(probably silly) homebirth bath question

[MadreInglese]

we have a huuuuge bath, about a foot longer and two feet wider than normal sized ones

have briefly discussed homebirths with my midwife and she mentioned hiring a birthing pool but it occurred to me last night that our stupidly humungous bath is probably not far off the size of a birthing pool

would I be able to use the bath instead of hiring a pool, or would there be a reason not too?

you need to conisder will the midwife be able to get access to you/the baby in the bath, can she get round the perimeter of it.. also, there will be detritus floating around after the birth, you need to think about draining it, will you be able to climb in and out if you need to , is it high sided? will you be able to keep the temperature correct?

As long as the bath is deep enough to cover your bump and that none of baby would be exposed to the air when being born then it would be fine.

When the bath's quite full if I'm sitting up straight the water would come to just under my bust - so depends how big my bump gets I guess!

Access wise you can get round three sides, but one side is against a wall. I can climb in and out no probs but am only 19 weeks so that may change!

temperature I suppose could only be maintained by emptying cold and refilling with warm water.

Hmmm doesn't sound very feasible after all...

It's the depth that is the issue re the baby and your comfort. If you are kneeling or on all fours where does the water come to?

Most birthpools aren't going to be placed in the middle of the room anyway so the fact you have 3 sides accessible is great.

Can you compare the dimensions of your bath with one of the birthpools?

not sure, on all fours I would guess I'd be able to submerge my bump but the water would not cover all of my back

will have to measure the dimensions and test water height in various positions when I next have a bath (usually shower as the bath takes so blummin' long to fill!)

I'm assuming the midwife would do some sort of home visit to risk-assess for a homebirth anyway..?