Freshening the air after the birth

[magrat]

DD and I are just getting over stomach flu and people keep commenting that the house smells like a sick house! It got me thinking - will the house smell like a birth house after this baby is born? DD was born in the hospital, so obviously there were a lot of smells going on there already. We want to have people over pretty soon after the baby is born but I don't want my house to smell funny or bloody or anything (I'm very big on odorless houses). It will be March in MN so we won't be able to open the windows for fresh air, any ideas we can plan ahead for? I don't want any strong odors like candles or incense. Maybe just having cookies or bread ready to bake would help? Am I being crazy? I know it's kind of trivial, but I was just thinking about it and realized I had no idea.

[Bmorefarmgirl]

i would not think that the whole house would smell. ? probably just the room you end up in. and after the clean-up, when all the chux pads are in trash bags and the dirty sheets and stuff are in the laundry, i would imagine it would not smell like much at all. most people plan to have a post-birth meal. maybe make sure you are cooking a delicious-smelling meal and not just having sandwiches or something. cook some bacon and eggs or some bread or rolls would be awesome.

[AFWife]

I haven't had a HB (yet lol) but when I was checking out a birth center they mentioned that they always bake bread when a woman is in labor...

[laughingfox]

I expected a smell afterwards in my house, but there wasn't one at all. The birth attendants all cleaned up and took out the trash, and you could not tell anything had happened at all.
I have a pretty strong sense of smell, too.

[dydy]

I don't think you're being crazy. Birth has a definite, distinct smell. I was thinking I'd go with the baking cookies or bread after the birth. I'm due in Feb/Mar in Michigan but I'll probably still open a window upstairs to get the air circulated.

[Astraia]

What a fabulous idea.

Whether or not birth actually smells (you probably wouldn't notice it- it's YOUR smell, right?), I think that having bread or cookies or something spicy smelling for the babymoon period would be really lovely.

I'll need to make up some cookie or bread dough for the freezer just for this purpose

[BarefootinBrooklyn]

Birth does have it's own unique aromas, but once the area is cleaned up it's probably nothing a candle or incense can't improve upon. And having someone bake cookies isn't a bad idea either in any case!

[MammaV]

Hey, another MN homebirther! For my other winter baby (january) I didn't notice a whole lot. He was born in the dining room and after I had a shower and we went to bed where we stayed. For my summer baby (june) we opened the windows during the clean up time. Once all the trash is gone, tub drained and cleaned, things seem pretty normal. My 6yo told me the birth room smelled like toots though during labor...lol
I'm expecting my third homebirth to occur any day now and since it will be nice this weekend, if baby comes, we can just open a window for 5 minutes or so. The birthing room seems to be the main room affected by smell. We're doing it in the dining room again, and since we have patio doors, we can open it up for a few minutes during the clean up time.

[magrat]

Thanks for the advice! Sounds like bread will be perfect, my husband makes dough a la Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, so it should be easy to keep it on hand leading up to the birth. It will be especially perfect if this baby comes early morning like the last one! Sure will beat whatever it was the hospital gave me for breakfast

MammaV "Nice out" is clearly all relative, I'm not sure a high of 25 is that great!