I hire a heated filtered pool for 5 weeks in total.
It's got solid sides, not the inflatable ones (they remind me of paddling pools).
It sits in my living room for 3 weeks beforehand and i LOVE it!!
'GentleWater' are the firm i've used this time because she had a deal on whereby the hire period had a £100 off, as business was a bit slow. So the whole thing is being fed-ex'd up from Brighton and back for £270, a complete bargain!!
The pool comes with a soft lid that press-studs on to stop littlees getting in, or in our case tossing stuff in it. It also keeps the heat in.
Once set up with a bath load of hot water and topped up to the right level with cold/lukewarm, you set the temp to 37 degrees and it takes about another 2 hours or so to get to that, but once that's done it keeps a constant temp.
We switch it off on a night and in the morning it goes back on and the temp is usually about 32-34 degrees, by the time everyone is breakfasted it's ready to go.
The major advantage of this is that Dh does not have to keep adding buckets of hot water, the m/w's relax because they know the temp is constant and everyone just concentrates on the birth.
I honestly couldn't be doing with anyone faffing round me whilst birthing wondering if the temp was okay.
It has a filter in the pool to keep it clean and we empty and refill every 5 days or so (well Dh does).
The poo is gonna happen anyway Diege, better to fish than mop I reckon
There's no mess either as everything is contained within the pool if you birth in it.
Dh has the unenviable job of cleaning the pool the day after the birth (we stick the lid on and leave it until the next day).
This is done by emptying the water through a hose down the toilet which takes most of the 'bits' with it, but he still maintains "it's the grimmest job[he's] ever done".
Provided the baby arrives on time or thereabouts Dh'll clean & refill it, then sit in it with the kids from the minute he gets up. Everyone loves it