Water Birth at MLU

[Frizz1986]

So I am 30 weeks with my first and very excited about our arrival (hopefully after xmas). I am starting to try to decide on a birth plan and where i want to have this thing.

I looked around our local MLU this week and thought it was lovely. They had 3 rooms all with birth pools in (2 of them were v fancy and can be filled within 5 minutes) they have double beds so that partners can stay overnight with you once baby arrives and it just all seemed so relaxed.

I think I have finally chosen to give birth there as i am considered low risk, its as homely as can be expected and although the hospital is a 20 min ambulance ride away, they have resus gear (the same as the hospital) and the midwives are fully trained.

Anyway i want to think about a water birth as i want it to be as natural as possible with no epidural etc. I am not good with pain but really want to do it myself.
My issue is that i have never really found baths relaxing so will a water birth really benefit me by relaxing me if a normal bath never has??

I also planned a MLU water birth but needed induction as overdue so didn't experience it. It took me by surprise as I never took the time to think about the alternatives. Keep an open mind just in case, as long as baby is safe that's what counts.
On the subject of baths, I took a regular bath a few hours before dd was born and it definitely got things moving! Sometimes relaxation is subconscious.

I was really sceptical of the pool / water birth. I gave it a try because after a 3 day latent labour I would of got in a bath of broken glass if they said it would help

It was fantastic ! I felt more relaxed than I had all the way through, active labour was less painful than the early stage!

Just like swimming, it supports the extra weight so it all just seems a bit easier.

Mine was fab.

Thanks. I am very aware that I can't plan it too much (my sister went into labour at 35 weeks so I know I could end up at the hospital if i am early or induced) but I really want to have a bit of an idea of how I want it to go, so wanted an idea if water births are only good for people who easily relax in baths because I don't.

Hoping for as natural as possible at the MLU and will be telling them that if they think I can do it without drugs etc I want them to get me to do it as I really feel it would be an achievement for me and want to say I've done it.

Hi Frizz, You do seem to have a fairly positively flexible attitude (ie things might not go exactly as planned), which is always good, because to be honest you have no way of knowing what the bath will do for you until you get in it.

The key is really to trust whatever your body is telling you, and to have birth helpers who try to fit in with that.
I had two DC at independent midwife-run centres with no pain relief (also no gas and air, mainly because it's not available in the country where I gave birth). For the first birth they ran the bath, I got in, and quickly afterwards felt that I actually needed to be walking around. And that's what I did - walked around room supported by midwife and DH between contractions, on all fours for contractions, gave birth like that too. The movement helped cope with the pain perfectly.
With DD2 it all went very quick, early in the morning, not sure I ever really woke up (woken up by first contraction at 4.30, baby there at 6.15); they ran the bath, I got in and just stayed there, it was bliss, baby born underwater, both of us got out and went straight into the double bed, started bfing, back home a few hours later. It felt just at right as walking was the first time round.

Don't know sorry. With my last birth I wanted a water birth at the mlu, the lovely mw read my birth plan and said "do you still want a water birth"? I felt things were moving quickly and that I probably wouldn't make it down the corridor and she said she thought baby would be here before the bath was run. Your mlu sounds lovely but don't count on the water birth

On the subject of pain relief, I managed to get by with paracetamol and a little gas and air at the end. It was painful but not so bad as I'd imagined.

I'd compare the birth pool more to swimming than to a bath - it supports your body in the same way so if you've found swimming relaxing during pregnancy you'll probably take to the pool. I'm not a bath person but found the birthing pool great for enabling me to give birth in a comfortable position with no pain relief (just a bit of gas and air). It was still very painful but I can't imagine having been able to go through the same process without the added cushion of the water.