Preparing For Your Free Birth - My Personal Checklist With Printable Guides

All printable guides can be found here for download: Printable Free Birth and/or Home Birth Guides

Photo by: Jessica Rinehart, The Heart of Now Photography, LLC

Labor and Birth Checklist: with links

Labor

• Snacks and electrolyte drinks (see labor snacks and drinks printable)

• 4-6 old towels

• Comfortable robe and nursing bras

• Battery operated tea-light candles / pool lights for birth pool

• Labor/Birth Guides (see printable guides below)

• Birth pool (I like the earthside pretty white one, but the oasis is a more affordable option)

• Air pump for birth pool

• Pool liner (you can get the ones that go with your birth pool, or get a generic option)

• Plastic covers - (cover your floor, carpets, couch, etc. — this sticky plastic is worth the purchase so you aren't tripping over plastic on the floor, and it provides the most waterproof protection)

• Hose, faucet adapter, and pump

• Water heater (buyer beware: I have not personally found one that works super well, yet)

• Floating pool thermometer

• Handheld mirror (if you want to see your baby crowning)

• Underwater flashlight (if desired)

• Water birth gloves (if desired)

• Birth ball (this is the one I have and it is pet hair resistant)

• CUB birthing stool (if desired — a toilet works just as well, just don't birth your baby in the toilet!)

• 25+ Chux pads

• Fetoscope

• Water birth net

• Bluetooth speaker (I like the JBL speakers but you can use any speaker you have)

• String lights (if you want to decorate your birth space)

• Untamed Birth's Free Christian Affirmations (digital download on untamedbirth.com/services)

• Essential Oils and diffuser (see list for uses below — Revive oils are not an MLM and are comparable to DoTerra or Young Living oils)

• Gentle birth tincture without cohosh

• Blood pressure cuff

• Labor combs / labor balls

Birth & Immediate Postpartum

For Baby:

• Receiving blankets/4-6 new and warm towels from the dryer 

• Nose Frida, bulb syringe or your mouth

• 2-3 Cord clamps or umbilical tie (etsy has tons of unbilical ties — even if you're planning on cord burning, it's good to have these on hand just in case)

• Beeswax candles if you're cord burning

• Cord burning box if you're cord burning

• Sterile umbilical scissors - still in packaging

• Eldon card & sterile syringe needle to draw blood from the cord

• Scale (either hanging or an animal scale off amazon)

• Baby sling for hanging scale

• Measuring tape

• Ambubag with neonatal attachments

For Mama and Birth Team/Partner:

• Sterile gloves

• Placenta bowl

• Herbs and salt for placenta if you're planning a lotus birth

• Disposable tin pan for placenta if freezing, encapsulating, or planting

• Gauze sponges for bleeding/tears

• Large trash bag for waste

• Hydrogen Peroxide spray

• Angelica tincture (for a slow to come placenta)

• Shepherd's Purse tincture (for hemorrhage)

• Yunnan Baiyou herb (for hemorrhage)

• Peppermint essential oil (for nausea, energy, or use in toilet for a slow to come placenta)

• Cypress essential oil (rubbed on thighs to help prevent excessive bleeding)
  

Postpartum:

 For baby:

• Newborn diapers (cloth or disposable)

• Coconut oil or olive oil (for wiping meconium)

• Baby wipes

• Sound machine (if desired)

• Silverette Nursing Cups

• Nail scissors or file kit

• Organic clothes (if desired — I prefer lots of skin to skin following the days after birth)

• Car seat (even if you aren't planning on going anywhere, this is good to have ready to go ahead of time, just in case plans change)

• Infant tummy relief by Earthley Wellness
  

For Mom:

• After Ease tincture or Ease the Ache tincture (for after pains)

• Manuka honey, comfrey & goldenseal salve or goldenseal myrrh compound, and seaweed (for healing tears)

• Arnica homeopathy (for pain)

• Sitz bath and Sitz bath herbs

• Magnesium lotion by Earthley Wellness

• Nipple balm or lanolin

• Peri bottle

• Lots of warm bedside snacks

• Disposable underwear

• Pads & liners

• Haakaa

• Nipple shields (make sure you get the right size for your nipples)

• Nursing bras

• Reusable nursing pads

• My Breast Friend breastfeeding pillow (the Boppy pillow can be used as a donut if you have hemorrhoids)

• Heating pad

• Night light (if desired for overnight baby care)

• Unscented body wash

• Wraps / carriers

• Washable pads for breastmilk leaks overnight (put them under your sheets to protect your mattress)

• Comfortable robe and nursing bras

Stay Connected

Thank you for reading and walking with me on this journey of reclaiming sacred, undisturbed birth.

Follow along on Instagram for more reflections, real birth stories, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of life as a birth servant: @untamedbirthkeeper

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If you’re on a personal journey in birth work, I highly recommend exploring the Hearthmother Journey—a Christ-centered course and community created by women for women. If you choose to join, you can get $50 off by using my affiliate code: UNTAMED

With fierce faith and gentle hands,

Sydney