Waterbirth

Mamalou: congratulations on the birth of Ben.

I had a birthing pool, in the dining room. Got it from a company called Splashdown who have agents around the country so we could go and pick it up rather than paying expensive delivery fees. I would really recommend it. DD was born in the pool and it was lovely. I have recently started taking her swimming and she really enjoys it, which I soppily attribute to her being a water baby

Boobles- my hubbie felt exactly the same as yours. He was pushing for England and felt like he was going to split!
Waterbirth was fantastic. I always tell people it was like a magical out of body experience. Very calming with lights down low. I am one of these weird people who look back on it v fondly (v cold when I got out though, & make sure you use one of their towels that they can boil wash!)

Absolutely! It was the best thing ever! My dd was born in water ... I was in there for about 4 hours in all. Had gas and air and I seem to remember having the very occasional (maybe only 1) internal exam and also occasional hand held heart monitoring. Guess if there were any complications you'd be recommended to get out so they could be more involved.

Good thing was it was very relaxed and I was pretty much left to get on with it. Midwife was in the background or rubbing my back but not interfering IYKWIM. DH did not get in the pool with me (wasn't allowed and didn't want to!) and I am glad - he was able to support me from the outside of the pool, change CDs, pass me glass of water etc - and there was something really nice about having all that space just to myself!!

I did tear but then she shot out (bungeed to the other end of the pool!) and was a v.big baby. But I remember sitting on the ward hearing another woman talk about her 3 epidurals etc etc and feeling just so unbelievably proud of myself for having given birth in the way I did.

Good luck!

Go for it! It's ds2's 1st birthday today - he was born in the pool - and it was the most amazing experience - no drugs, no tearing, the water is great for pain relief although I was only in there for about an hour. Have no hesitation in recommending it if your mw is supportive. I would do it this way all over again!

I also had a water birth inSept 2000. I found it a great experience. I was in the pool from about midnight i think and my baby was born at 5.38. I dont remember being monitored as such but maybe they did. I squatted to give birth. I was given an injection to speed up the placenta coming out as the midwife tried to pull it out and I was too tender and I did not have any adrenaline left I think to push it out naturally. I did tear... but that would not detract from having a water birth again. I gave birth to the placenta in the pool. Straight after the birth the midwife gave me the baby and I try to latch her on but she wasnt interested. I had a shower and she latched on about 45 minutes later. I did not have any pain relief... I tried gas and air and it made me sick so I just breathed and gave birth naturally.. I would recommend a water birth

Monitoring is not a problem under water (if they have a sonic aid), delivering placenta in water is best but some MWs don't feel experienced enough so they prefer you to get out. Princesspeahead did the most natural.... i.e delivering placenta with baby still attached. You cut chord afterwards. Natural 3rd stage can take 10 minutes or 3 hours.... a lot of MW say it takes a long time to discourage mums but all the labours I attended had short natural 3rd stage. One mum had a longer one with over 1 hour but that's because she didn't have the urge to push so they gently pulled the placenta out. It was detached anyway.
Spot is "spot on" ;-) they don't touch the baby when he/she comes out to avoid stimulating baby's reflexes. They can still see what you're doing so if need be they'll tell you to pant. I also didn't tear.
I had pool in front room and did use it antenatally - great relief!

I didn't consider a water birth for my last child as the midwives at my local hospital said that although the labour was easier for most women in the water that for their part they felt it was a pain - the mother had to keep getting in and out to be monitored and keeping on topping up the water in a long labour to stop getting chilled was also considered a 'pain' for them - particularly when they were short staffed. In the end though my son decided to turn up 3 months early and had to have an emergency caesar!

All that said, this was 5 years ago and I'm sure that techniques for monitoring have got better, such as the sonic monitor mentioned below and perhaps things have got easier with topping the thing up.

Mamalou, I couldn't give birth in water as I was told they weren't geared up for that at the hospital, but they had a 'labouring pool' and I spent 4 hours in it with DH - it was lovely (well, apart from the labouring bit!); dim lights, warm water, gas and air to make me feel really drunk and DH cuddling me from behind (he was in the pool with me) to keep temperature adjusted and hold my head out of the water when I got too high on the gas and air. Then I had to come out on dry land to push, which was a bit of a let-down but probably a good idea to be sober for that part!

