Here are some tips about blood stains on birth linens:

1. Stains come out if you get them out quickly—the longer they sit, the more permanent they become so have a soaking bucket ready to chuck linens into quickly at the birth.

2. Both hot and cold water set stains. If you want to remove stains use tepid water (not hot, not cold, somewhere in the middle) and get going on the stain removal right away.

3. you have to remove clots and mucous-y gel or that stuff just goes round and round in the machine and re-stains the sheets and towels.

4. Once you’ve run it through a cycle of tepid water and soap, take each piece of laundry out individually and eyeball it for persistent blood stains. Don’t put in dryer till they are out completely or you’ll bake the stain in permanently.

Work on the leftover stain by hand until it’s gone.

5. That Oxi-Clean stuff works well on blood stains. Peroxide poured on carpets and then mopped up with a clean, absorbent cloth takes out blood.

Some people put a cup of salt in the tepid water to wash the linens. It does work but this can corrode your washing machine if done too often.

6. My buddy Lisa Barrett takes a big Rubbermaid tub full of her own “birth” towels to each birth. When she gets home from the birth with the tub, she fills it with water and lets everything sit for a couple of days. Then she puts it through the laundry ready for the next birth. She’s got a house and I live in an apartment building so I haven’t taken on her method but if I’m in a house someday, will do the same thing.