Did you labor/birth in bed?

[jdg]

Did you either birth in bed or spend a significant amount of time of your labor in bed? I'm planning a HB for sometime in June and can't picture myself spending a significant amount of time in my bed (or even in my bedroom, since there's a big bed filling up much of the space). I therefore had not been planning on "making up" my bed with plastic sheeting or anything in preparation, but have seen that a lot of people do so.

So, for those who have HB'd previously, did you end up needing to have your bed made up for it?

[at_the_hip]

With #4 I did not move much once in active labor. It was hard fast birth and she was born direct posterior. It was all I could do to cope and being in bed was what I needed.

I have delivered all of mine on land - in bed. I have delivered some on hands and knees, one on my side and moved to hands and knees for a sticky shoulder, and the last was on my back and side.

[GoBecGo]

I birthed ON bed...

My waters broke at 3am, i was asleep and it woke me up. I stayed in or on the bed until about 7am when i felt the need to walk a bit so i got up.

I spent the next 11 hours walking, in the bath, and sitting backwards on a dining chair. The heaviest part of my labour i was on the dining chair, for about 2 hours.

The midwives told me to go try to pee then lie on the bed for a second VE to see if i was in "real" labour (4 hours after first VE, after 11 hours of contractions, found me 50% effaced and 2-3cm). DD's head crowned when i sat on the toilet. I waddled back to the bed and lay down for my VE and she was born.

So not really - the bed was a good "platform" for crawling about on, hands and knees, side-lying etc., but i mainly wanted to be upright. If it hadn't been for the 2nd VE i don't think i'd have had DD lying down on my back on the bed! I was a first timer and couldn't believe i was having the baby when i "wasn't in labour yet" - you live and learn!

[broodymama]

With DD1 I labored in the birth tub in the family room. I got out of the tub when my midwife got there and I wanted to be checked (because I wasn't really sure I was in labor ) and two steps away from the tub my water broke as she crowned. She was born on the futon next to the birth tub, I did have a waterproof sheet (part of my birth kit) to spread out on it and some chux pads.

With DD2 I labored and birthed in the tub, then when I got out I moved over to the futon on some chux pads.

We have a waterproof mattress pad on our bed usually (between the kids and the cats, it's needed) so I just left that on, but didn't add anything additional on at the end of my pregnancies.

[Aka mommy]

I would absolutely have the bed made up just in case! With DD#2 i labored everywhere for 12 hours. Then the last 5 minutes i was on my bed in hands and knees. She was born Occiput Posterior. It was just the position she needed to be born, much to my sadness over it not being a waterbirth lol.

Surrogacy we hadn't planned a homebirth. I labored for 2 hours and for some of it on the side of the bed, only thing that was stable enough for me to strongly grasp and hold onto the railing while squatting. I also labored a LOT on the toilet. Ended up jumping up and running to the bed, she was born 5 minutes later while on hands and knees. The bed was NOT made up this time, and i wish it had been lol. I had no intention of birthing there and yet its where i was drawn to.

[phathui5]

Needed the bed ready here.

I labored all over the place, in the house, walking around the block, on the front and back porch. When it came down to the end though and I was tired, I headed for my bed. It was comfy and familiar. I rested and then pushed ds out.

[UmmAbduRahman]

It's a good idea to make up the bed with plastic under the sheets anyway. You never know when your bag of waters may break and where you may be. Don't wanna ruin a good mattress!

[erin_brycesmom]

I never once got in my bed during labor and certainly not for the birth. I did not put any plastic on the bed or anything else to protect it because I knew that I would not be getting in it. It worked out well for me. I gave birth in the tub. I Just knew the bed was the last place I'd want to be for birth. It's hard for me to take a body led stance in a bed. And I never had one single vaginal check throughout my 3 day labor. I had very very minimal bleeding after the birth so a simple pad in my undies was enough to protect my bed once I went to sleep following the birth.

[Maximeee]

My daughter was born on my bed. I didn't feel like moving around at all and pretty much labored on and next to my bed.

[buckeye_bebe]

A lot of my labor was in the middle of the night, so I tried to get some rest while we "watched" a movie. So yes, I spent quite a bit of time in bed. I alternated the night time with bed, shower, bed, other shower, bed. I got to sleep between contractions for a bit, which was better done in bed than the showers. Good luck!

Oh, and I did disaster bag it. Same with the car.

[*MamaJen*]

I spent a lot of the day in early labor moving around, but as I got into the first part of active labor, I found it really comforting and comfortable lying on my bed, on my side, in my dark bedroom. I did that for about an hour while they filled the birth pool, but then once I got into the birth pool I was set. I didn't actually do the waterproof sheets on the bed (I did put on the old raggedy sheets), though if I had expressed a desire to get out of the tub and labor in my bed, I'm sure the midwives would have gotten it really really fast for me.
I think one thing that's true for a lot of women is that it's really hard to predict what you'll want during your labor. I imagined myself laboring in every room in the house, but just stuck to the tub and the bed. Some people imagine they'll give birth in the bed but wind up pushing the baby out in the bathroom or the coat closet or something.
It might be a good idea to have a plastic sheet on hand (a cheapy $5 shower curtain liner works well.) The midwives can put it on for you if you want to get in the bed. Or you could just throw a chux pad down.

