What plastic is used when delivering a baby. What tools are plastic. . .etc etc
For a home birth: My mom had plastic under the sheets. That was it. Today though, the pads that you would use after the birth are plastic (Always Overnights), so I would include that. If you bought a cord clamp, that is plastic. For a hospital birth: For a low intervention birth, the IV and line, the clamp for the umbilical cord, any gauze pads are encased in plastic, needles and sutures are encased in plastic until opened. Blood is encased in plastic bags. Many meds are encased in plastic. If you are doing a study on the effects on hospitals in the event of an oil crisis that impacts the supply of plastic, you can see where this would hurt hospitals.
I guess it depends on what type of birth you have. We had 2 home births and 1 birth center birth. During the 2 home births I remember teh supplies better because I had to get them myself. I know we had plastic to cover the bed. And another piece to have if needed depending on how things went. During our home water birth the tub had a plastic liner to keep the tub sanitary for other clients. Other plastic items includes the exterior of the chux pads (those absorbent pads they lay under you), some of the packaging for items like hydrogen peroxide and numbing gel. Also the tape measure used to measure baby's head is plastic I believe (at least the one we bought). The bulb syringe is also usually plastic. Of course the covering and materials of the diaper if you use disposable diapers for the baby. Maybe the cover if you're using cloth (that really depends though since there are so many options now a days...not when my kids were babies though..it was plastic!!). That's about all I can think of. I bet there is more though. Plastic is in so much.
