What a perfect day to talk about the essential items for any birth kit! We'll provide a checklist of all recommended items, supplements, supplies and more to have ready for both home & hospital births. Don't worry, we get plenty bougie with our recommendations and cover all the bases, so feel free to go big or more simple. PLUS, we'll give you a bonus tour of our bags and what we bring to every visit & birth!
Getting Prepped for Your Hospital Birth
Firstly, you're planning a hospital birth... what should you pack?! Now, I'd like to mention this; The hospital will have literally everything you would need, if you were to walk in off the street without a single thing. So they do have toiletries, sanitary products, diapers, toothbrushes, hairdryers, pillows, blankets and more! Take advantage of what they have, it's built into the price. Let them diaper your baby, use their pads and toothpaste. More importantly, try to envision your ideal space and bring items that allow you to curate that vibe.
Wallets & IDs
Chargers - for cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc.
Comfort items to enhance your birth space
Favorite pillow & throw blanket (smell like home & way more comfortable than the hospital's)
Diffuser and favorite essential oil
String lights for ambiance
Affirmations
Soft bathrobe or hospital gown alternative
Water cup
SNACKS!! Depending on if you want to cart a cooler around with you, consider bringing your favorite, nutritionally dense snacks along with you.
Chia gel electrolyte packets
CHOMPS sticks
Bone broth
Fresh fruit
Granola / Granola bars
Yogurt
Honey sticks
Nut butter (peanut, almond, etc.)
Going home outfit for your fresh new bundle (with at least one backup, just in case!)
Going home outfit for you too!
Getting Prepped for Your Home Birth
Next up, our recommended essential items for home births. This is the actual checklist that we provide to our clients in their handbook. But I've included a ton of additional items we are known to recommend to everyone. For the sterile & disposable supplies, we link the website directly to the birth kit, which they are encouraged to purchase around 35wks. So let's chat about gathering all of these items together!
Bed Supplies
Mattress protector
Vinyl shower curtain liner
2 complete sets of bed sheets
Setting up your bed
When labor begins, either when your water breaks or when you're calling your midwives to come to you, set up your bed like this:
Mattress protector
Clean set of sheets, fitted & flat!
Vinyl shower curtain liner
Second clean set of sheets, fitted & flat!
Additional Supplies & Highly Recommended Supplements
Heating pad (for use in labor & postpartum!)
Wash clothes (not many needed, but if you need a number, 4 is plenty)
Face clothes (again, not many, but 2-4 is great)
Bath towels (2-4, but if you can spare them, the more the merrier!)
Magnesium (Natural CALM or Mag07)
Emergen-C, Liquid IV or other desired electrolyte blend
Benadryl, TylenolPM or Unisom (for prodromal or long early labors)
Ibuprofen (for postpartum use only!)
Water Birth Supplies
Obviously a birth pool! Logistically, it's easiest to use your own tub, should you have a large soaker or deep garden tub. If you have a standard bathtub, these may not limit the amount & types of positions you can be in for delivery and also are not deep enough to give you the natural relief that comes from submerging fully into water. Many midwives have pools for rent or included in their home birth costs.
Garden hose - brand new, standard hose that is not of non-kinkable variety
Adapter for hose-to-sink or hose-to-shower-spigot connection, otherwise we recommend connecting the hose directly to the hot water of the washing mashine, as you do not need an adapter there!
Bath towels, 4-6 in addition to what you've already gathered for a land delivery
Drop cloth or "Carpet-Saver" plastic to protect flooring under tub
Fish net (small, aquarium type - not for actual fishing, guys *wink* )
Cleaning Supplies
2 regular kitchen trash bags or 1 large construction trash bag
1 roll paper towel
Hand soap
Hydrogen Peroxide - Costco or Sam's Club size!!
Disinfectant wipes and/or preferred cleaner
Postpartum Supplies
Disposable underwear for lochia/postpartum bleeding (such as Depends or Frida Mom - the latter being ultra premium, comfortable and highly recommended!!)
Long or overnight pads if desired over Depends/underwear type
Sitz bath herbal blend
Epsom salts
Perineal healing spray or foam (plenty of options from natural companies or Frida mom)
Dermaplast or lidocaine spray in the event you need sutures
Arnica (homeopathic tablets)
Homeopathic Tinctures for cramping, lactation, or anything else you'd like
Sunflower lecithin
Haakaa
Silverettes - silver nipple caps
Tiered roller cart, to keep all of the essentials for you & baby nearby easily!
PRO TIP : Use old sheets & towels that you don't care about! Don't buy new, ugly sheets or towels for your birth. Use this opportunity to buy yourself a lovely new set of sheets or towels and let us use your old ones! We promise, we will salvage everything! Peroxide is a garunteed blood eraser. So please, let us use items you don't love for the birth and treat yourself to some new things :-)
And lastly, before we let you go, enjoy a tour through *our* birth kit!!
So, what are you actually looking at here? Most of this equipment and medications we won't actually need at most births. That's an article for another day, but don't worry, it'll be soon because we're already working on it! Anyhow, we're packed to the brim with anything we could ever need or use in a birth space, including and in no particular order:
sphygmomanometer set (blood pressure cuffs), thermometer, maternal
pulse-oximeter, waterproof doppler, Butterfly IQ (doppler that provides
ultrasound image), stethoscope, standard instruments to help deliver
placenta & cut the umbilical cord, suturing instruments, cord blood
collection supplies, resuscitation equipment, oxygen, anti-hemorrhagics
including pitocin & misoprostol, lidocaine, newborn medications such as
erythromycin & phytonadione (preservative-free vitamin K), newborn
pulse-oximeter, I.V. fluids, additional I.V. supplies, items to complete your
baby's newborn exam, gloves, additional medications such as ibuprofen
800's & vistaril, urinary catheter and coconut disinfectant wipes (because
they smell fucking FANTASTIC and are great for bringing in a lovely scent
quickly for, um, certain situations if you catch my drift!).
We don't carry many comfort items, but we do have a couple of large, washable chucks pads, a heating pad and a lovely labor comb that a client gifted to us! We bring these bags with us everywhere we go, that way if we're called to a labor while we're out doing clinic or if we're home sleeping, we are already prepared to head to our client. We consistently rotate our medications, so nothing is expired, as well as restock our birth kits after every few births so we are never without something important!
If you would like more information about our birth kits & supplies, if you would like us to cover additional topics or if you’re curious about our stance on things, such as common herbal induction methods, pre-labor release of membranes, newborn medications or *anything* else… Please don’t hesitate to comment here or send your thoughts and suggestions through our website or emailed to: support{at}cloverleafmidwifery{dot}com
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