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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

Anyone used Birth-Pool-in-a-Box?

16 replies

jumblesale · 06/09/2006 14:35

Afternoon all.
Is it worth me getting this? We have a fab birth centre in our town but I like my own bed and bath too much to leave home for the birth.
Is it just a great big faff or is it useful?
Ta very much

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Iklboo · 06/09/2006 14:37

I've never heard of it - all I can think of is that episode of Men Behaving Badly when Tony started selling birthing pools.....

Rat99 · 06/09/2006 14:56

I haven't had a baby yet, but I've had a birth-pool-in-a-box ready for a good few weeks now. I plan to use it just during labout, but obviously can be used for birth too. So far I've just used it in the garden when it was really hot for relaxing in and stuff and it's fantastic. It takes about 15mins to pump up and about 30mins to fill with a hose pipe.

trincarm · 07/09/2006 00:15

I gave birth 2 months ago in this pool and it was worth every single penny. My waters broke on the thursday and she was not born until the saturday. We filled the pool on the thursday night and just occasionally topped it up from the kettle and it kept its heat really well. I am 5 foot9 and bought the large size and it was plenty of room for my partner as well who is 6 foot.

Original poster

jumblesale · 07/09/2006 07:30

Oh thanks very much. I was concerned about keeping the water warm. Also I'm 5' 10'' and hubby 6' 2'' so I was wondering just how much room there really was in it.

OP posts:

Flamesparrow · 07/09/2006 08:22

Pumped mine up and sat in it empty ... never got to use it for the birth though

(must learn - midwives CAN be ignored!)

sarahlou1uk · 07/09/2006 21:14

Not used birth pool in a box, got the one from Made in Water - la bassine. Not as much faffing about as the other one. I'm 5' 8" and I felt comfortable in it, plus it fitted in my room better being slightly different shape from BPIAB. Only took 15 mins to fill with water, but we have got a combi boiler so it really depends on your heating system.

crimplene · 08/09/2006 23:40

I've used the smaller one, fantastic, didn't need any other pain relief, felt really calm and in control (used TENS before mw arrived and I got in the pool) and sort of dozed off floating in it during transition, a bigger one would have been nicer for stretching out a bit more (i'm 5'6") and to retain the heat better. DP thought it was hard work to blow up, and carting buckets of hot water during labour to add heat... but hey, not my problem! Contains most of the mess if you give birth in it (I didn't)and tends to slow things down if it's going too quick (which is why I got out, things were a bit slow). You also have to be creative about how to empty it if you don't get a pump too.

suburbanjellybrain · 09/09/2006 00:02

I used larger BPIAB - for labour i have to say it was v comfy (i am 5'8") and dh loved having an important job to do while i was labouring - he got it pumped up and filled in time for me to use it - you should have a practice run to see how long this takes. The pain relief was fantastic - i didn't have any other drugs/ or gas and air....

Gizmo · 09/09/2006 14:29

I've just taken delivery of a Made in Water (la bassine) pool and am rather chuffed with it - gave it a quick whirl on Wednesday night in our front room and it was very quick to inflate (less than five mins) but slow to fill, largely because the hose adaptor didn't fit our square tap too well so I had to fill the thing slowly to avoid immense sprayage. So it took about 45 minutes to fill but even if I don't get to use it in labour I think it is probably worth the money as a treat in late labour: floating in a nice deep pool while watching the news is surreal but veeeeeerrrryyyy relaxing.

SoupDragon · 09/09/2006 16:29

I had a large pool from BPIAB. Fab. Easy to inflate (I did it whilst in early labour to keep myself amused!) nice and comfortable to kneel in and supportive enough to lean on the sides. I gave birth in mine and am 5'7" and there was plenty of room. To keep it warm, I left the cover on half the pool whilst in labour and the midwife took it off completely when it got to the actual birth. We've got a combi boiler too and just kept topping it up via a hosepipe from a tap. At some point I think we had to bail some water out with a bucket to make room for hot but it wasn't a problem.

As the pool was in a seperate room, we were able to shut the room off and leave it syphoning out via a hose pipe for several hours. No effort or noise. The last bits (and the mess) were bundled up in the liner, shoved in a bin sack and shoved inthe dustbin Or so I'm told. I was tucked up in my bed by that point.

Original poster

jumblesale · 09/09/2006 16:44

Thanks everyone. Keep it coming, please-I'm still listening!
Would appreciate views on pain relief benefits of BPIAB, especially from second/third timers, as I'm not completely convinced yet!

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 09/09/2006 20:36

absolutely chuff all IME!

Although I can't say how painful BabyDragon's labour would have been on dry land, obviously. It was much much quicker than either of my other 2 labours (3cm to baby in 2 hours compared to, oh about 10). I used gas and air in the pool. The pool was invaluable, however, in that it offered me privacy and mess containment. I could relax in it knowing that when my waters went, they wouldn't make an mess on the floor which I would have found excruciatingly embarrassing for some reason (mad, I know, and it didn't bother me in hospital).

Wilbur · 09/09/2006 20:51

jumblesale - I used bpiab last year for ds2 and I bought the larger size. I am 5' 8" and although the birth was fine and the pool was very sturdy (marvellous to lean over the sides) if I could have I would have liked about 4 or 5 more inches of water to cover my lower back (I was kneeling, leaning forward over the sides) but it wasn't quite high enough for that. I think we could have inflated it a bit more to take more water, I think, but I was worried it might pop! I have a friend who is 6ft 1 and she is going for a home birth and I have told her she's def too tall for bpiab, but maybe at 5' 10", you might be okay. Deoend on what position you are planning to labour, if sitting up, back against the sides, you would be completely fine. Re heat loss - we were totally fine, in fact had to let some cold in as the supplied cover kept it v toasty. It was a short labour though and I was only in it for about an hour altogether. All in all I think they're fab, but do have a think about the height thing.

Wilbur · 09/09/2006 20:55

Oh and I would say there was def pain relief when I got in the water. I got in just after my waters broke and the pains had really racked up several notches and I certainly relaxed and was able to cope better in the water. All the same - it didn't stop a few minutes of blind panic about lack of doctors, drugs etc! I think that was the hormones tho.

Rachel2707 · 10/09/2006 08:24

As a mum who had a waterbirth and an independent midwife who sees loads of waterbirths - the BPIAB is ok but have had some problems of it not being deep enough and taking ages to fill. You can hire ones that heat the water and filter it so it can be constantly full of hot water ready for labour and to use antenatally. This is great for 2nd/3rd/4th labours etc as they can be much much quicker and there's not always time to full the pool. In my opinion though the BPIAB is better than the made in water one which has disappointed alot of my clients.

SoupDragon · 10/09/2006 10:47

My tip for filling it was that we half filled it early with just hot water and put the cover on. Obviously too hot to get into but then when I wanted to ge it we just topped it up, I got in when it was an appropriate temperature and we carried on topping it up as necessary. It seemed to be plenty deep enough really (I delivered DD on all 4s. MW just gently pushed my back down a little to keep her underwater) but I think I could have inflated the sides more.

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