Waterbirth

[mamalou]

I am due on 22nd May and am seriously considering a waterbirth. Has anyone had one? The midwives are supportive of my choice, but I am a little concerned that the monitoring will not be as efficient in water. I had a fairly traumatic birth with my daughter so I am trying to make this one as calm as possible...!

I am due on 22nd May and am seriously considering a waterbirth. Has anyone had one? The midwives are supportive of my choice, but I am a little concerned that the monitoring will not be as efficient in water. I had a fairly traumatic birth with my daughter so I am trying to make this one as calm as possible...!

Hiya! My first delivery was on dry land, but the subsequent two were waterbirths. They are fantastic, calming, soothing, pain-relieving. Go for it if you have the chance! There are always opportunities to get out if you're not happy, and it's not working for you. For me it was brilliant.

Absolutely - do it if you can. My DD was a waterbirth and it was a very good experience. Best momnet was looking down and seeing her peering up at me through the water with her eyes open! Pain relief options are limited though, so bear this in mind!

hi, i'd really like to use the birthing pool..if it is free that is..just concerned like mamalou about the monitoring. My midwife said that they are q redundant, in the sense that the baby births itself. The m.w is not allowed to put hand down as baby crowns for some reason. Is this true in anyone's experience? I just worry that if that is the case, how will they know when to tell you to stop pushing so you don't tear? Other than this worry, I would really love a waterbirth.

I had y ds2 in the bath by accident at the hospital, as i was determined not to have an epidural, as i was flat on my back for hours with my first and hated not being able to move. I would recommend it, it takes the edge just off the pain.

It was all done by mirrors. Can't really remember, but I don't think the midwife did get physically involved and I was left much to my own devices & I did tear. But I think because you have minimal pain releif, you are more aware of what is going on. I remember thinking, cripes I'd better give this some welly or I will be here all day, went for it and that is probably why I tore. The midwife told me to have a feel when she saw the head, for which I am strangely grateful as it is a lasting memory. I couldn't have done that if I was flat on my back. Kneeling worked for me. I don't know what the statistics of tearing v. waterbirths are personally, but IME the tear didn't dampen the memory of the occaision.

thanks bootsmonkey. i have been told the risk of tearing is less with waterbirths, as you are much 'softer' down there...hope its true for me. sounds like a lovely way to give birth. it must feel a bit more private to have your 'privates' underwater as well!!

I wore a tankini top as am quite modest in that respect (BLUSH) something to do with a Catholic upbringing perhaps? Anyway, I digress. It was v. civilised as the action end was all submerged. I just got on with it with lights dimmed and supportive husband nearby(who had already stated he didn't want to go anywhere near the batting end!)

This is really encouraging - thanks for all your comments. It has made me more determined to go for it. On the subject of tearing, my yoga teacher (also an active birth teacher) said that you should have a lower risk of tearing, something to do with the positions you are able to get yourself in. Roll on D Day..!

I just got back from my talk about waterbirth at the hospital so may as well add my tuppenceworth... They don't manually help the baby out in case it might just maybe make it gasp in surprise and take in some water. (This is a rarity but they also raise the temp. of the water before birth to body heat for same reason). They give you two pushes to deliver shoulders and body and if it's not out they need you to stand up and let them help it out. Monitoring will be done every 15 mins with sonicaid and any sign of distress (or signs of meconium indicating poss. distress) mean it's time to get out of the water for a bit and be belted up for a proper tracing. After which you can get back in if there's nothing to worry about.
The mw I spoke to said that in her experience tears weren't necessarily less common under water, sorry to say...
Interestingly they don't give you syntometrine after a water birth; natural third stage means that the 'raw area' of blood vessels left by the placenta doesn't get flooded with water which apparently is a bit risky. You just dry off and have a good old babycuddle.

It all sounded a bit dreamy and I found myself getting rather keen.

