water birth has any one had one was it a good or bad choice

[jayjaybaby]

my first one is due in august i think it will be much more comftable to be in a huge bath for twelve or more hours than in a sweaty labour room

ok so has any one done this at the qmc or city hospitals in nottingham

sorry puter is playing up

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Waterbirths sound really good. Even I'm thinking of having one. BUT -
Has anyone ever had infection passed onto them after having a waterbirth? I mean - after the pool has been contaminated with blood, meconium, amnio fluid and anything else you can think of, germs must be in their element. I know the pool is cleaned afterwards but, I've heard that hospital baths should be avoided because some can be rather icky and are not cleaned as regularly as they should.

Are birthing pools in the same league or are they different and why?

i had my second child in the water and its amazing within an hour of being in there he was born and i didnt have any pain relif a tall.

This is all about how great it is for mum, however I know of a baby with prolapsed cord, mum in pool, noticed too late by m/w, by time mum was out of pool it was too late for the baby. This was in a major london teaching hospital earlier this year. No doubt it will show death on labour ward in the stats not death in birthing centre, whereas if mum had given birth on labourward all along it might have been prevented. I was always really keen on waterbirth but not anymore.

Conni, that can happen with any type of birth it is not specifically a fault of a water birth.

had a wonderful experience giving birth in water, the best of all out of my four times! would thoroughly recommend it. no problems whatsoever.

I had both my children in water and I have to say it was the best experience I have ever had. With out the water I think the pain would have been too much. It is a wonderful thing being surounded in water with no one to interfere with you. Poke or prod. The stillness gives you a great sense of calm and helps the concentration levels so that you can focus on the job in hand. Moving around is so nice as well, you feel quite weightless which is fantastic after feeling so heavy and not being able to move so well. It gives you a new lease of life just when you need it. I delivered my second baby all on my own water gave me confidence to do that. The baby also comes out a little cleaner. I would recommend it every time - if your pregnancy has been straight forward and you are looking at natural pain relief rather than drugs go for it. Every labour has risks water or no water.

I had my dd in a birthing pool and will give you my honest experience. Unfortunately, I didn't find it matched my expectations, maybe they were too high ?
I was expecting my pain to be eased much more and generally be more confortable. My contractions were extremely painful and relentless, not having time inbetween to re-charge and relax. If I'd had a couple of minutes in-between I may have enjoyed the experience more perhaps.

Having said that I think it was much more serene than a 'dry birth' and I quite possibly would have had much more pain if I'd not been in the pool. It was quite an old pool and really not very comfortable. My dd came into the world quietly and gently though, although there was a bit of fishing about for her as she pooed on the way out and the water was pretty disgusting. Looking back at the photo's I now say it looks like I gave birth in a canal.
Our dd is an extremely mellow, happy and chilled out child, and I do think having a calm water birth made a huge difference.
I would definitely give a water birth another go and would recommend it.
All I would say is everyone's experience is different and don't get into the pool thinking your pain will necessarily disappear.

Go for it & good luck

Forgot to add - Don't be embarrassed about pooing in the pool either. DH was armed with a seive and away he went, he didn't mind at all. I remember puffing thru a pushing contraction on my knees and seeing this little 'thing' float past me. I said in a tearful tone 'Oh no, is that me?' - Well, who else was it going to be eh?

Also, I had all these ideas that I was going to wear T-shirts, tankini tops etc as I didn't want to be naked BUT all that went out the window and I just took everything off, much more comfy. Somehow, dignity goes out the window and you just don't care.

Let yourself go, do whatever is comfy for you, whatever it takes to get you through the labour. Anything goes, honestly