re talking about how to prepare your home for your home birth.
Beyond gathering the supplies necessary for a home birth, there are a number of things you can do to prepare your home for your home birth.
You should free it of clutter and negative energy, decorate it with beautiful and relaxing images and items. You should stock it with nourishing foods and drinks, and be sure to take care of logistical aspects of being wrapped up in birth and newborn for a few days as well.
Let’s look at these tips more in depth and make sure your home is totally prepared for your home birth!
1. Gather supplies for your home birth
One of the most essential steps in preparing your home for your home birth is gathering the physical supplies. You should discuss this at length with your midwife and be sure to consult our Ultimate Home Birth Checklist to make sure you’ve got everything you need.
Some of the supplies may come from a pre-made home birth kit, but many will be things you need to gather and acquire to help you with pain management and comfort during birth. You will also be getting items to protect your home from the mess of birth, and to help with an organized and effective clean-up.
Another big part of this process is gathering linens to be used in the birth. This will include things like towels, sheets, wash cloths, clothes for you and baby. Prior to your due date it will be important to sanitize these items and bag them in clearly labeled paper bags.
Get your home birth supplies organized
The more organized you have your supplies before your birth, the easier it will be on everyone when the big day comes. Consider grouping items with large plastic containers by category. You’ll also want larger pain-management related items in the same area (think, extra pillows, birthing ball, yoga mat etc.).
Lastly, don’t forget to throw everyday essentials into these supplies too. You don’t want your birthing team scrambling to find things like a brush, hair ties, or lip balm in the middle of your labor.
2. Physically prepare your birth and labor spaces
Once your home birth checklist is complete, or simultaneously, you should start to prepare the physical birth space within your home. For many women, this is their bedroom. Some of the preparations, like laying down plastic coverings and pulling out birth linens, can’t happen until labor really gets going. However, having a plan for all of this is important.
Remove unnecessary items and furniture
One thing you can do to prepare your birth space before you’re in labor is to edit down the room. Remove unnecessary or bulky furniture. Extra knick-knacks and clutter are also great items to remove. Clear spaces to place things will be a benefit to you and your birthing team.
Room to move around, and even get down on the floor with your birthing ball or yoga mat during labor will be important. Rearranging your room to create more walking space or areas for movement is a great idea.
How to prepare your bed for your home birth?
Some of the key items on your home birth checklist are the ones related to cleaning and protecting your home from birth. You should invest in a waterproof mattress protector, and maybe even 2! As soon as they arrive, get one on your bed ASAP. You’ll be so glad your mattress is protected in the event your water breaks during the night before you start labor.
As for preparing your bed for home birth? When your labor begins, you (or your support people) will want to get your sterilized sheets on the bed. A lot of people recommend setting up the bed like this:
- Mattress with mattress protector
- Clean set of comfy sheets (not for the birth, to be used during recovery)
- Another mattress protector over this
- Sanitized, old or second-hand sheets planned to be ruined/stained during birth
Additionally, you should have 2-3 light blankets clean and ready for birth. While most women are hot during labor, you can get some surprising chills when you are moving in and out of water or sweating a lot.
Have a plan to protect these spaces
If the room where you plan to give birth, or even areas you think you might labor, have things like expensive area rugs or throws, it’s a good idea to get them out of there for birth.
You can also mentally note what you plan to cover with protective plastic drop cloths, and how many extra sheets you’ll need for covering furniture.
Plastic drop cloths don’t exactly have a comfy vibe, and can easily stick to your feet. Putting old or second-hand sheets on top of your drop cloths (whether they’re on the floor or cover sofas, etc.) will feel a lot more comfortable.
Have baby’s supplies at the ready
You probably don’t want to have all of baby’s things in your actual birth space, but they should definitely be assembled and ready. For example, make sure baby’s sleep space is ready to go, so that once they are born and clean-up is done it can be easily added to your bedside.
Additionally, having baby care items together in one place will make your life so much easier. Consider having initial changing supplies ready in a convenient diaper caddy, burp cloths and swaddles, and even a nursing pillow and nipple cream ready to be quickly positioned at your bedside after the birth clean-up.
3. Clean and organize your home
This step of preparing your home for your home birth is one to do over the course of a few weeks or months. The time before a new baby arrives is an excellent time to really overhaul your home’s organization and clutter.
I can’t recommend spending time purging unneeded items in your home enough! The better organized your home is before baby arrives the easier your transition into life with a newborn will be.
Furthermore, the act of clearing your space physically is a wonderful mental exercise as well. It will help you prepare your home for a baby and provide so much satisfaction.
Once the organizing and de-cluttering is complete, deep clean your home a few weeks before birth. Then in the remaining time you’ll only need to do light day-to-day cleaning to make sure everything is in good shape.
Don’t focus only on the room you plan to birth in
A great place to start is in the birth room, but take this time to get your entire house organized and clean. You won’t regret it.
Consider getting help with this
At the very least, enlist the help of your partner in this process. These are also great tasks to include your family and friends in. You know, the ones who keep asking ‘what can I do to help?’. Have them come over and help you tackle a closet or room.
For the deep cleaning part, you may consider hiring a professional cleaning service as a gift to yourself, or, if you’re having a baby shower, register for a cleaning service and use it right before you’re due!
If you do wind up tackling this alone or with your partner, try to divide the cleaning over a few days so that you don’t overdo it.
4. Beautify your birth space
Beyond the organization, supplies, and cleaning of your birth space, now is the time to make it a beautiful space to give birth. You want it to feel peaceful, calming, and motivating for you. This is one of the best parts about birthing at home. It can look exactly how you want it to.
For some women, visually stimulating photographs or art work might be desired, but for others, a blank and very organized space is better. This is your chance to let your personality shine.
