After I was done, I let my husband take over the cleaning part and I cuddled with my little guy.
Tina Mom to Quentin 3/4/97, Ashton 6/23/99, Owen 4/11/01 first UC, due again May
We just tossed everything on the plastic bed sheet & wrapped it up & threw it in the wash.
We lived in an apartment and we tossed everything out.
It was no big deal...
I had a water birth. Most of the "mess" went down the drain. My husband
buried the placenta under some ferns in our backyard, and they are growing really well now. Our towels washed right up, no
stains. I also had some old sheets on the bed, that washed right up without stains. We put a vinyl cover under the sheet to
protect the mattress. Lots of folks just use an old shower curtain instead. We had tarps and a big sheet of clear plastic
on hand, just in case I didn't want to birth in the tub, but never used them.
Kiley
Like you would any other mess... :) But really, there is a chance that there won't be much of a
mess-- after Dora's birth, we washed one *small* load of laundry that was birth related (that was IT). And the only thing
we threw away was the paper wrapper that was around the scissors/cord tape that we had sterilized in the oven. The receiving
blanket that I birthed her onto, then sat on for awhile, then birthed the placenta onto, was wet, but had barely any blood/goop
on it at all (I air dried it, then kept it as a keepsake... So now you know!).
Beatrice-- mama to Max (6, CNM hospital
birth), William (4, LM home waterbirth), Dora (2, family UC), Wee One (in belly, arriving late-Winter, UC)
*Bee's
Official Disclaimer: All of my answers express my own personal opinion, and as I am not a trained birth professional, but
better, an experienced mother, none of it ought to be construed as medical advice.*
As far as I can recall...
There just wasn't much of a mess! I didn't do any of my laboring
or birthing on my bed anyway, so there were no sheets to worry about. I used disposable underpads to stand on & stuff
when I started dripping blood and gunk, and we just had a couple blankets and more underpads to cover the floor.
I
would never consider the placenta part of "the mess" - it's part of the baby, and has a purpose. It's there to stem hemorrhage,
and deserves to be treated with respect, not like "a mess". We plan on planting the next baby's under the Christmas tree this
year.
Washing messed-up sheets, blankets, towels, and cloth menstrual pads is as easy or easier than doing diapers.
And diapers just ain't no big deal!
(Incidentally, I think a lot of "the mess" is allopathically created - much of
the blood associated with birth just isn't there when there's no episiotomy & artificial hormones to deal with. When you
birth at home naturally, there isn't "mess" - just a bit of fluids, some blood to soak up with a towel, and a placenta to
wrap & store until planting time.)
Birthing in water cuts downs on the mess...
The next morning dh emptied the pool, wiped
up a few blood spots and that was it.
Annabelle Mom to 4 girls and a boy! Makaley 2/24/94, Arden 2/24/94, twins by
c/s, Anniston 11/12/95, HB w/ midwife, Taegan 12/30/98, UC, and Balen 12/7/00, UC.
