What did you think of it and was the water level deep enough?

I haven't used one, but have got in one (without water in it) A friend had one at home

I've had 2 waterbirths in hospital and would say the pool-in-a-box would have served its purpose well for me

I used one for dd2's homebirth and found it was great. I had the larger of the two sizes.

The water was deep enough for me to kneel up in and lean against the edge (and I'm 5'10"), and I would use one again.

HTH

Yes, thought it was best 80 pounds I've ever spent. I'm 5'4 and went for the mini size, which was plenty big enough. Was able to lean over one side whilst pushing against the other with my legs.

Depth was fine. Comes with a really good pump, took no time to put up.

It you haven't ordered it yet my advice would be to wait until you are at least 38 weeks. You probably wouldn't be able to use it at home before then anyway so would be wasted if you have the baby early, and getting it out to have a look at it invalidates your right to refund (I think??).

Don't bother with the kits, buy your hose from B&Q and your sieve from Woolies.

agree with lisabartandmaggie - It was brilliant (although ended up with emerg Csection) I used it all the way till through although DD was stuck so ambulance was called after 1.5hrs of pushing, honestly hardly felt any pain and i'm sure I would have if it wasn't there.

I thought it was great - had the larger size which was big enough for both dh and I to be in the pool.

How long does it take to fill the larger size up? I know it depends on water pressure etc but generally speaking?

We have a combi boiler and mixer taps - does it come with an attachment that is likely to fit the taps??

Also - to make the water hotter, do you have to add hot water or does it have a heater thing?

It doesn't have a heater - you add hot water. However the water stays quite hot (we had the heat cover thing on and didn't have to top it up at all)

Can't remember how long it took to fill - sorry. Less than an hour I think. It comes with several attachments to fit different taps, but in the end we found it easier to attach it to the shower hose.

Thanks for replying - how much in advance do you think you can fill it bearing in mind it needs to stay clean etc?

Attachment was poor, ime, leaked even though I held it on. Assume 30 minutes to fill it to minimum depth. Good you have combi boiler, we didnt & didnt have enough hot water.

You can boil kettle to add more hot water, too.
I liked it overaLL, just wasnt organised in filling it up.

Dh started filling it around midday I think, I started getting into it at 8 pm (but came out regularly as I found that though the pain relief was fantastic it slowed things down a bit, and I was in a hurry as my waters had broken a while ago). Ds was born at 12.30, so about 12 hs after we started filling it.

i got a made in water/la bassine pool, its smaller then bpiab and is supposed to be really fast to inflate (it was) and fill (didnt get to try it). it was really deep and lovely and roomy inside and im 5'9 so not small. tap adaptor didnt fit any tap in our house but you can get them for a couple of quid in a plumbing shop, there is bound to be one near you. cant help on heat retenion etc as i didnt get any water in it but thought i would throw in my 2 pence worth, its another option incase you havent seen them.

I got made in water, and the water level seemed good - never got to use it, but when I got in when I was trying it out it was good

I thought it was grat, and so did DH. We used it as a paddling pool for DS afterwards - it was the baby's present for him. He thinks it's great too.

HI Thankyouandgoodnite.

I recently bought a regular one from a MN person,with all the extras, she had put it up to try it and not used, I ended up having DS3 early so didn't get to use or even try it by putting it up, getting ready to e.bay (baby only 42hours old!!) if you are interested in it, please let me know...........

Hi Tigger - sorry only just seen your response. Do you still have it?

Just don't lean on one side too hard for too long! Mine ended up kinda leaning over where I was flopped all over the side and the water nearly spilled out. MW warned me a flood was imminent and I moved to the other side.

I loved it though. Took about an hour to fill from a combi boiler, water stayed warm enough for the 3 hours I needed it.

Getting in was soooooooooooooooo wonderful! It also felt much warmer than I thought it would.

Water was definitely deep enough, it was all soft and comfy, all round a winner, I'd say.

I hope you get the home waterbirth you want.

Sorry to slightly hijack, but I'm really interested in this too - I'm thinking about having DC2 at home, but to be honest, the only thing that would stop me is if an inflatable pool didn't quite come up to scratch for me.

I'll explain - I laboured in the pool at my local hospital and it was the most wonderful thing ever. The best thing was that it was massive, rigid, and had little nooks and crannies I could wedge myself into, handles in all kinds of funny places and a rough foor so you could grip if you wanted to AND a mirror on the floor so the midwife could see what was going on at the crucial stage without resorting to mirrors on the end of sticks...

It was so amazing I wanted to take it home with me.

Did anyone else have a hospital waterbirth followed by a home one, and did the home pool work just as well?