Yes, giving birth at home is messy, no matter the location or the circumstance. Don’t be tricked by the misinformation from midwife sources promoting their ability to contain and clean the mess. It's a mess. Period.

And beyond “a mess”, it’s also considered biohazard waste. By definition, a biohazard refers to anything that can spread and endanger a living organism. This includes:

• Amniotic fluid
• Blood
• Vaginal secretions
• Placenta (which is part of the reason why it’s complicated to bring it home)
• Any and all towels or containers used in the cleaning process
• The birthing pool (more on that below)

When fluids from the body meet this definition, they must be disposed of and transported properly to avoid fines. Call us if you’re in this situation. Do not attempt to transport or let your midwife transport the waste themselves.

Only a professional biohazard crew like Bio Recovery can clean after a home water birth. It’s unlawful for your midwife to clean it up, even if they come prepared with their own PPE. They must be trained and certified to properly dispose of the waste, as per OSHA rules and regulations. If your midwife can’t present HAZWOPER and HAZMAT certifications issued by OSHA, don’t let them clean it. Period.

Don’t. If you’re not licensed to remove, dispose, and transport biohazardous waste, you don’t want the risk. Handling any bio is risky because of the potential pathogens involved. A pathogen is a living organism that can transmit disease (like HIV and Hepatitis, for example). 

All different types of pathogens live in your body--even if they aren't affecting you--and you may be unaware until another person gets sick. Additionally, when bio is left in the environment, it attracts more pathogens that are non visible and therefore easily spread. Bottom line: no matter how well you think you know the situation, it isn’t worth risking it. 

Especially if it’s your own fluids, you have enough to worry about taking care of your new baby. You don’t want to attempt to clean it yourself and likewise you won't want to worry about a family member or even your baby getting sick, or deal with the potential ramifications of an improper clean up. We’ll take care of the entire clean up for you, starting from the area that the spill happened to the surrounding area that may be contaminated.  Most of the times these situations are covered by you or your landlord's property or home insurance.

We understand the potential sensitivities and worries you may have about letting a hazmat company disinfect using non allergenic hospital grade disinfectants that leaves no harmful residue or odor. 

We can also sanitize and disinfect the birthing pool, if there is one.

As a licensed biohazard company, we are fully licensed and equipped to handle the cleaning and sanitizing of your birthing pool. A step by step process of how we clean the area, including the birthing pool, includes:

1. Asking for photos of the surrounding area and birthing pool (if applicable). Blood and fluid splashes everywhere, so it’s more than likely that our crews will need to treat the surrounding spaces. 
2. Providing an estimate of the labor, supplies, and PPE needed to bill your or your landlord’s property or home owner insurance. We attempt to bill your insurance so you can focus on your newborn and family. 
3. We’ll contain the room when we arrive and take notes and photos of the damages for insurance and administrative purposes.
4. Then, we’ll begin ATP testing the area to identify all potential areas contaminated.
5. We’ll continue testing throughout the process, which includes treating the carpet and surfaces with our non allergenic disinfectant spray. Special vacuums may be used in severe cases – all of this will be outlined in the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) you’ll read and authorize prior to arriving.

If you have any questions about our process, feel free to ask when you call.