Consider lighting options
I highly recommend setting up various types of light sources in your bedroom (or whatever the birth room is) before your home birth. You will likely not want a bright overhead light as your only option.
Set up lamps on tables, and maybe even get a tall standing lamp with a dimmer switch to go in a corner. Christmas lights can also create a nice, warm but dim lighting option. Candles are another relaxing light source. If the idea of real candles makes you nervous, invest in some battery-operated ones.
Create something for your space
One amazing and therapeutic way to prepare mentally for your home birth is by creating something for your birth space. I love the idea of making your very own motivation board. It can include things like quotes about birth and motherhood, images that are beautiful and inspiring to you, photos of loved ones and colors that make you feel calm.
Some other ideas of things to make for your birth space:
- Birth affirmation cards
- Birth affirmation signs
- A birth affirmation banner
- A banner of beautiful and relaxing images
- Your own essential oil blend for your home birth
- Your massage oil for during birth
- A playlist or mix CD
If you aren’t really the DIY or crafty type, check out pre-made oil blends, massage oils, or birth affirmation cards to add to your space.
5. Stock your home with nourishing foods and drinks
A great activity for very early labor, or to assign to a loved one when labor begins, is a shopping trip to stock your home with nourishing foods and drinks. You can complete some of this ahead of time, but it’s best to buy perishable foods once labor begins.
During labor, you will be happy to have things like coconut water, broth, smoothies, and popsicles on hand. After birth, you will want some high calorie and high protein options. Be sure to have lots of nut
Fruits, veggies, dips, cheese and salads are also great to have in the fridge. During my labor, by mom was nice enough to stock our fridge with delicious pre-made salads from a local market. We appreciated having these healthy food options so much.
Take it a step further in the weeks leading up to birth and stock your freezer too! You will be so happy to have healthy, whole food meal options ready to be heated up.
Keep your midwife and birthing team in mind, too
During a home birth, it is considered your responsibility to have food available for your birthing team. It’s also a really wonderful way to show them how grateful and appreciative you are of their hard work. If your labor and birth wind up being especially long, it will be important there is food available for them.
6. Take care of logistics
Even though you are giving birth at home and won’t actually be away for any length of time, I recommend mentally preparing like you will be. This will allow your focus to be completely on birth and then the first few days with your newborn.
I’ve already mentioned things like stocking the house with food and making sure it’s clean and organized, but there are some other logistical things to arrange.
Pet Care
If you have pets in your home, think long and hard about whether you want them around for your home birth and the first few days at home. This will depend entirely on your animal’s personality and your connection to them. I personally loved hugging and crying into my dog’s neck during labor, but a more skittish or anxious dog may not be a great candidate for this.
Either way, if you decide to have your animals stay home with you, arrange specific care for them. This is most important if you have dogs. You don’t want you or your partner worrying about taking them on walks, or filling their water bowl during your birth.
Choose a trusted loved one, or hire a service to walk and care for them. Be clear with the person you choose about what will be going on. Make a plan for how they can care for your animals in a way that will cause the least disturbance or distraction to you.
Keep in mind that you will have people in your home who are not familiar with your animals. If applicable put signs on the doors indicating if animals are allowed outside or not, and reminding them to be aware of cats/dogs.
Childcare
If you have other children, it is essential to arrange childcare for them. This doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be home, but you’ll want to have a person dedicated to their care. This person should know their role and have no expectation about being present for the birth. For this reason, someone other than your partner is a smart choice.
Beyond that, you will need to reflect and decide if your other child or children can be home or should stay somewhere else during your home birth. Many families choose for their children to remain home. You can prepare your family about what to expect during birth and outline expectations for them as well.
Eliminate possible interruptions if possible
Your home birth isn’t a time that you want neighbor’s knocking on the door to borrow eggs, or a salesman showing up. A simple sign on the door requesting privacy will go a long way. You can decide how much you want to disclose 🙂
Additionally, try not to arrange any deliveries, home servicing, lawn care, etc. in the two weeks surrounding your due date. This will eliminate possible external interruptions that are in your control.
Have a plan for sharing labor and birth updates (or not sharing!)
No doubt that between you and your partner, there are a lot of people who are going to want to know the status on momma and baby. Think through your labor and birth update plan ahead of time.
- Do you want to wait until the birth is over to send out announcements?
- Are there certain people you want notified when labor begins?
- Could a labor update “phone tree” of sorts be put into place?
- Are there people in your life who need specific reminders not to post any updates or birth announcements to social media without your permission?
This is all totally up to you, but is something to definitely think through before the big day.
7. Prepare for a hospital transfer, just in case
The last step in preparing your home for your home birth is planning for the worst case scenario. Have things ready for a possible hospital transfer.
Should it be necessary, things will likely need to happen quickly. Streamlining it as much as possible ahead of time will reduce stress
What can you do to make sure you’re ready in the event of a hospital transfer?
- Pack a hospital bag for you and dad
- Make sure an infant car seat is safely installed in your car
- Have your keys, wallet and IDs in an easy to find location
- Ensure the car has gas in it and you know the fastest route to your nearest hospital
- Take a drive over to the hospital before you’re due and familiarize yourself with where the Labor and Delivery Department and Emergency Departments are located
Hopefully you won’t wind up needing to use any of this, but it essential to prepare just in case.
Now your home will be totally home birth ready!
With these steps, you’ll know your house is completely prepared for your home birth. It will make the experience relaxing, you’ll have everything you need, and your focus can be 100% on birth and baby.
The steps of these preparation should be completed in the month to weeks leading up to your due date. Be sure to PIN THIS article now so that you can reference back as your due date approaches 🙂
Happy birthing, momma!
