Water Birth

[POOCHINA]

I am considering.. anyone?

the 'made in water' one I mean....

I agree with you this pool is strong and pretty too.

How do you keep the water nice and cosy!

During the labour the water was 35/36 degrees and still it was too hot for me, at the birth dh poured 2 kettles to bring the temperature at 37 degrees. I stayed into the pool for 3 hours. If the room is well heated (25degrees) it should loose 1 degree per hour. I found that keeping the water warm was not a big deal with this inflatable.

I'm trying to choose between the 'Made in Water' pool and the 'Birth pool in a box' at the moment... I like the look of the MiW one (esp with inflatable base), but as I'm just over six foot tall I'm worried that it won't be big enough for me - does anyone have any experience/idea? Also the internal measurements sound rather shallow - only 18" deep... surely this isn't deep enough?

Birth pool in a box will definitely have enough room for you. On a recent water birth study day with midwvies, a six-footer got in to test for size and was very pleasantly surprised - plenty of room.

It's worth downloading the PDF leaflet to see all the design features.

BPAIB also has an inflatable floor - 2" chamber.

My midwife has said that it is fine/good for me to hire a pool but due to the lack of midwives with experience in water births (2 out of a community midwife team of 25) I may have to get out just before I start pushing, her main worry being if the cord is around the neck - apparently a large percentage of cords have to be cut whilst only the head is out.

I really want to give birth in the pool but obviously don't want to put either me or sprog at risk.

Any advice anyone?

SueW - our unit has just got one of your pools! We have a pool but it was thought it would be good to take advantage of this offer to have more availablity for women as we only have the one.

Chellebelle - your midwife is talking garbage. Midwives cannot hide behind the old phrase 'I am not trained in waterbirth'. They have a responsibility to get trained. Here is a link to Royal College of Midwives site - click here

There are excellent guidelines available for midwives from Ethel Burns too. Will post a link in a minute.

I have attended numerous waterbirths and the cord is rarely a problem.

waterbirth guidelines

These guidelines are for midwives but i think they are useful for mothers too.

In previous link scroll down to position papers and click on word document of number 1a.

The Active Birth Centre (020 72816760, www.activebirthcedntre.com) does workshops (with Janet Balaskas) preparing for waterbirth, she is the author of the book earlier mentioned in this thread, also they rent out birthing pools in different sizes.

When I did the course it was recommended to ensure that a pool has a hard edge so you could grip it if you want.

What I am not sure about is whether if there is a leak from the pool whether that would be covered by home insurance, any thoughts?

Mears that's great news. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with it. Your unit might even be one I get to call for updates

Mears - thanks very much for those links. I'm 33wks, and about to move house into an area with a different midwife team. It's really handy to know what I have a right to expect and what paperwork I can ask them for.
I can't shake off the feeling that in my case all the relevant support will be there - but the baby will have different ideas!

The homebirthUK email group is brilliant for information and support on homebirth and water birth including discussions and reviews of birth pools, birth stories and what your rights are.

Lots of knowledgeable people, including Angela Horn who set up the Homebirth Reference Site which has excellent references and information on it.

Thanks Mears - you're a star!

Will send off for the guidelines as I am the sort of person who is more relaxed and unconcerned when armed with the most knowledge

Will pray like mad in the meantime that the person who turns up on the day has been trained and won't have any issues with waterbirth as there is no guarantee that it'll be my midwife who has seen me through thus far.

Thank you!

i had a waterbirth!would recommend to anyone, fab,fab,fab!it was a truly natural,amazing experience.

Agree totally with BubblePop. 'Waterbirthing' is lovely. I had been having contractions for 3 days and when I saw the pool all filled up and the lights dimmed I said 'My God! I feel better already!!'
Am due again in Sept. and will go for water again.

yes, as soon as i got in the water, i thought 'bliss'

i have a birth pool in a box sitting under my stairs waiting for action.