Pool Hire for Homebirth

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Hi,

I am due to give birth in August and need to get sorted with pool hire. Can anyone recommend a provider or even a type of pool that they have found useful? I live in Greenwich, London.

On another note, although I don't have any idea how I'll cope with one :) I am sure that this one wont be the last and there will be other births to sort this out for. Would anyone recommend actually just buying one rather than hiring each time? To be honest, this worries me slightly with regard to it being sterile etc for the others.

Any advice would be helpful thanks!

most pools (like birth pool in a box) come with a sterile liner.... you ONLY use it with a sterile liner and the liner is binned after wards.... new liners cost £25.

I got a birth pool in a box including all the stuff, air pump / water pump / hose / tap adapters / massive slip proof waterproof mat (+ all other bits n pieces) INCLUDING an unused un-opened still sealed sterile liner for £32 on ebay.

Much cheaper than hiring, which costs about £80 per birth.

(Oh and with the electric air pump it took

bear in mind of you buy one it has to be stored correctly (over 5C) so if you are planning on storing in a cellar or garage etc you may need to think again!

I hired a filtered, heated pool for DD1. I wound up having a land birth (long story), but having a pool that I could wallow in was bliss in the last few weeks when I felt like a hippo! Unfortunately I now can't find the company we used, but the pool looked a bit like this - I think the one we had was 5 or 6ft across. Bliss :o

I saw these the other day in HomeBase for £350 - which isn't that far off what I payed for the hire. I'm trying to work out whether its worth getting one for any future pregnancies - mainly as a wallow, but also as a birthpool if it pans out that way.