Waterbirth -- what happens if..

[Splinters]

..you get the baby's head out in the water and find the shoulders are stuck? Can you discover it quickly enough when it's all submerged like that? And how on earth would you get out of the pool for help when your entire vagina is full of baby and you have a head between your legs? This has been bothering me.

I have had lots of water births and this has never happened to me. A few times I have had to get the Mum to stand up with her leg on the side of the pool and this has been enough to release the shoulders. Don't forget the midwife will advise you to get out before that point if she thinks it might happen such as if you are having a long second stage.

I have no experience of water birth but I had my DD 5 days ago and she got stuck. It was evident fairly early on that things weren't moving as they should, I was pushing really hard with strong contractions and she just wasn't moving. I would imagine its very unusual to get to the point where the head is out then things get stuck. MW best person to ask really tho.

This slightly happened to me. I birthed DS's head in a kneeling upright position (in the pool) then sat back on my bum, semi-recumbant. Error.

All the midwife said to me was "baby's shoulders are taking a little longer now that I would like, if you don't mind, I'm just going to hook my finger under his shoulder to help him out" And she did.

She explained afterwards that the tiny tear I had was due to her having to intervene and she was very apologetic, but I knew it was necessary.

I know also that if there had been a serious issue, she would have asked to mobilise and get out of the pool.

What I had, was not a shoulder dystocia which would be serious. Although even an SD would be manageable by a skilled midwife who would be able to see that problem coming earlier on during the second stage.

Thank you all.. I'm 20 weeks and midwives are still basically refusing to answer questions about birth on the grounds that it's "too early", so you and the library are my best source of info at the moment! I didn't realise that the MW can see SD coming in advance, so that's slightly reassuring anyway.

Don't worry about it. Afaik an AS is less likely with a water birth as you can get into lots more positions and are less likely to stay still. Having said that my baby did get stuck, midwife just got me to stand up and then helped me out the pool with the head between my legs. At the time it didn't feel difficult as I just knew I needed to do it and with a helping hand was actually quite easy. Climbing out actually helped dislodge the baby so he was born with no further issues.