Planning home waterbirth but can't find info on the logistics of filling the pool

[FlyLikeABird]

This will be for DC2, DD was a fast induced labour and the midwife expects this will be a relatively fast labour too so I would like to have everything I need lined up and ready should I be able to birth at home.

I will be borrowing a pool and buying a liner but I can't seem to find much online info about filling / emptying the pool and so on.

The plan is to have the pool downstairs so the floor can take the weight but I'm not sure how to fill it, can I use any old hose or does it have to be a special one? I will do a trial run filling it but I am rather running out of time to get everything organised as I'm already 38 weeks. I guess I was in denial that I will have to give birth at some point!

Any advice from home waterbirthers would be much appreciated

I received a kit with my pool (la bassine) that had an all singing, all dancing 'special' hose that was free from chemicals or something. I suspect I would have just used the garden hose on the kitchen tap if I hadn't received that.

This was the hose: www.madeinwater.co.uk/birth-pool-water-hose/

Please read this OP:

m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27886267

I had an inflatable Birth Pool In A Box and filled it with a brand new ordinary hosepipe from tap in the downstairs shower room. As I have a combi boiler, I filled it early to about 2/3 full with just hot water and then topped it up with cold to the right temperature when I was ready to go in. With the heat retentive cover over it, this worked perfectly.

The inflatable pools are fine. They usually come with a hose and with a pump to empty the pool after use. I used a normal garden hose and ran it through with sterilising solution.

The warning about legionnaires is for the hard sided pool that stay heated, not the birth pool in a box/la bassine type.

This I great thanks. It will be an inflatable pool. The midwife did say not to get a heated one due to the legionaires issue.

I have a new garden hose so will immerse it in Milton. I have a jacuzzi bath which I wanted to sterilise through before the birth so I can use the bath if I have a slow labour. I can do them at the same time.

Do I get something to attach the hose to the tap?

My tap connector came with the kit but you can get them from the same place you'd get a hose.

Tap connector in b&q or garden centre with the hosepipe stuff. Is your boiler combi or conventional? If its conventional check how long it will take to fill the pool and how much hot water your tank holds.

you can buy a kit which contains liner, hose, pump etc which makes life a bit easier.

first mistake we made on our trial run was not getting the water hot enough to start with and we couldn't get the temperature up to 37 degrees. Run it hotter than you need and cool down towards the end of filling, much simpler.

I sterlised the hose by making up a large bucket of Milton solution, attaching one end of hose the the pump and submerging and putting other end of hose into bucket, then just let the pump run for 20 minutes. Also meant the bucket and pump were clean too.

Your thread has just reminded me to go and get some plastic sheeting from B&Q and dig out the old towels!

www.facebook.com/groups/homebirthchat is great for all home birth related questions

Thanks for all the replies, I've joined the FB group so having a look at posts there too.

I've tested the borrowed pool and it filled up in 40mins so that should be fine. It had a small split along a seam so I've spent a few days looking for a suitable repair kit, doing the repair and waiting for it to dry. It has two repairs, one over the other, so will re-test that section tonight and just go for it when I go into labour. It will have the liner so the water won't get in but if it doesn't stay up so be it.

I will get together some old duvets, towels etc and just use things from my hospital bag as and when I need them.

Is there anything you found invaluable when having a home birth?

Did anyone make a music playlist? I haven't but thought I could stream some generic soothing music on Spotify if I feel in the mood.