Strange question about waterbirth...

[Olifin]

....just something I've always wanted to know!

I had a wonderful waterbirth at home with DS and stayed in the water for the 3rd stage.

What I've been wondering is...presumably, once the baby is out, your bits are all...er....big and open....so does the water then go up inside you?

If not, why not?

If so, is that an ok thing? (I tend to assume it can't be good for lots of possibly grubby water to get up and inside your bits like that?)

Sorry for these random musings but I've been meaning to find out the answer to this ever since DS was born 2.5 years ago

Sorry to threadjack - is it really very rare?

I've not emphasised my plan to do it all in water, but I have said that I don't want the cord cut until the placenta is delivered, and that I want it physiological if possible.

Are they assuming that somehow a 5 foot tall woman, attached to a slippery baby is going to manage to clamber out of a birth-pool-in-a-box to deliver the placenta on land do you think?

I just don't see that working (or being very safe/sensible. I see me getting halfway, unable to lift my shaky leg over the side, slipping, falling back in, and showering the midwife/walls/carpet with murky birthpool water...

I had a waterbirth. I was in the water for a very short while once ds was born, then I was helped out and onto bed to deliver placenta. Don't remember how or why - to busy getting over the shock that my life had just been turned on its head.

Both my babies were hospital water births. And I had a natural 3rd stage in the water with DS2 but the cord had been cut and baby was with DH. I think they don't like baby to be in the water too long incase they get chilly!

Re the OP I would say it's not a lot different to having a bath straight after. The water I think would come out with gravity but you wouldn't necessarily notice as lots of other stuff is coming out too. Just a guess really but it's obviously not a problem as it's been happening for years !

Oh, interesting... Well, I shall just be stubborn then (unless either of us is chilly). I wouldn't want them to underestimate how clumsy I am!

Re the OP, I guess as Starlight said, as long as you stay upright there's no reason for the water to go up... plus there's plenty trying to make its way out again too.

I'm sure that I'd heard scare stories of some kind of embolism with water births - but I think that was amniotic fluid backing up rather than the pool water, and the conclusion was all just a crazy theory because no-one had ever actually seen/heard/been able to find anyone who'd had one.

I like that Starlight. If I had a 3rd I would definitely try for that... assuming I hadn't pooed in the pool like I did the first time

x posts though... I couldn't do it kneeling. Both times felt uncomfortable that way. I sort of floated on my back like a giant whale!

Oh lord.. the pooing.........

I'm refusing to think about that, or the little fishing net that is provided with the pool..

Thanks for the replies everyone! I had thought there might be some sort of vacuum effect but science isn't my strong point so I can see that your explanations make more sense!

I didn't realise it was rare to have a third stage in the water. I'm not sure mine really counts as, though I was still in the pool, I stood up to birth the placenta. Not that I was told to; it just felt like the right thing to do at the time. But the placenta was still attached to DS at that point, as far as I can recall.

And pooing....yeah...I didn't notice it at all but OH fished it out with a sieve, he helpfully informed me after the event.

I asked my midwife (St Thomas's) whether I could stay in the pool for the 3rd stage and she said that wasn't allowed because (according to them) it's too difficult to tell whether there's excessive bleeding if you're still in the pool. She reassured me that there would be lots of help with getting out though - 2 midwives plus DH should be able to keep you upright :)

There is a theoretical risk of water embolism (i.e, water going up and into a blood vessel). If this ever happened to someone, it would kill them, almost certainly. However, AFAIK, it has never happened, although it has been touted as a theoretical risk of third stage in water.