[ramona_quimby]

I'm pulling together a list of things for my husband and me to do when labor begins, including boiling lots of water for our tub, making herbal compresses, etc.

My question is: do you think it's necessary to heat up receiving blankets? We didn't do this with the first hb, but I keep seeing birth stories where people have heated up the blankets. Should we bother this time?

What else did you do during early labor to have handy for birth?

 

[charmander]

We tossed some blankets in the dryer for a few minutes to warm them up. Works great!

Good luck,
cmd

 

[ramona_quimby]

Aha! Excellent idea!

What about sterilizing them, though?

 

[LizaBear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramona_quimby Aha! Excellent idea! What about sterilizing them, though?

sterilizing recieving blankets ? Why ?

 

[cottonwood]

Well, the severed umbilical cord can be regarded as an open wound, I mean it starts closing up pretty quickly, but can still become infected, which is why we use a sterile instrument to cut it, so it seems prudent to have anything that comes in contact with it initially be cleaner than not. I'm personally not concerned about linens being sterile as long as they're clean, but for some people there may be reason to take that extra precaution.

One way to sterilize is to wash with bleach (or some other disinfectant) and then dry in a hot dryer until past the point that they feel dry. Or if don't have access to a dryer you can wash them in disinfectant, hang dry them (preferably in the sun) and then put in a paper sack and bake in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, with a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack. When done, put them in a clean container until labor.

 

[sahli29]

Have plenty of drinks and snacks ready.Prep the bed with plastic and sheet layers. Have covers ready for the floors in case you move around.You just never know what you will be in the mood for(and where) once laboring.Camera and video camera loaded and ready to go.Birthinig kit stocked.After birth herbs and snacks stocked.Hmmm can't think of anything else.We never did the warm blanket thing.Cap on head and towel wrapped around the baby each time. The only thing I wish I had gotten were some adult dipes.I felt silly buying/wearing them,but it would have saved us a few messes after the birth! I will get them next time for sure.
sara

 

[fourgrtkidos]

I would not wash my recieving blankets in bleach. That substance should not come in contact with a baby's delicate skin. You should wash them with other baby things in a non caustic laundry soap say like brand names: Bio-Kleen or Seventh Generation, or plain Castile soap like Dr. Bronner's. You can sterilize in yuur oven. I put my baby things in a clean brown paper bag taped shut with masking tape and baked the whole thing at 350 degrees F, for one hour, leaving it the oven after I turned it off, until it was cool. If you do not open the bag it will be clean. My midwife had me redo this everyweek until the baby came.

The hospital needs to be sterile to protect you from the myriad of germs unfamiliar to you there. At your home most of what your baby is going to come into contact with is normal flora for you and you will be passing on protection to her in your breastmilk. Very clean is good enough, at home. Please be careful about the cleaners you use. They will cause more problems than you realize.

 

[oshunmama]

We put the receiving blanket and baby's first clothes (for when we finally got them in them) on a heating pad set on low at the beginning of labor. Don't forget a little hat. Their heads do lose so much heat. I'm always much more concerned about a hat and socks than anything else.

And make sure you have something yummy and easy to prepare waiting for you to eat soon after the birth or that you have access to a quick take-out. You must replenish after your great effort--and good food is much more likely to tempt your otherwise occupied mind (I mean, you have your baby, who needs food) than something lame. We had a friend pick up a wonderful Indian meal I had written out as my order before labor. It was WONDERFUL!!

 

[SaraC]

To warm blankets for our HB we put a heating pad in our Moses basket with the blankets on top. It kept them warm. I wouldn't worry about sterilizing them. Birth is not a sterile process and all the germs your baby would be exposed to are not foreign ones like at the hospital.

I would also recommend soaking some maxi pads in an herbal bath then freezing them. They work great on sore perineums. I didn't tear with my last baby and they were still great for that first day or so.

Also, lots of healthy snacks for you and a meal to eat afterwards. I wanted a nice Lasagna with my last birth but ended up eating fast food.

 

[oshunmama]

I just wanted to add something OT but relating to my declaration that you need a good meal after your birth. I just read this week that labor costs you a whopping average of 30,000 calories!! NO WONDER my butt is so big!! It's all for labor!! LOL Now if it could all silently fall away once labor was done and nursing was established! LOL

 

[TurboClaudia]

T

Quote:

Originally Posted by oshunmama I just wanted to add something OT but relating to my declaration that you need a good meal after your birth. I just read this week that labor costs you a whopping average of 30,000 calories!! NO WONDER my butt is so big!! It's all for labor!! LOL Now if it could all silently fall away once labor was done and nursing was established! LOL

30,000????????!!!!!!!!!!!!????????? Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does this increase when your labor is 36 hours long? 'Cause I should have lost more than a few pounds last week after laboring with our babe! I had no appetite until hours afterward. I barely choked down half a turkey sandwich, and I think I strained some muscles in my pharynx 'cause it hurt to swallow for at least three days after he was born! I recommend easy swallow items!

And now back to you regularly scheduled thread programming...

warmly,
claudia

 

[laurata]

I didn't think it was important in my UC birth, and really regreted it afterwards. My dh didn't cope well after dd was born, and wasn't very responsive to my requests for a hat, blanket, etc. So my slow-to-start baby had to spend WAY too much energy trying to keep herself warm. We could have saved ourselves an ambulance trip and 36 hours in the hospital if we'd had warm blankets readily available. Next birth, I'll be putting blankets in a paper bag, on a cookie tray, in the oven, with it set at "warm" when labor begins. That way I don't have to worry about the blankets too much, or expect too much from dh.

 

[iamama]

IMO warm blankets are always nice. I remember after I gave birth I had a warm blaket spread over my baby and I and it was sooo wonderful. do it!