Carla, They put a large plastic sheet over the whole pool before they put the water in - it got thrown away afterwards. No grimey bums at all.

Fantastic, very calm, played music in the background, dimmed lights etc. Monitoring was fine they just use a waterproof thingie (technical term that). Husband didn't get in but only because pool wasn't big enough. He got very sore knees. You can always get out if you don't like it.

carla, you mean you have some shreds of modesty and dignity left after your previous birth(s)?

I could never do it. Far too modest And would worry about all the grimey bums that had been in there before. But that's just me .....

thanks

i always picture labouring mainly in our bedroom (why???) but can't picture the birthing pool in there. www, the self heating (?) pool sounds really great. glad to hear you and dp observed the proprieties...

Agree, monitoring wasn't a problem at all.

I hired a birthing pool and it was in our dining room for 3 weeks before my due date. It's not a big room so our table and chairs were squashed up as a result. We've got an open plan front room and dining room so we also had to put some thick curtains up so no-one could see in from the street. Serenequeen, mine was one that kept itself heated and even if you'd been in it (not giving birth, just floating around) the water only had to be changed after a week. So ds came home from school and got in it sometimes. I also got in quite a few times before giving birth and it was wonderful, really helped in late pregnancy. When I was in labour dp got in with me for quite a while and it was lovely to hug him (he kept his boxers on) until I decided I wanted him out (dunno why, no logic to it really!). In the end I went upstairs and had dd on our bed but I'd spent a good 2 hours of my labour in the pool. It was still agony but maybe it would have been worse without it. Anyway, I did think it was worth it.

I had a waterbirth at home 8 months ago with my third child - fantastic. The water really relieves the pain and it is so nice to be able to get into whatever position you like and not have to hold yourself up, because the water does that. I didn't tear (despite episiotomy with 1st and tear with 2nd). I didn't have any monitoring because I gave birth 10mins after the midwife arrived! Had natural 3rd stage, with baby attached until after placenta delivered (it did take a good hour to come out though - during which time I cuddled baby and drank a glass of champagne!). I highly recommend it all, I basically did it all myself, with a midwife watching for the last few minutes and it was a great feeling.

my man didn't get in with me - it didn't crop up at the time, but he had packed his swimming trunks! Although you can hold onto the sides of the bath, I found I wanted to grip as hard as possible to both my husband's hands. the poor man spent hours on his knees, stuck in one position whilst I dug my nails in for all I was worth. Waterbirths are a great experience, the drop in pain level getting into the bath was amazing. Good luck

re: where in the house

we had to think long and hard about this as some of our floors are not very strong, but the strongest floor was in an open-plan bit of the house and not very intimate.

the compromise was in my son's bedroom (though he had gone to grannies!)

you need somewhere you will feel safe and relaxed. the pool hire people will tell you the weight of the pool with water. you can get a hose of any length to fill it up with, so it doesn't have to be near a tap.

I got mine from the Active Birth Centre in London who were very helpful.

thanks spots. i guess you just go with flow of what is right at the time. i wish i wasnt so eager to have every single aspect clear and planned - drives me mad.

right, going to relax now and go with the fllooooooowwww

egypt she suggested that the breastfeeding would be part of the stimulus for the placenta to detach so if you were bf'ing you'd be doing that and prob. could be in or out of water at that stage? seemed to suggest 'in' because of talk of water ingress so maybe I shouldn't have sai d dry off. but then motherinferior's experience shows an alternative... One of the things I liked about it was the OPTION of being in or out of water at any point so perhaps you just do what seems best?

seems like I should just say 'dunno' really!

I had a waterbirth with my 2nd child and it was wonderful Had no tearing at all - even though I had an episiotomy with DD1 (forceps).

Booked another waterbirth with DD2, but my labour was incredibly short and we arrived at hospital to find I was already fully dilated - DD2 was born about 10 minutes later.

Your comments are v v reassuring. Am looking forward to it - hope the pool is available. When you say you 'dry off and have a cuddle' spots, do you mean b4 the placenta is delivered? or is the placenta delivered in the water?