Birth pool or is bathtub fine?

[hyperspacebug]

Hello ladies,

I am quite attracted to the idea of water birth in general. However, with DC1 I ended up being transferred to the labour ward from nice time in the pool at the birth centre. With DC2 the homebirth happened far too quickly, I was already pushing unexpectedly at 38wks when my DH came home and the birth pool never got chance to be unpacked. Thankfully it was provided from NHS so there was no waste of money.

With this DC3 - at 37wks - I'd love to have a go at the water birth. However our local NHS won't provide birth pool and I am thinking 'why not just a bathtub?' Ours is wide and deep. Birth pool looks too much faff to set up and I am not sure I'd want to be busy keeping off my DCs from jumping into the pool with me and make big mess in the lounge...

Ladies, what do you think about water births in bath tubs? Super uncomfortable?

[gallicgirl]

I think it would depend on whether the water is definitely deep enough for a birth and also whether the midwife has enough space to work around and monitor you.

I also think you might struggle to find a good position to labour in that's also secure and will prevent you slipping.

Perhaps look at some videos of waterbirths on youtube and see how the size compares to your bathtub.

[PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom]

I am not sure a bath will work very well.

As a safety point, if you are going to deliver in water your bum needs to be well under water. Otherwise the sensation of air can stimulate the baby to take a breath.

Not many baths can do that.

A bath might work ok for labouring for a bit though. Particularly if you are someone who likes to lie back. I needed to be far too upright or on all fours.

[Fattycow]

A bath is too narrow.

[Bue]

A bathtub is fine for labouring. It's not ideal for the actual birth, but I think it could work. You will be restricted in your choice of positions though, both from a comfort point of view and the need for the head to remain well below water.

[Fattycow]

I wouldn't want to give birth in our tub. Where would I keep my legs? It is too narrow to spread them in there, so I would end up trying to hoist them on/over the sides, which means most likely sliding under water with my head...

[Splinters]

I actually gave birth on dry land (can't remember why I got out now), but I had found pool so much better for pain relief as it was huge. During contractions I found the bath pretty useless -- very limited choice of positions and no upright side that I could lean against or over.

[CSLewis]

I've given birth to two of my children in a bath (wide, deep Victorian-type affair) and then the most recent in a pool.

The bath was fine for me, actually (though I am a petite 5'2, rather than a 6 ' Amazonian). I ended up sitting/squatting cross legged , with my knees pointing out along the long edge of the bath, IYSWIM. The midwife reminded me to keep my bum submerged when DS was crowning, and that worked fine too - tho I think she didn't have a very good view of anything.

HOWEVER: having given birth in a birthpoolinabox affair (the mini one), I have to say that there's no comparison. So much more room to move around in, and just more space for your body to do whatever it needs to to get that baby out.

I would always rather give birth in a bath than on dry land, and would always go for a pool rather than a bath if given the choice, despite all the faff involved - and I say that as someone who got precisely zero help from my husband with putting the bloody thing up, inflating/filling/finding bloody tap adapters that fit our stupid taps/adjusting the temperature with boiling kettles over the course of my 4 day latent labour...