Water birth trained midwives? Why aren't they all trained?

[JimmyChoo17]

I really want to give water birthing a go but am advised that only if a water birth trained midwife is present, can I deliver in the pool.

If one isn't available I can labour but not deliver in the pool.I would have to get out to actually give birth.

Why can some do water deliveries and some can't? What affects/prevents training?

Am guessing will be money but would love to know if anyone knows the actual reason.

Also I have read that you are entitled to your choice of birth (if no other safety factors to bear in mind) so you could actually insist on pushing baby out in the water without a water trained midwife anyway......

Would be a shame if labouring was fine in water but you had to get out at the end. Especially when during the midwife/hospital tour they really sell the water birth and benefits wrt pain and reduced risk of tearing. At our childbirth class today tho they said that we could well be denied due to lack of water mw's...

Sounds like a cope out to me! They have 9 months to train their midwives for your birth.

That said, don't get too focus'ed on actually delivering in water - you might find you want to get out. Labour is unpredictable at the best of times. Labouring in water is fab though!

I would imagine it all comes down to cost.

However, if you are at the point of delivery and refuse to get out or can't get out, then there's not really much they can do about it.

The other alternative is homebirth and rent/buy your own pool.

It's utter crap isn't it? It's not like training a midwife how to care for a mum labouring in water takes months and costs a fortune. The training is very short. And actually the RCM have said it should be considered part of a midwife's normal competencies.

A few years ago our local CLU had a birthpool installed on the labour ward. They did the same thing of selling waterbirth and running special classes for women interested in it. But when it came to the birth, women were being told there was no one available, or the plug was missing, or it would take to long to fill. One mum was told by the midwife 'Oh no dear, I'm not bending over THAT!'. At its peak 5 mums a year were giving birth in it. Out of 5.5 thousand deliveries a year. They've taken the pool out of the CLU now and opened a MLU where they do loads of waterbirths now thankgoodness.

....should I add an item to my hospital bag? [Jimmy runs off to B&Q to pick up variety of plugs to use just in case the hospital "lose" it]

ha ha!

I meant to ask my MW today but forgot amidst all the other stuff.