[averlee]

I did spend the last hours of labor on my bed, and delivered there also. How I prepped the bed- first, encased the whole mattress in a big vinyl cover with a zipper, then a set of black sheets from the thrift store, then a big plastic sheet (a painting dropcloth), then a set of really, really old and ugly sheets. After the birth, we stripped away the messy layers and I had my clean black sheets, and the mattress still protected, which was excellent for all the postpartum bleeding and lactation.

[Comtessa]

We did the same (I'm an over-preparer), though I hadn't planned on using the bed at all. I'm glad we did, b/c the MW ended up breaking my water on the bed and it was good to have extra layers of mattress protection.

[Belle]

Well,

I did break my water on my bed. I got up and ran to the bathroom really fast when I felt it break and managed not to get any on the bed. I did have the mattress decked out with plastic underneath so all would have been fine anyway.

But I didn't go into labor right away. 36 hours after my water broke my labor started and I spent most of my labor on the toilet. Then I moved to the birth tub for the big emergence. When I was actually in labor I shyed away from the bed.

If I had to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad I had the bed prepared, but I probably wouldn't birth there either.

[desertgirl01]

During hard labor, I spent alot of time standing or on all fours. I spent about 2 hours pushing in the water, mostly squatting or on all fours, with not much happening. My midwife wanted me out of the water where I alternated squatting on land, the birthing stool, and lying on my side in the bed. Lying on my side HURT, like something was ripping away from my insides, so when I was on the bed I was actually pushing on my back, which I thought I'd NEVER do! And actually, that's where I made the most progress, or I should say, where my baby made the most progress. My baby ended up being born on the bed, after 4 hours of pushing, even though I really wanted a water birth and never imagined I'd end up birthing on the bed.

My labor started with my water breaking as I stood up from sitting outside, so I didn't need the bed prepared for that. When I pushing on the bed, the midwives had laid out some sort of drop cloth and chux pads, which were needed as once the baby was out a bunch of meconium stained water followed behind her. And the blood, etc. Chux pads are pretty amazing.

[100%mom]

I put a waterproof mattress pad on my bed in case my water broke before hand, but I never labored in bed with either of my home births.

My first home birth was a water birth. I labored on the toilet until the midwife said I could get in the pool.

My second home birth I also labored on the toilet until I had to push, then I was on hands and knees leaning over an air mattress we had set up for after the birth. For my second birth I had planned another water birth, but my baby came too fast and the water was too cold.

[jdg]

I talked to my midwife about whether/how to prepare my bed today. I wanted some alternative other than plastic sheeting, because it's already warm enough that I'm sleeping with no more than a sheet on top of me and the plastic sounded like it would be both hot and possibly crinkly/loud.

She wasn't worried about the labor itself, as she usually just preps the bed with chux pads if a woman wants to labor there. And statistically, she said there's about a 5% chance of my water breaking while I'm in bed, so I could decide how much of a risk that was to my mattress. But she did point out that I'd want a solution that would work for me after the birth, since the baby will spend at least some time in bed with me and that means possible diaper leaks, milk leaks, etc. What I came up with that I think will work for me is using a waterproof crib flat pad, either under my fitted sheet or on top (depending on how it feels against my skin). Something like the Naturepedic flat crib pad but hopefully cheaper because that's a LOT of money!

[cocoanib]

We prepared the bed at the onset of labor. I labored quite a bit in bed on my sides. I birthed in front of the bed. After ward though, I got up in bed with baby to lay downa dn there was blood everywhere.

[Pepper44]

I planned on giving birth in the tub, but I found that I felt really out of control there when it came time to push. I wanted to get on the bed suddenly, so I'm glad we made it up!

We put the plastic sheeting down on the bed once we called the midwife. I wouldn't want to put it on before going into labor because it was really crinkly and kind of slippery with the sheets on top of it.

It was a good thing we had the plastic. I was on a bunch of chux pads, but where my DH was sitting behind me blood and whatever else ran backwards onto his jeans and onto one big spot on the sheets. Without the plastic the mattress would have been a mess right there!

[J's Mama]

I never would have anticipated it but I ended up giving birth on my bed. It was not ready and I wish it had been. Granted my DS was born 6 days early and came *very* fast, so my midwife said that birthing him lying on my side would slow it a little and prevent me from tearing. This time I will be prepared for anything! That said, I didn't labor in the bed at all. Just got on when it was time to really push him out.