A pool for pain relief -- how does it work?

[ardenbird]

I'm very interested in using a pool for pain relief, but I'm not quite sure how the whole thing works. When do you go in? How long can you stay in the water? Do you get in and out as you feel like, or do you just get one go? If you're not planning a water birth, at point do you need to get out to make sure the baby is born elsewhere? If you're really liking the pool, can you opt for a water birth even if it hadn't been your plan? And, finally, what do you wear in the water?

A lot of questions, I know

I laboured in water with my Ds in '98. I got in far too early tbh and it slowed my labour...it was my MW's very first water birth experience, so she wasn't sure either. I actually ended up with a forceps delivery, but the pool really did take away the pain.
For Dd in '06, the (same) MW wouldn't let me get into the pool until she got a good trace on Dd, but every time I got a contraction, I sat up/forward as it was too painful to lay or sit back, so I was only in the pool for 25 minutes before Dd was born.
Generally speaking, you can do what you want to do, get in and out (though once you are in, you wont want to get out) and you can change your mind at any point within reason.
You can wear something or nothing. I started off in a nightshirt the first time and then just a bra, but the second time I was in the buff.
It's a good experience and it really does relieve the pain a great deal. You can have gas and air at the same time if you want it, but no other type of pain relief. I completely recommend it and apparently it's even better if you can do it at home.

I was examined before I got in as you have to be so far along so that it doesn't slow the labour down (as happened to the previous poster). I can't remember how far you have to be, but I got in the pool at 6cm

I had no idea what I'd make of the water, so simply tried it to see if I liked it - if not, I reasoned I could easily get out again. I loved it and there was no shifting me. I hadn't intended to give birth in the pool, but you couldn't have dragged me out in the end, and anyway it had very high sides and wobbly steps, so probably would have been a bad idea to attempt with big contractions going on at the end

I didn't wear anything, but you can do what you want, however I knew from my first birth that I didn't like to be wearing anything in labour, even when not in the water. I was told if DH wanted to get in too, he had to wear swimming shorts. He had no desire to and I wouldn't recommend it - the midwife was continually sieving out bits of mucus and membrane - yuck! Instead DH did a marvellous job of passing ms water to drink - because the pool is really warm, I was v thirsty

Good luck with your baby, and I'd say if the pool is there, give it a try

I tried the pool for an hour and TBH did not help at all in terms of pain, although was good to help me relax. Ended up with an epidural...

I had my DD in water in 2008 in London.
I had on my birth plan that I would like to try for a water birth and/or using the pool for pain relief - I don't think any midwife is going to tell you to get out of the pool to have your baby if you are finding it useful (unless, of course, there are problems or something they need to check.)
I did not wear anything in the pool - my bottom half clothes came off when I arrived and was examined and never went back on. I took my top half clothes off just before getting into the pool.

When I arrived at the hospital, someone had just used the pool so it had to empty (45 mins), fill up (45minutes), sterilise/clean (1 hour), empty (45 mins again!) and fill up (45 mins!) so I spent most of my labour watching it empty and fill up!
When I got in, my waters broke almost straight away and DD was out in a few pushes so I can't really comment on whether it relieved pain but it was nice to be in the water and I did not experience the infamous ring of fire when she was crowning so that might have been the water?
I was on all fours but was told to move to a more sitting/reclining position to actually give birth, I then held her on my chest for a few seconds and was told to get out and walked into the adjoining delivery room (assuming I held her while walking but don't clearly remember...!) to have a natural third stage and be stitched up.

So that was my experience!

I didn't get the ring of fire either with Dd.

Thanks for all the feedback. Another question: if you're using a pool, do you need to bring towels to dry off with? Or does the MLU provide them?

Yes, I had to bring towels. You will need a few as if you get out a few times, you don't want to be stuck with only a wet/damp one...
And take an old one to step out onto.

It must depend on the MLU, as unlike Solo, towels were provided for me and DD and there was a step. I've heard of Mums having to take their own sieve too, but again the MLU had one. So I'd ask the midwives or you could end up taking in a lot if stuff you may not use

If you're at home, you get in the pool whenever you want. If you're in a MLU, I think most have a policy of you needing to be in established labour (4cm+) before you get in. If you find that labour slows - you get out :)

No, you don't have to get out if you didn't 'plan' to deliver in water.

