Blizzard Baby Birth Supply Kit
❄️ How are my North Dakota followers feeling about this impending blizzard? Anyone in the last weeks of pregnancy and living rurally? Who's worried about having a blizzard baby? Of course, you ranching families are also smack dab in the middle of calving season- you're in my thoughts!
❄️ If you are in the last few weeks of pregnancy and live aways out of town, don't freak out, but also, this week might be a good time to stay a friend's in town for a few days, if you're planning to have your baby in the hospital. Something about the barometer dropping just tends to bring those babies!
❄️ If you can't get away from the ranch and it looks like you'll be truly snowed in for a few days, here's what I'd recommend doing to prepare, just in case:
❄️ There are lots of manuals and instructions for emergency unassisted childbirth online- Google it. Print them out, just in case the power goes out and you can't access the internet. Also google "fundal massage." This is a good one.
❄️ Make sure to have the phone number for your hospital's L&D unit or your midwife (because even if you are planning a home birth, your midwife may not be able to make it to you). Even if you can't get out and EMS can't get to you, having someone who knows what they're talking about on the phone can be very reassuring.
❄️ On that note, find a way to keep your phone charged.
❄️ Chux pads or puppy pee pads can be really handy to have on hand, but if you don't have them, a stack of old, clean towels will work just as well.
❄️ Some source of heat is imperative. Baby will stay nice and warm against mom's chest, as long as mom stays warm. If you have an emergency kit hanging around, check for those reflective emergency blankets.
❄️ A shower curtain or some other plastic sheet for the bed (make the bed with your favorite sheets, cover with plastic, and then add a second layer of old sheets- this makes clean-up really easy if your baby is born on the bed.
❄️ Large sanitary pads or, better yet, adult diapers for postpartum bleeding. Y'all know how I feel about those Depends. 😂
❄️ Just like any other emergency preparedness, have plenty of clean water available.
❄️ Boil a pair of scissors and some string to sanitize them, just in case you need to cut the umbilical cord or the cord tears (that's scary, you'll need to clamp/tie off the baby's cord ASAP if that happens).
❄️ Know that if you’re laboring at home and an unmedicated birth wasn’t your plan, that is physiologically normal and healthy to move and vocalize as your labor progresses. You might feel wild and out of control, but moving your body as a way to cope with contractions is nature’s way of helping your baby move through the pelvis. When vocalizing, keep your voice low- like a moan, not a scream. Low moans help relax your pelvic floor, screaming tenses and makes everything hurt more. So get off the bed and keep moving. There’s no rule saying you have to give birth on your bed; your baby can literally be born anywhere in your house.
❄️ When you feel like you have to poop and that sensation doesn’t go away, go ahead and PUSH. Go sit on the toilet if you feel like you actually need to go #2, but chances are, it’s actually your baby pressing on your rectum (birth canal and rectum are right next door to each other) and you are very close to giving birth.
❄️ Consider your options: it might sound crazy, but if this blizzard is going to be as bad as they say it's going to be, and you do go into labor during it, please don't try to leave your house. Better an unexpected home birth than a stuck-in-a-snow-drift car birth.
❄️ Now, take a deep, cleansing breath. If you do go into labor and can't get to your planned birthing location because of the weather, chances are it's going to be ok. Better than ok. Get cozy. If your baby comes with this blizzard, stay warm, keep your baby warm (skin-to-skin with a blanket over you both is your best bet), stay hydrated, nurse your baby, and keep yourself fed.
❄️ Has anybody had a blizzard baby? I know there are plenty of stories like this- going to town in the tractor, bringing the doctor to the farm in the tractor, or a midwife arriving on the back of a snowmobile!