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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Homebirth - hire a pool or not ?.....the midwife says 'not'

93 replies

4blue1pink · 04/01/2006 17:46

Having a homebirth which feels a bit brave and thought i would hire a pool....

Moved house two weeks ago and really like big old bath so wondered if a pool such a good idea after all.

Midwife came out and gave pool the thumbs down, tricky to fill (slow) pain to keep warm, pain to empty, need strong floors ( house is old i am sure they are fine) etc etc

Now wondering whether she has put me off....is bath ok or do you need more room to manouevre etc....I just dont know.

Baby due in four weeks so should decide soon!

Thanks

OP posts:

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Blu · 04/01/2006 18:20

Enid, Blue/Pink - definitely get one!
DP's LOVE all the inflating and electric pumpery and temperature guaging.
Blue/Pink - It was my first birth, and I was in labour for hours and hours - and didn't need any pain relief except TENS, before I got in pool, and then pool.
(did end up in hospital for ventouse after 3.5 hours pushing, DS was OP, but the obs said if I hadn't been at home, it would have been a CS, and I know that if I hadn't had the pool, I couldn't have carried on like that at home)

bossykate · 04/01/2006 18:39

i had one of these - you fill and heat it in advance, no messing about when the time comes. i recommend without reservation.

WideWebWitch · 04/01/2006 20:19

Midwife is talking bollocks, hire one. I had one for my home birth and would have been in a LOT more pain imo without one. Def get one that heats up and stays the same temp, it's a PITA to fill it in labour and it means you can fill it and get in and out of it (it was recommended by the co I hired mine from).

dramaqueen72 · 04/01/2006 20:26

oh hire one. I had one (just had a christmas day baby )from madeinwater.co.uk., gorgeous deep blue colour and just the right size. - LOVED IT, and cant stress enough how much it helped me between contractions to relax. NOt tricky to fill, NOT tricky to keep warm at all, and bloody simple to empty/clean up too.
a billion miles better than a bath.
home births are fabulous, i'm so 'pro' them after having had one (and previously two hospital births and one midwife unit birth)
hire a pool and ignore midwifes bad advice i say.

poppiesinaline · 04/01/2006 20:32

Haven't read all thread but a friend of mine had both hers at home and hired a birthing pool both times and it was fine. Yes it took up the whole of her dining room for a while and lots of plastic sheeting was involved (her DH was stressing out about carpet!) but she loved it and that was all that mattered. If you want one, have one. Its you giving birth not your midwife.

PrincessPeaHead · 04/01/2006 20:34

she is talking bollox. not difficult to fill (duh, like a bath but a bit bigger, how difficult can that be), not difficult to keep warm (loses 1 degree an hour approx with the cover off - much less than that if you fill it before you need to get in and put the cover on), if you have an old house the floor will be fine, and of course you can give birth in it if you want.

HALVED the pain for me, wouldn't have been the same in a bath because the buoyancy was the thing - not having to hold yourself up is SO energy saving (think about it). Also I lay full stretch between contractions and then sort of kneeled during contractions, can't do that in a bath.

Another benefit of water births is much lower risk of tearing - HUGE plus! I am having my 4th at home in the next few weeks, wouldn't consider doing it without a birthing pool.

She just is uncomfortable about water births. Tell her you are having a birth pool as it is your birth, if she is not happy doing a water birth to send another midwife who is.

Enid - no poos in the peahead birthing pool last time! No blood either. Super tidy

mrspink27 · 04/01/2006 20:43

YES YES YES hire a pool. I had one and it was fantastic, dh said the moment when i look utterly calm was after i had been in the pool for 10 minutes or so.

Original poster

4blue1pink · 04/01/2006 21:06

thanks girls....does anyone have a reasonably priced one with heater that they can recommend - the GENESIS one someone liked is lovely but at 400 pounds i would be worried about not using it etc...its a lot!

OP posts:

Gillian76 · 04/01/2006 21:08

Anyone know which company SueW works for? Someone else mentioned Splashdown a bit lower down this thread.

Original poster

4blue1pink · 04/01/2006 21:10

i have seen a madeinthewater pool which looks fab but my main worry would be the heating of it.....

OP posts:

wilbur · 05/01/2006 10:16

I bought one of the larger size inflatable ones from "birth pool in a box". I'm 5'8" and the smaller one would have been a bit titichy. The one I had was fine (although in an ideal world it could have beena few inches deeper) and v v comfy. Felt good leaning against the sides. It took about 40 mins to fill and stayed hot (in fact we had to put some cool in before I got in) for quite a while with its supplied cover. Having said that, it was a third and very speedy birth and so I was only in there for about an hour in total. Don't know what it would be like for long labours. We found topping it up with hot water through the hose on the tap v easy though, and our m/w was v helpful too, but dh was able to handle it all on his own. Emptying not bad either, we just put the hose out the window and down into the drain outside. I'm looking forward to using the pool next summer, sitting in it in the garden with a glass of wine instead of knweeling in it mooing like a mad cow. Good luck!

wilbur · 05/01/2006 10:17

BTW - I had a huge bath in my old flat where I laboured with ds1 before going to hosp. Bath okay but no buoyancy and not a patch on the pool.

SoupDragon · 05/01/2006 10:21

Gillian76, I think it's birth pool in a box (which I think she's mentioned on another waterbirth thread actually)

Gisou · 05/01/2006 12:06

I went for the made in water one and really loved it, I agree with Dramaqueen the deep blue is gorgeous. Filling, keeping the water warm and emptying was no fuss at all and it didn't take much space either. If you look around you can read lots of threads talking about water birthing women using this pool on this forum.

