Monday, September 25, 2006

Birth supplies

Here are some supplies I have gathered in preparation for the birth. To be completely honest, I don't really "need" most of them. I think the most important birth supply is lots & lots of towels.

Towels
Chux pads (rectangular absorbent pads, aka incontinence pads or puppy training pads)
Placenta Out tincture (for bleeding before placenta releases)
HemHalt & Wombstringe tinctures (for post-placenta bleeding)
Afterease Tincture (for relieving afterbirth pains)
Herbal afterbirth bath: great for healing tears & sore bottoms
Placenta bowl (aka a large, shallow stainless steel mixing bowl)
Emergen-C (a powder you add to water, to make a fizzy, energizing drink)
Bendy straws
Various massage tools
Microwaveable rice packs
Electric heating pad (for keeping towels warm)

Things I have but will probably never use:
Plastic cord clamps (I plan on tying off the cord with shoelaces or braided embroidery floss--much more comfortable for the baby)
Bulb syringe
Nonsterile latex gloves (mostly for when I am at someone else's birth and examining the placenta)
Sterile 4x4 gauze pads

I plan to put all of my birth supplies in a basket that I can grab and bring anywhere in the house. I will layer the supplies with things I will need first towards the top, and afterbirth/baby items towards the bottom.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Rixa!

    This is a useful list for others to work from, too!
    I'm only just starting to build up my supply of herbs for birth. What's in the 'placenta out' tincture? I have shepard's purse, is it something along those lines?

    keep on bloggin' :)

    Judit

    ReplyDelete
  2. Placenta Out tincture is made by Trilight herbs. It contains: dong quai (angelica), blue cohosh, &
    shepherd's purse.

    Hemhalt (Trilight) contains blue cohosh, bayberry, yarrow, & capsicum.

    Wombstringe (Wishgarden Herbs) contains bayberry, witch hazel, shepherd's purse, & motherwort. It's K's tincture of choice for controlling bleeding. (K is the midwife I apprenticed with in Iowa, by the way).

    Oh, I forgot to add a 4th tincture that I bought from Wishgarden, called Afterease. K swears by it for afterbirth pains. It contains black haw, crampbark, motherwort, & yarrow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know this is an old post but I am just SO glad it's here for me to reference as I'm going to be doing this at home unassisted >.<

    ReplyDelete

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