PRENATAL PLANNING: PREPARING FOR HOME BIRTH
Following is a list of recommendations collected from parents who've given birth at home and midwives who attend home births. Not all will be appropriate for your situation; skip those that don't make sense for you.
Hire a midwife or physician to attend your baby's birth. Some tips on choosing a caregiver:

• Ask about your caregiver's education, credentials, and experience attending home births. - Find out whether your caregiver has admitting privileges at a hospital or can at least accompany you and stay with you for labor support if you're transferred there.
• If you choose a midwife, ensure that s/he has a working relationship with a physician. -Find out who the consulting physician is and whether the physician is willing to take all home birth transfers.
• Ask your caregiver what resuscitative equipment she would bring to your home, what complications s/he has encountered with newborns, and how s/he has handled them.

• Write a backup plan in case you need or want to be transferred to a hospital during labor.
• Find out what your backup hospital is like. (For example, is anesthesia available at all hours? Is there a neonatal intensive care unit? Do newborns usually room-in?)
• Pack an emergency hospital bag in case you need or want to transfer.
• Take a childbirth class.
• Write a birth plan and discuss it with your partner and your caregiver.
• As you approach your due date, find out what position your baby is in. (Occiput anterior - face-down - is ideal; breech is the least favorable position.) If necessary, discuss with your caregiver strategies for changing your baby's position.
• Read up on tricks to try if labor doesn't progress as you'd like, and let your birth partner know where to look for ideas on the big day.
• Think about comfort measures you may want during labor (for example, aromatherapy, massage, warm bath, music, hypnosis) and make sure the materials or people you'll need will be available.
• Stock up on some healthy, easy-to-digest food and drink for yourself, as well as some flexible straws and/or a sippy cup. Also, make sure there's food and drink available for your partner, caregiver, child(ren), or any others likely to be present.
• If your child(ren) will be present, arrange for supervision by an adult (besides you, your partner, or your caregiver). Brief this person on things to do or places to go if distraction becomes necessary or if you decide you're not comfortable with your child(ren) present.
• If you'll need any special birth gear that you don't already own, such as a birth pool, birth stool, or birth ball, rent or buy it.
• If you're planning a water birth, choose a birth pool site that won't be slippery when wet, and practice assembling and filling the pool.
• Wherever you plan to give birth, have clean towels; old sheets; and a plastic tarp, shower curtain, or tablecloth available.
• Have a hand-held mirror available in case you want to see the baby's head as it crowns.
• Do you want the baby to be born into a certain atmosphere (for example, with certain music playing or candles burning)? Tell your birth partner what you want.
• Have diapers, baby clothes, and blankets on hand.
• Make sure you have what you'll need for postpartum care, such as witch hazel pads and a cleansing bottle for a sore perineum.
• Choose a caregiver (for your child) who is supportive of your choice to give birth at home. Make arrangements for your baby to have a checkup twenty-four hours after birth.
• Find out the phone numbers of local lactation consultants in advance.
• Line up some postpartum household help.

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WOMENS HEALTH