Planning a homebirth

With less than two months til I am full term with baby number two, I have just started thinking about planning my homebirth.
I have already told my midwife that I want my homebirth, she has been very supportive, and will be visiting me later this month to officially write my plan.
In the meantime I want to make sure that I do everything I can to make labour a smooth process and reduce risk of hospital transfers.
I plan to start using natural and herbal remedies to condition my body to be in the best condition it can possibly be.

Preparing for my homebirth checklist

1. Diet - last pregnancy I wasn't very in tune with my body. I felt like I was fighting against my body rather than with it. My diet was not great. Which meant I was tired and achey. Since becoming a mum (and allotment holder) we eat almost no processed food, lots more fruit and veg and a lot less animal produce. I'm aiming to eat seven fruit and veg a day from now, and from week 39 I will cut out dairy too.
2. Exercise- I spent a lot of time walking prior to my first labour and I think this really helped with the pain and sped up delivery. Fresh air and sunshine are great ways to help you feel good too.
3. Raspberry leaf tea- now that I'm in the third trimester I will order raspberry leaf capsules. Some studies suggest this reduces the time spent pushing. I took it last time and my back to back Labour's active stage lasted less than two hours.
4. Relaxation techniques- I found water and clary sage the perfect relaxation combination for early labour and Braxton hicks, with my first pregnancy. It wasn't cheap to buy the essential oil but definitely helped me sleep through early contractions
5. Birth plan must haves (or must nots)- I'm thinking now about things that happened in my hospital birth that I was unhappy with. They removed my son from me immediately after birth because his colour wasn't right, which to me felt really wrong. I'd barely held him but could see he was perfect (he was). I'm fact a few times I felt my instinct wasn't trusted - they had to examine me before they'd give me gas and air (by this point I was in transition angry and unable to nest in a storage cupboard as they refused to believe I was in labour). Then I was told not to push until I stood and they saw my son's head. This time I want less examinations and to be just left to birth. I'm hoping my midwife will just act as an emergency fall back, and occasionally check baby's heart beat.
6. Water birth or not - I had a water birth last time and it helped. But I think that may have been because I was so stressed by the hospital.
7. Placenta plan-- I didn't think about this last time. My son's cord was cut before I delivered the placenta. I don't want that again. I'm not sure what I want to happen with the placenta afterwards, but know that you have to mention on your birth plan if you want it saved.

I've still got lots to think about but it's exciting to think that we are so close to having our little girl here.