A planned home birth requires a qualified midwife, a set of practical supplies you gather yourself, a backup plan for hospital transfer, and a pregnancy that’s low-risk enough to safely deliver outside a hospital. Most of the items on your list are surprisingly ordinary: towels, sheets, plastic sheeting, and a few basics from the pharmacy. Here’s what to pull together before the big day.
A Midwife or Certified Birth Attendant
The single most important thing you need is a skilled birth professional. In the U.S., that’s typically a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) or a certified professional midwife (CPM). Your midwife handles fetal heart monitoring, manages the delivery, watches for complications, and carries medical supplies you won’t need to buy yourself, including equipment for newborn resuscitation and medications to control bleeding. Start looking early in pregnancy, since experienced home birth midwives often book up months in advance.
The average charge for a midwife-attended, uncomplicated home birth is about $3,000. Medicaid and many private insurance plans cover home birth with a midwife depending on your state, but more than half of U.S. families who delivered at home reported paying out of pocket. For comparison, an uncomplicated vaginal hospital birth averages around $12,000. It’s worth calling your insurer early to find out exactly what’s covered and what documentation they require.
A Low-Risk Pregnancy
Home birth is designed for uncomplicated, full-term pregnancies. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists lists three absolute contraindications: a baby in a breech or other abnormal position, a twin or higher-order pregnancy, and a prior cesarean delivery. Beyond those, your midwife will evaluate your individual risk profile throughout pregnancy. Conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes requiring insulin, or placenta previa generally rule out a home birth as well. If complications develop late in pregnancy, you and your midwife may shift the plan to a hospital delivery even if you originally qualified.
Supplies for Labor and Delivery
Your midwife will give you a specific supply list, but the core items are consistent across most practices. Expect to gather:
- Bed protection: Layer your bed with a clean fitted sheet on the bottom, a waterproof barrier in the middle (a plastic sheet or shower curtain works), and another clean fitted sheet on top. After delivery, you peel off the soiled top layers and have a fresh bed waiting. Line your pillows with plastic bags under the pillowcases.
- Towels: Several large, clean towels for drying and wrapping the baby. Use old ones you won’t mind staining.
- Paper towels: At least one large roll.
- Garbage bags: Two large bags, one for laundry and one for trash.
- A sturdy tray: A cookie sheet or similar flat tray your midwife can use as a clean work surface for instruments.
- Extension cord: A grounded, three-prong extension cord or power bar so your midwife can plug in equipment wherever she needs it.
- Digital thermometer: For monitoring your temperature during and after labor.
- Plastic freezer bag: A large, zippered bag for the placenta. Your midwife may need to examine it after delivery, and some families choose to keep or encapsulate it.
Pharmacy Items
Keep these on hand for the hours and days after birth. You likely already have most of them at home:
- Extra-large overnight pads: A large pack. Avoid the “dry weave” type, as they can stick to tender tissue. Postpartum bleeding is heavy at first, so stock more than you think you’ll need.
- Acetaminophen (500 mg tablets): For pain relief after delivery.
- Ibuprofen (200 mg tablets): Helps with both pain and the uterine cramping that follows birth.
- Anti-nausea tablets: Dimenhydrinate (the active ingredient in Gravol) in 50 mg tablets, in case nausea hits during labor.
Baby Supplies
Your newborn needs very little in those first hours, but have it ready and within arm’s reach:
- Two newborn-sized hats (babies lose heat fast through their heads)
- Receiving blankets
- A onesie and sleeper
- Newborn diapers
- Olive oil for the baby’s bottom during early diaper changes
Cleanup Supplies
Birth is messy, and having the right supplies makes post-delivery cleanup manageable rather than overwhelming. Hydrogen peroxide at 3% strength is the go-to stain remover for blood on sheets and towels. Keep at least 250 ml on hand, or a full liter if you plan to use it in the laundry. Baking soda also works as a backup stain treatment. The plastic sheeting under your sheets protects your mattress, and the garbage bags handle everything else.
Water Birth Setup
If you’re planning a water birth, you’ll need either a portable birthing tub (available for rent or purchase through birth supply companies) or a clean home bathtub. For portable tubs, use a new, disposable liner for each birth, kept sealed in its packaging until the pool is ready to fill. If you’re using your home bathtub, clean and disinfect it thoroughly beforehand, and a disposable liner is still recommended. Jetted tubs also require a liner.
Water temperature is critical. It needs to stay comfortable for you and below 100.4°F to prevent overheating for both you and the baby. Your midwife will check the temperature before you get in and again each time water is added. You’ll also need a hose adapter that connects to your faucet for filling a portable tub, and enough hot water capacity in your home to keep the tub warm through what could be many hours of labor.
Pain Management Without Medication
An epidural isn’t available at home, so your pain relief toolkit looks different. Warm water is one of the most effective options, whether that’s a birth tub, a long shower, or a bath during early labor. Movement helps too: walking, swaying, sitting on a birth ball, or using a birthing stool to shift positions and ease pressure. Slow, focused breathing during contractions is a simple technique that most childbirth education classes teach, and many people find it genuinely effective once they practice it. Some families also use massage, counterpressure on the lower back, heat packs, and music or dim lighting to stay as relaxed as possible between contractions.
Preparation matters here. Taking a childbirth education class that focuses on unmedicated techniques, ideally one that includes your birth partner, makes a real difference in how confident you feel when labor starts.
A Hospital Transfer Plan
Even with a perfectly healthy pregnancy, some home births need to move to a hospital. Common reasons include labor stalling, the need for pain relief, or signs of fetal distress. Your midwife should discuss a transfer plan with you during prenatal care and document it in your records.
A solid transfer plan covers several things: which hospital you’ll go to, how you’ll get there (your own car or ambulance, depending on urgency), and what communication will happen on the way. When a transfer is needed, your midwife contacts the receiving hospital with the reason for transfer, a brief clinical history, the mode of transport, and your estimated arrival time. On arrival, she provides a verbal report and a copy of your prenatal and labor records so the hospital team can pick up your care without gaps.
Know the route to your chosen hospital and roughly how long the drive takes at different times of day. Having a bag packed with hospital essentials (insurance card, ID, a change of clothes, phone charger) means you’re not scrambling if plans change quickly.
Your Support Team
Beyond your midwife, think about who you want present. A birth partner, whether that’s your spouse, a family member, or a friend, provides physical support and emotional grounding during labor. A doula is another option: doulas don’t perform medical tasks, but they specialize in comfort measures, positioning, and continuous emotional support throughout labor. If you have other children, arrange for someone to care for them during the birth, either in another part of the house or away from home entirely, so you can focus.
Stock your kitchen with easy-to-eat snacks, juice, and water with straws. Labor is physically demanding, and staying hydrated and fueled helps you keep your energy up. Your support people will need food too, especially if labor runs long.