How messy is it really?

[njbeachgirl]

I'm having a homebirth regardless

I'm planning to birth in a birth pool but who knows maybe I will prefer dry land.

How messy does the room get? Blood, etc. I really want to birth in my bedroom.... everything in there is white or pale blue!!!

Do I cover everything with sheets? chux??

Sorry if this is a really weird question. My first birth was in the hospital and there were a million chux pads there that someone whisked away right after dd's birth.

[CindyCindy]

I think unless you have a problem (ie hemmoraging) it isn't actually that messy! Midwifes know what they are doing and how to clean up as you go, so you don't even know there was a mess when you are through. We had a sheet down on the bed, then a shower curtain, then another sheet. We had several large towels around and paper towels. My midwife would just wipe up whatever as we went along and threw it in a garbage bag. About 10 minutes after baby was born you wouldn't have even had a clue that a birth just took place!!! I was actually amazed!!! I am not sure about anybody else though.

[Isfahel]

Mine wasn't messy at all either, I didn't realize it until after because I was completely out of it during labor and transition, but my mom and friend made up the bed with a shower curtain as a protective layer and then they put an old blanket on top. Didn't really even need it though, I sat on a couple of towels and pretty much that was enough, not a bunch of goo or blood or anything. My water broke when I was in transition in the tub so that took care of that mess. So I would say don't worry about it, the shower curtain thing is kinda nice just in case though, I will probably do that again.

[ilikethedesert]

Mine wasn't messy either. I birthed in a birthtub, and granted the water was messy, but contained and there were chux pads on the bed for the placenta delivery. Other than that- I dindn't see any mess. Of course,my eyes were on the baby!

[DreamsInDigital]

I dribbled a little blood from the pool to the couch but it was easy to clean up. Chux on every surface you might sit or lay on.

[watermama05]

Mine wasn't very messy at all. I thought I would want to birth in the pool too, but once I started pushing I felt like I needed to be in the bed, so I went in our room (our mw had previously put a vinyl tablecloth and then sheets on the bed that we'd gotten as part of our homebirth supply list), where I gave birth. She put down chux pads too, and I remember her changing them after the placenta was birthed, but it wasn't messy that I remember. I was definitely expecting more blood. We had a beige carpet in that apartment, and nothing got on any of the carpet.

[sing4jy]

Mine wasn't very messy either. They put chux pad over everything that I might walk on/over or sit on. There was a line of chux pad from my bed to the birthtub and my bed to the bathroom, etc. My mw did a lot of the cleaning up. I had both boys on the bed and what we were instructed to do for that was to make the bed with nice sheets then put a shower curtain liner on top and make the bed again with sheets we didn't care about. I have the baby on the cheap Wal-Mart sheets, then after I deliver and want to rest, they take those sheets off and throw them in the wash, remove the liner, and presto...there are my nice sheets waiting for me.

[tinyshoes]

chux, chux, chux

and labor support people to place chux all over the place!

It's not that messy--and it's not your problem; that's why you hire midwives! You're having the baby--they'll clean up.

[cornpicker]

For us, the main mess was just everything shoved around to make room for the tub. It was so nice once we broke it down and got everything put away a few days later.

For the birth, I put down the shower liner in early labor, covered with cheap sheets. And of course we used a bunch of chux pads. Somehow I must have been off of them at some point, as there was a stain on the sheets, and one pillow got ruined. But like others have said, I don't even know how much blood etc there was as it all got cleaned up as I gazed at the baby.

Oh, and I was sure to put away my WHITE comforter and pillow shams when I set up for the birth! Just in case, you know.

[pixiedust]

the only reminder of my homebirth 2 days ago is a tiny spot of blood on the sheets that I havent' changed yet I had put a water proof cover in between that set of sheets and the top one's but it shifted some. Other than that.. I ended up laboring on the toliet for the most part.. so that was easy clean up, we put down towels around the toliet which is where my water broke.. and we have stained scored concrete floors so if anything DID get on there it was easy to wipe up. I don't think anything got on the floors though. The midwife had everything cleaned up w/in 30 min's of the birth

[cheeseRjedi]

I'd cover everywhere you plan to labor. At my birth a few dyas ago, I had the bed covered in plastic and another sheet, and a tarp on the floor. luckily I knew I would only want to labor in the bedroom and bathroom so we only had to worry abnout the bedroom. Every ctx pushed out a bit of bloody mucous or water. I pushed DS out on hands and knees on the tarp and when he came out, so did a slew of gunk and fluid.

[kim_nz]

I didnt find it that messy, i had DS on our bed and the midwife had put down sheets and towels etc and amazing caught everything including when my waters broke right before he was born. There was only 1 small patch of blood that went on to our sheets. With DS2 i birthed him on the floor in our lounge/leaning over the couch and it was a lot messier as i had my waters broken and there was so much of it!! But the midwives were good at catching everything and nothing got away, it wouldnt have mattered too much anyway as we have wooden floors. And it was fantastic as the midwives just cleaned everything up afterwards.

[QueenOfThePride]

I saw this thread from the main page, I didn't homebirth, but I have a comment. When my placenta detached, a lot of blood shot out of me across the room, probably about 10-12 feet. My midwife said it wasn't a hemorrhage, just pooled blood that the placenta was blocking, and shot out when the placenta got out of the way. So drape everything!

[Oliver'sMom]

I hemoraged really bad so I had a bit more mess than usual, but by the time I could even notice that there was a mess, my husband and midwife had it all cleaned up. hydrogen peroxide works wonders with blood stains!

[NatureMama3]

The only thing that was messy in the house was the toilet. The birth fluids were in the water (pool). I was surprised at how NOT messy it was. I had painter's plastic everywhere, even over our normal sheets (under sheets that could get stained) and chux pads all over.

I think the waterbirth aspect really helped the messy factor.

[Peppamint]

Originally Posted by njbeachgirl

Sorry if this is a really weird question. My first birth was in the hospital and there were a million chux pads there that someone whisked away right after dd's birth.

Same at home... the only time I've seen blood anywhere it shouldn't be after a birth where the momma hemorrhaged and it was fine because she had an old sheet and a waterproof cover over the regular sheets on the bed.

[CanidFL]

I pushed on my hands and knees then went in the shower after the placenta came out to wash up quickly. When I got back to bed you would have no idea I just had a baby there. There wasn't any mess anywhere. No idea what came out of me and how messy it was but my midwife cleaned it quickly. I labored on the toilet the whole time (2 hours 30 minutes) so if anything did come out, it went in the toilet then I walked to my bed to push and there was no mess on the way there.

[calipigeon]

I don't know if mine was messy or not. I did bleed a lot, but I was on a towel or chux or something. It was not my mess to clean up. lol At that point you are way more into your baby than anything else. Midwives are very used to birth clean up. hehe

[rad]

It totally isn't messy at all. I've had 4 babies and home and have always been amazed at how my room looked the same minutes after birth as it did before labor started. I did start putting a chux pad on the floor by my bed since my water has broken while I was in bed 3 of the births. The last time probably caused the most mess when it broke on my bathroom floor as I was getting out of the tub. Other than my water breaking, my midwife had any mess that was there out of sight very quickly. I got up nursed my baby and by the time I curled up in bed again, it was made and you never would have thought a baby had just born born there.

[Noelia430]

Mine wasn't messy at all. I had the baby on my bed and we had a few chux pads on it that got bloody. After I nursed the baby some and ate I took a shower and when I came back my room was straightened up. You would have never known I had just had a baby in there.
I was worried about the carpet and kept some peroxide on hand just in case but I never ended up needing it.