How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It - James Wesley Rawles [69]
For transportation over longer distances, plan ahead for providing for your disabled family members. One great option, in my opinion, is a four-wheel-drive, full-size van conversion. Beware of buying an older 4WD conversion: Some of the 4WD van conversions that were done back in the 1970s and 1980s were plagued by reliability problems—mainly involving differential linkage and other power-train problems. But in more recent years the conversion companies seem to have gotten it down to a science. Just be sure to get a written warranty.
Vans can be “dual converted” for both 4WD and a wheelchair lift apparatus. See vantagemobility.com.
Preparedness for Parents with Infants
For families with infants, the Memsahib offered this advice: The most important thing is to breast-feed your baby. Your biggest practical concern will be diapers. Depending on circumstances (availability of spring or well water and grid, generator, or photovoltaic power to run a washing machine), you will have to decide between cloth and disposable diapers. When I nursed my newborns, I often changed diapers more than ten times per day, to prevent diaper rash. Untreated, diaper rash can lead to serious infections. Proper hygiene is crucial. Choose your diapering method and then stock up.
The most useful items are:
For Childbirth:
• Sterilized cord clamp
• Betadine solution
• A bulb syringe
• Bed liners (like those made for the disabled, available at medical-supply houses)
For your newborn:
• Plan on breast-feeding, but as a backup consider stocking up on canned infant formula.
• Lanolin nursing cream
• Petroleum jelly and zinc ointment as diaper-rash preventives
• Diapers and diaper covers
• Multiple “onesies,” sleepers, or sacque gowns would be a real blessing.
Babies spit up a lot and diapers leak. In a post-TEOTWAWKI world, when washing and drying baby clothes won’t be so easy, having multiple changes in every size would make daily life easier.
I also would never be without a front-pack infant carrier or armed with a good sling or baby wrap like those you can fashion yourself (wearyourbaby.com).
I highly recommend the childbirth books Heart and Hands and Spiritual Midwifery, which present childbirth as a natural process—not just as a medical condition.
Survival Labor and Delivery
Having a baby is a blessing, but home delivery is best done under the supervision of a medical professional. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, you may have to fend for yourself. John O., M.D., shares the following on childbirth:
Home delivery is a fact that most of the survivalist community needs to face. A “normal” delivery with minor complications is the area in which preparation can make a big difference. Before we start, I believe that as a community, we need to accept the fact that the rates of death for both mother and infant are going to rise significantly if TSHTF. No amount of preparation is going to allow someone to do a C-section on their kitchen table, and even breach presentations may be more than a layman can expect to handle.
The services of a good midwife would be invaluable, and the addition of a text such as Heart and Hands by Elizabeth Davis may be a wise supplement to your stores as a second-best choice. My goal is to help you to keep a good delivery from going bad and to prevent complications. It should go without saying that this information is for educational/ survival purposes only, and I am not suggesting a specific course of care. Fortunately, nature really does run its course in most cases.
Labor can be divided into two phases: the first phase, when the cervix is thinning out and slowly dilating to form a canal roughly the diameter of pencil up to about ten centimeters; and the second phase, when the pushing begins and the mother actually pushes the baby out. The first phase is often divided into an early period, in which the cervix