I wanted a water birth and was allowed in as soon as I got to hospital as I was 7cm. The warmth and feeling of floating was wonderful for pain relief. I was so relaxed I was dozing off between contractions!
I wore a long vest top, I didn't want to be naked as I have quite a leave bosom and didn't want them getting in the way!
It's very warm so make sure you take a straw so you don't have to move to drink water. My slave DP just held the cup and put the straw to my mouth bless him!
The hospital provided towels so I didn't take any, didn't take a sieve either, but didn't need it in the end.
Had to get out to give birth as my contractions slowed down and they gave me something (can't remember the name of it) to speed them up.
I'd certainly recommend waterbirth/pain relief and would certainly do it again.
Good luck!

And my SIL didn't intend to have one, she just wanted it for pain relief, but she was so comfortable she refused to get out!

I'm also planning a water birth and have found it helpful watching one born every minute, there's quite a few on there. Dont know if just for the cameras but those women wear tankini's/bikinis with no bottoms although there was one in the buff. Good luck.

I found The Waterbirth Book by Janet Balaskas very helpful. It was the least hippy-dippy of the natural child birth type books and provided, I thought, a well balanced overview of the sort of information we got in our NCT class re the birth process, painkillers etc, plus all the info on waterbirths. I didn't realise but it's a relatively new thing so no hard and fast rules yet.

It's not a pain killer tbh. It does help with mobility and getting into a comfortable position, but it doesn't help with pain relief, in the same way it wouldn't help relieve the pain of a broken leg.

If you want pain relief, go for the hard drugs (having had one dry land and two water births).

My midwife used a hand held doppler to monitor the heart beat between every contraction.

I hadn't planned a water birth, but MW suggested it to me for pain relief and I was about 5cm dilated at this point.

It worked wonders for me because I couldnt put any pressure on my bum ie: sit/lie down once I had a contraction so floating in the water worked really well for me.

I was in there for so long* that when the water went cold she pulled the plug and put some fresh warm water in for me

I would have given birth in there if there wasn't meconium in my waters when they finally broke (grrr DD!), so at 3:07am I had to get out, between contractions, back to delivery room and back onto the bed. Gave birth by 3:14am

*when I say "long" I mean about 3 and a half hours tops.

Im now planning a waterbirth for DS who is due in 8 weeks, hopefully I can see the whole thing through this time fingers crossed.

I've just had a water birth (yesterday!) and it was lovely. I wasn't allowed in until I'd gone past 4cm in case it slowed things down, I wasn't examined before being allowed in the water but the mw was happy that I'd gone far enough to benefit from the water. The feeling of weightlessness and warmth was lovely, it was far better than just being in the bath. I still needed G&A but my experience this time was much better than a very medicalised birth last time. I stayed in the water until DD had been born.

Congratulations! LiviaAugusta!!

My experience is different to belgo's - I've had a dry land birth with gas & air and pethidine, and a waterbirth with no drugs. The water relieved pain much better than the drugs did in my case. Planning another water birth with my 3rd

Congratulations LiviaAugusta!

Congrats LiviaAugusta! Glad to hear your story :). Plus everyone else's -- it sounds like pools leave good impressions.

Hmm. I just asked at my last consultant appointment (I'm under "shared care") if I could give birth in the MLU because I'd like to use a pool, and he talked to the anaesthetist and they both approved the MLU, so I'm guessing no one thinks I'll need any monitoring that the pool would interfere with (otherwise I'd hope they say "pool, no you wouldn't be able to use that anyway"). Those two are in hand only in case a weirdo chronic condition I have causes problems -- they may need to slow down my heart, but the consultant only said they'd do it if it was causing me problems. So I should be able to tell people if that happens, or maybe I ought to arrange some signal just in case the problem is I can't talk...

I always head to the bath to ease pain, so that's why I figure I'd do well with the pool (just got out of the bath to ease back ache, in fact :) ). I can't take opiates, and gas and air makes me puke (although I expect I might be willing to give it a try anyway), so I really wanted something between nothing and an epidural.

And I'll keep the straw thing in mind. Good tip!

Signal a good idea :)