Tips for filling Birth Pool in a Box

[Marx]

Hello everyone

Just hoping that some of you could share your tips for filling the birth pool in a box, we've not got one of those boilers that heats water as it is used but a tank (no idea what size).

All suggestions welcomed.

Thanks

M

[Flamesparrow]

I would say put in the hot first, and then gradually add cold - better to have too hot and have to empty some, than too cold and no hot water left.

[mrsmalumbas]

Is it possible for you to get hold of an urn (one of those plug in electric ones they use for tea at school fairs?!) or just a couple of really huge pans? If you keep those at a gentle simmer then you always have hot water for a top up with a bucket even if you have drained the tank. Can take quite a while to reheat a full tank and I seem to recall that I wanted my water deep and hot - kept saying hotter hotter!

[mrsmalumbas]

Also do a practise run a week or so before your due date , so you know how much water it actually takes to fill your pool compared to the size of your tank.

[chocbiscuits]

I always really wondered how these home birth pools worked with having warm water.

[Lovage]

Mine was fine, despite my worries in advance (old crappy boiler, smallish tank). And the pool was one of the rigid ones, so bigger than the in-a-box type. We had the water on 'constant' and when it did run out it seemed to get hot again in about 20 mins. I think once or twice DP topped it up with a kettleful or saucepandful of boiling water - adding a little bit of boiling water makes a big difference to the temperature of even a huge amount of water. And you don't want it as hot as a bath anyway.

But I did have a slow labour - if you end up having one that only lasts a few hours you might not have time to get it filled. But anything over about 3 hours and you should be fine.