It has been non-stop excitement here for the last few days. With only a few weeks to go before little Jo makes his big debut, we are getting all the final preparations all taken care of. Since we were driving around a 7 seater mini van, we knew we had to upgrade the family vehicle, or else someone would be in the trunk or on the roof…okay, maybe we are not that illegally minded…. So, to accommodate our growing family, yesterday we went and picked up this beauty!
Our new (to us) 15 passenger van!
Isn’t it gorgeous? The kids are on cloud 9 with the new purchase…see their excitement?
All smiles…from those who were paying attention, lol.
In addition to the new vehicle, I also finished up my once a month cooking day, so now my deep freezer looks like this…
That’s one well-stocked deep freezer….
Having a bunch of freezer meals ready to go after having a baby is such a sanity saver for a post-partum mom. I love having this set up! Now I can only pray that we don’t blow through all that food before little Jo actually comes…that would be so disappointing….
I have also been gathering all the necessary components of the “Birth Kit”. If you haven’t had a home birth before, basically the midwives will provide a nice list of items that need to be gathered by week 36 of the pregnancy, which include things like baby blankets, baby hats, clothes, large plastic bags, gallon size Ziploc bags, sheets, witch hazel, hydrogen peroxide, and like 20 more things. Since this will be my 5th home birth, Lord willing, I generally have majority of these things left over from previous births, which I just keep in my trusty “home birth basket”. I then just restock as needed each birth. Here are some shots of what we’ve gathered together:
Birth tub in the back, subpump, blankets, hats, washcloths, snack bars, hats, etc…
“Medicine” supply…i.e. witch hazel (helps with pain after the birth), hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and alcohol (help with clean up), peri-bottle, vaseline, and red raspberry leaf tea (that’s really for leading up to the birth…helps strengthen the uterus)
Blue and Black Cohosh (help to herbally induce labor by stimulating uterine contractions…used with Zack’s birth VERY successfully), AfterEase herbal supplement (helps with after birth pains), and arnica (homeopathic remedy to help reduce swelling after the birth)
Helpful homeopathy to the rescue!
VERY helpful for nausea in early labor (which I ALWAYS seem to have)
Instructions for setting up the birth tub for the birth
Last birth we decided to make the jump and simply buy a birth tub. We were spending about $250 per birth to rent one, and for the same cost we bought an excellent tub that worked PERFECTLY! I believe my husband will be setting this up, except for filling the water, in the next week or so, just to be ready.
So, this is everything that has been getting ready and set up for this coming birth! We are super excited to get things moving and pretty much in a place of “come whenever you want, baby”. This is the beauty of home birth to me…the lack of stress surrounding the “when” of the occasion. I love it.
Have you ever experienced a home birth? If not, what are some of the biggest questions you have pertaining to the whole event? I’d love to hear the questions!
katie says
you should get the chlorophyll that my midwife had me take after the birth. that stuff was the bomb diggity.