What would you add to this birth kit?

[amrijane128]

Here is the standards birth kit that my midwife asks you order:

20 - Underpads, 23" x 24"
1 - Plastic Backed Sheets
2 - Flexible Straws
1 - Measuring Tape
1 - Sanitary Pads, Dozen
1 - Peri Irrigation Bottle
1 - Basic Cotton Cap
5 - Alcohol Prep Pads
10 - Gauze, 4" x 4", Package of 2
1 - Bulb Syringe, 2oz
6 - Pairs Gloves, Latex, 7.5
3 - Single Gloves, Latex, Medium
1 - Cord Tape
1 - Wish Garden Sitz Bath Herbs

Supplies like towels, bowels, trash bags, etc. are already around the house, but I was wondering if there is anything else "medical" you would order from the website? Will 20 underpads be enough? The website I will order from is 1cascade.com, and they have lots of other homebirth supplies, just thought I'd check what everyone else found useful. Thanks!

[SamGroom]

looks pretty good to me.

do you have sweet almond oil or some other oil for hot compress, I also use it on the toilet paper after birth when I wipe. It makes it sooo much more comfortable.

**forgot, maybe some lubricant my HB kit had them in there in small packages.

[Lilcrunchie]

Depending on the layout of your house, I personally like having extra peri bottles so I can have one per bathroom. I usually order an extra one or two for washing an infant's hair, etc. down the road too.

I know many mamas just use the herbal sitz bath mix in a regular tub for an herbal bath, but if you have any interest in an actual sitz bath maybe you'd want one of those? I've never used one personally but just a thought. I just made up some of the wishgarden herbal sitz mix into a "tea" and froze it on some pads and extra 4x4 gauze (along with some witch hazel).

My midwife's kit is from cascade. I ordered myself (from other sites) extra chux pads (super handy to have IMO anyway), picked up some peroxide as it is supposed to make it easier to clean up any blood drips or for getting blood, etc. out of linens (towels, sheets). Picked up some goldenseal capsules (DS we did nothing w/ his cord and it fell off after a week or so. DD's hung on for a while and was a little gooey and they put silver nitrate on it, so I'd like to have another option this time). I picked up some nipple cream from Earth Mama Angel Baby. Oral K from birthwithlove. Extra pads to freeze (have a good mama cloth stash), and extra 4x4 gauze to soak in sitz bath herbal mix/witch hazel. Picked up some depends since some people swear those are really nice in the first day or two when bleeding is heavy and pads tend to shift around (I hate rolling in bed and then feeling a leak!!) while I'm trying to rest/sleep. Got a few of the instant cold pack pads (you "crack" them and they have a built in ice pack. I love some ice post partum, personally). Olive oil for compresses. Have some EVA (non PVC) shower curtains and plastic sheeting.

I think I overdid it a bit but this is our third baby and first homebirth I know a lot of it will be useful even if not used right away (chux pads when kids have a stomach virus or mama has super leaky breasts in the first few weeks). Shower curtains can be used to replace our existing ones, etc.

I got a mattress "bag" too because we just bought ours about 3 years ago and it was a bit of an investment for us so I felt better having something that could only shift around so much, kwim?

eta: hand mirror as my other two kiddos were born as land babies and I really liked the motivation of seeing their heads emerge

[mysticmomma]

more chux. I used them instead of pads. Just sat on them everywhere and threw them away for the first few days. Afterease for after pains... wonderful. Lube. Peroxide.

[possum]

If your midwife is experienced and you have confidence in her, I would generally stick with her suggestions for your birth kit. I know that my midwives actually carried things like little single use KYs, sterilized re-useable cord clamps and such while other midwives have KY and disposable cord clamps included in a kit.
Your midwife probably knows what she will need at the birth and has selected the kit accordingly.

If there are things you think you would want, like extra chux to sit on (I actually just had plently of extra. I think there were 20 in my kit.), extra sitx herbs ('cause sitz herbs were really nice, and I wished I'd had them for longer than just a couple of days), or things like that, I'd say go ahead and order them.

I would also include a hand mirror in your kit. I put one in just in case, and it was SO helpful after pushing for a while when I could finally see my baby's head. It gave me the umph to keep going!

Melinda

[gardenmommy]

The only things I added to my MW's kit (also from cascade) were the following:

goldenseal powder for the cord
herbal sitz bath
footprinter
cold packs (just a couple for right after the birth, since I plan to use witch hazel-soaked pads)

My MW said she really likes that birth kit, and finds it to be pretty complete. The other stuff I ordered for *me*, since I have found from experience (this is my 4th HB) that I like them a lot.

You might ask her if there is anything else she would like to have on hand for the birth that aren't included in the birth kit.

[MJB]

I'd add mesh undies and a footprinter. Those mesh undies are great for the first few hours when you're bleeding lots.