Common questions about safefy and Homebirth
In this Midwife At Your Door video interview, Danae guides the conversation by asking practical, real-world questions that reflect what expectant parents commonly want to understand when first considering Homebirth. The discussion moves step-by-step through equipment and safety.
Topics explored in this video
This interview explores the practical preparation involved in homebirth and the professional equipment midwives bring to support families throughout the process. The conversation looks at what items arrive at the home in the weeks leading up to birth, what equipment midwives bring with them on the day labour begins, and how this compares with what would typically be found in a hospital birth room. It also discusses common comfort measures used during labour, such as TENS machines, as well as the emergency medications and backup equipment midwives carry to ensure safety.
The discussion explains how medical kits are organised so that essential supplies are easily accessible, how midwives monitor labour to ensure it is progressing safely, and how the birth environment is kept calm and well organised within the home. It also highlights the preparation families undertake before labour begins, including what parents need to have ready themselves. Together, these topics provide viewers with a clear understanding of how homebirth care is thoughtfully planned and supported well before labour starts, helping families appreciate the scope of professional care involved.
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Video Transcript
So you’ve arrived here today with all the equipment
that you bring prior to the birth and the birth itself.
Should we go through everything? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome.
So it’s 36 weeks.
We bring along a birth pool
and this is all included in the fees
and everything like that.
We bring along the birth pool and the birth pool liner.
Yeah. A thermometer for maintaining the temperature.
Water temperature is really important. Yeah.
So that babies are coming from that one temperature
into the same temperature.
So those babies don’t know they’re being born until mummies
bring them airside.
So we’ve all seen those in all the pictures
and things online, these beautiful soft birth pools.
Yeah. So lovely.
This one’s actually one of our new ones
with an electric pump and a liner. Yeah. Beautiful.
And we also have the TENS machine.
Yeah. The TENS machine was my go-to
as my comfort measure in my labour.
So I felt really strongly about embedding that.
And that is incorporated in our fees as well.
And these are brought at 36 weeks as well,
our emergency medications.
Yeah. So a lot of our people who inquire
are concerned about the risk of bleeding,
because that tends to be probably one of the most
common emergency transfer reasons.
So at 36 weeks,
when we bring along the birth pool,
bring along the TENS machine,
we also bring along emergency medications
just to pop in the couple’s fridge.
The second midwife also knows
where they’re located in the fridge in case we need to get
to them in a real hurry.
So we bring along a whole host of them.
And it’s not to fear, because in most cases
we actually take them back away unopened.
So it’s not that we’re expecting emergencies,
but when you’re not close to the hospital
it’s really important that we make sure
our women are safe.
This is the safety aspect of homebirth,
that you’ve got everything you could potentially need
to manage an emergency at home.
So we bring along syntocinon,
which is artificial oxytocin.
We bring along five of those.
We bring along some tranexamic acid.
We bring along additional medications as well.
Each of those works very differently
in a postpartum haemorrhage,
which is why we carry them.
But like we say, most of the time
we actually break the ampoules,
put them in our sharps container
having never used them.
Because we’ve not actually needed them
in normal physiology, which is beautiful.
So that’s what we bring for 36 weeks
so that it’s all ready and dropped off with the family
so that women can have their homebirth from 37 weeks
if babies decide it’s time to come.
So this stays at home with the family.
The dads can practise blowing up the birth pool
if they want to.
We do encourage that.
We encourage them to have a play with it,
and if they have children, allow the children
to have a little jump in it.
Just not with the liner or the water.
Sometimes families put fairy lights in the pool.
The fairy lights can go between the pool
and the liner and create a beautiful ambience.
It also makes for really good photography
and videography.
Okay. So then what comes with you on the day?
So we bring resuscitation equipment
for the newborn.
We also have resuscitation equipment
for mothers in our bag as well.
Basically we have a bag and mask for an adult,
although it would be extremely rare
that we would need to use that.
Then we have bag and mask ventilation
for a newborn.
It also has a CPAP function,
which means continuous positive airway pressure
to help keep the baby’s lungs open.
It’s really unlikely we need to use this
in homebirth because babies have not had drugs
and births are generally physiological.
We’ve used it a handful of times.
We would start ventilation in air,
and if needed we can attach oxygen
and provide oxygen for the baby.
We also have maternal oxygen masks.
Have you ever had to use that?
Once, yes. Once we used it.
If a woman is feeling very unwell
with blood loss we can give oxygen.
It’s very rare.
But you can manage that at home if needed.
In that situation we actually kept that woman at home.
Something different about resuscitation at home
is that we do it with the baby’s cord intact.
Every time.
Which is evidence-based practice.
The baby continues to receive oxygenated blood
from the mother.
Evidence shows babies do much better
when the cord remains intact
because they continue receiving oxygen and blood.
If you cut that lifeline, it’s gone.
So we keep mother and baby together.
We resuscitate with the baby on mum’s lap
while the cord is still attached
and the placenta is still inside the uterus.
That’s very different to hospital practice.
We also carry a newborn airway,
although it is very rare we would use it.
We also have suction for newborns.
Again, rarely used.
The most common situation would be meconium.
If a baby is not breathing
and there is meconium present,
we might gently suction the mouth and nose.
Most babies can clear this themselves,
and routine suction can actually cause harm.
So again, evidence-based practice means
we only use it when a baby is struggling.
Meconium, for those who don’t know,
is when the baby has done a poo before birth.
If inhaled, it can irritate the lungs
and affect breathing.
If that happens, gentle suction can help.
We often set all the resuscitation equipment up
when we first arrive.
This doesn’t mean we expect to use it.
We simply like everything to be ready
and completely foolproof.
If we needed to use it,
we are not scrambling to set things up.
The second midwife checks all the emergency equipment
when she arrives.
She checks the oxygen,
that the tank is full,
and that everything is organised and ready.
So what’s in here?
This is the grab bag I use
if things are happening very quickly.
If we need something immediately for the birth
everything is ready to go.
Usually when women are in the water
we don’t use much of this.
But if birth happens on dry land
we might use some absorbent pads
just to keep things clean.
There are gloves, scissors,
and episiotomy scissors.
I’ve never had to use them at home,
but we carry them just in case.
There is also a cord clamp,
although we usually use cord ties.
Parents sometimes like to keep the clamp
so we leave it with them
and collect it a few days later.
There’s also a torch.
I think I have about four torches in here.
This bag is really just for situations
where things are moving quickly.
Blueys are essential.
For families, blueys are large absorbent pads
similar to puppy pads.
There’s also a heat pack.
And another important item is a mirror
so we can see into the birth pool.
We also have curved mirrors.
The bag also contains immediate emergency equipment,
all clearly labelled.
Everything is organised
so it is easy to grab quickly if needed.
The best part is that we all know
each other’s kits very well.
And if the second midwife wasn’t from our team,
they would still be able to locate equipment easily.
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