Nonyummymummy · 05/01/2006 14:02

I hired a pool from the Active Birth Centre

www.activebirthcentre.com/bp/psportablepools.shtml

I went for the circular pool, cannot remember the exact cost but it does depend whether your baby is early, punctual or late! DD was a week late. It was plenty big enough and believe me I was quite large!
DH was worried about the practicalities but it was fine.
We set it up in the spare bedroom, (second floor of a 70's built townhouse) where it was easy to fill and drain from the bathroom.
My MF just monitored the temperature and got DH to top up with some hot water every so often. It did not lose heat much at all.
Bath would not compare as the ability to lean over the side for contractions and then sink down and stretch out in betweeen was great.
Unfortunately due to lack of progress I had to transfer into hospital and ended up with the dreaded c-section but I was still glad I had hired the pool as it made the labour experience much more comfortable than it would have been otherwise.
Hope it all goes well for you.

Nonyummymummy · 05/01/2006 14:05

Sorry forgot to add that my MW put me off the idea of an inflatable one as another independent MW had told her how one had burst on her whilst the mother was labouring in it!
Don't know which make that was though.

Original poster

4blue1pink · 05/01/2006 20:20

Gosh i am not keen on it bursting - thanks girls- I shall look up the active birth centre one...

I do like the look of the madein the water one but am concerned about keeping it warm enough on late jan early feb night!!!!

Just think i need something to distract me from the agony and water sounds helpful!

OP posts:

SueW · 05/01/2006 20:33

Gillian76 - I work for birthpoolinabox.co.uk and \link{http://www.thegoodbirth.co.uk/The Good Birth Company}.

Bursting/leaking - the new birth-pool-ib-a-box (BPIAB) has been designed with no plughole in the bottom. The previous one did have a plug and hole and women in the focus groups were worried about leaks.

Bursting - there are three chambers making up the full height of the pool. Remember 'Eureka' and displacement of water? You won't need to fill the pool to the top because it would overflow when you got in so you'll prob only fill to second chamber. If the wrost did happen (your cat decided to sharpen its claws on the side whilst you were in labour) you could stand up and the water level would drop significantly, minimzing the risk of overflow.

SueW · 05/01/2006 20:47

Enid asked: "are those ones you can buy as good as the hired out ones?"

Inflatable pools are increasingly being chosen - over 1,000 women have used BPIAB. But women seem to fall into two distinct groups - those who prefer inflatable and those who provide rigid sided/hire pools. Each group has their own reasons for choice. Some people would not begin to entertain the idea of a 'paddling pool' even one that is specially designed with the input of midwives and women but others, especially once they have seen it, love it. I took a sample to a study day on waterbirth recently and the midwives, doulas and antenatal teachers were thrilled with it.

Finances can play a part:
To buy a pool is approx GBP70 which includes a dispoable liner (extras GBP20 each); additional, optional kit including hose, sieve etc (all of which you may prefer to source elsehwere) is GBP35 on top of purchase cost.

To hire a pool - the cheapest we do is GBP165 plus courier fee of GBP60 if you can't collect from a local agent. Included in this price is the kit which has the hoses, tap adaptors submersible pump, etc.

We are asking hospitals to keep inflatable pools on the ward though so that more women can have access to waterbirth. I've also spoken to community midwives who keep one in the office/car to take out to women who want a home water birth but cannot afford pool hire/purchase. If the local health trust is really poor (!) they could ask the mum to cover the cost of the disposable liner at just GBP20 as we will supply them with a free pool.

Hope I haven't gabbled on too long. It's something I feel quite passionate about so my fingers tend to run away with me!

SueW · 05/01/2006 20:48

Oh also BPIAB sides are strong enough to support the weight of a 15 stone person sitting on them so pretty strong!

Original poster

4blue1pink · 05/01/2006 21:00

So it costs more to hire one than to buy?

OP posts:

Original poster

4blue1pink · 05/01/2006 21:19

Someone just needs to tell me what do do as it feels like a minefield with no right answers!!!!

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 05/01/2006 21:22

No one can tell you what to do though, only offer different advice for you to choose from

julienetmum · 05/01/2006 21:29

I hired one from Gentlewater. It was very expensive but I needed to have one with a lockable, toddler proof cover. I would not have been able to fill it quickly enough when I went into labour.

If I had a lockable spare room that i could have kept dd out of and been able to keep the pool heated and filled I would definately have considered an inflatable one.

Being in a pool is nothing like a bath. During my 1st labour I had to get out of the bath as I could not get into the right position. Dd was OP so I had to be on my hands and knees.

Charliepw · 05/01/2006 21:48

I hired a pool from Birthworks when i had my homebirth for my DD 20 months ago, i'm just pregnant again so i'm looking into it all over again to see my options.

the pool was fab, it was wooden sided, hexagonal, and it was up all the time that i hired it, so that i could jump in whenever i wanted. It was my own personal little spa.
It maintained it's own temperture which i found very good, otherwise i would have worried about keeping it warm enough.

It was expensive though, about £350, so i am interested in these inflatable one's, i'm just really worried about keeping it warm enough, and obviously having to fill it in early stages of labour.

My Birthworks pool was fab in that i jumped in a few times just to watch eastenders or whatever.

hmmmm

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