I had a waterbirth 10 months ago. I got into the water, felt massive contraction, gave three pushes and out came dd2.

It was utterly, utterly amazing. And I felt none of the burning sensation that had started as she crownedk.

Oh, but I did get syntometrine - my midwives delivered the placenta on land, and I just couldn't get up the adrenaline to do it (well, perhaps I could but by that time couldn't be arsed, quite frankly).

i would like to order a birthing pool this time round. can i ask you ladies where in the house you had it? that is something perplexing me at the moment.

TIA

Downstairs, in our back living room. With the curtains drawn, obviously. Hose connected to our kitchen through the back door, I think, but you can get extensions. Also, SQ, I got one of the inflatable ones that are supposedly only for second births after easy first ones; when I rang the company, they said nicely that it should be fine, especially as I am a notorious shortarse - I think if you were very tall and laboured against it for AGES it might start to collapse.

In the event I was only in for eight minutes, but it was worth every penny.

Your comments are v v reassuring. Am looking forward to it - hope the pool is available. When you say you 'dry off and have a cuddle' spots, do you mean b4 the placenta is delivered? or is the placenta delivered in the water?

I had a waterbirth with my 2nd child and it was wonderful Had no tearing at all - even though I had an episiotomy with DD1 (forceps).

Booked another waterbirth with DD2, but my labour was incredibly short and we arrived at hospital to find I was already fully dilated - DD2 was born about 10 minutes later.

egypt she suggested that the breastfeeding would be part of the stimulus for the placenta to detach so if you were bf'ing you'd be doing that and prob. could be in or out of water at that stage? seemed to suggest 'in' because of talk of water ingress so maybe I shouldn't have sai d dry off. but then motherinferior's experience shows an alternative... One of the things I liked about it was the OPTION of being in or out of water at any point so perhaps you just do what seems best?

seems like I should just say 'dunno' really!

thanks spots. i guess you just go with flow of what is right at the time. i wish i wasnt so eager to have every single aspect clear and planned - drives me mad.

right, going to relax now and go with the fllooooooowwww

re: where in the house

we had to think long and hard about this as some of our floors are not very strong, but the strongest floor was in an open-plan bit of the house and not very intimate.

the compromise was in my son's bedroom (though he had gone to grannies!)

you need somewhere you will feel safe and relaxed. the pool hire people will tell you the weight of the pool with water. you can get a hose of any length to fill it up with, so it doesn't have to be near a tap.

I got mine from the Active Birth Centre in London who were very helpful.

did any of your men get in with you? Mine has been pulling a face everytime I talk to him about having a waterbirth. I am assuming that you dont need so much support as you can hold onto the sides. I do though think I should dig a few fingernails into his hand for good measure at some point in the procedure...

my man didn't get in with me - it didn't crop up at the time, but he had packed his swimming trunks! Although you can hold onto the sides of the bath, I found I wanted to grip as hard as possible to both my husband's hands. the poor man spent hours on his knees, stuck in one position whilst I dug my nails in for all I was worth. Waterbirths are a great experience, the drop in pain level getting into the bath was amazing. Good luck

I had a waterbirth at home 8 months ago with my third child - fantastic. The water really relieves the pain and it is so nice to be able to get into whatever position you like and not have to hold yourself up, because the water does that. I didn't tear (despite episiotomy with 1st and tear with 2nd). I didn't have any monitoring because I gave birth 10mins after the midwife arrived! Had natural 3rd stage, with baby attached until after placenta delivered (it did take a good hour to come out though - during which time I cuddled baby and drank a glass of champagne!). I highly recommend it all, I basically did it all myself, with a midwife watching for the last few minutes and it was a great feeling.

I hired a birthing pool and it was in our dining room for 3 weeks before my due date. It's not a big room so our table and chairs were squashed up as a result. We've got an open plan front room and dining room so we also had to put some thick curtains up so no-one could see in from the street. Serenequeen, mine was one that kept itself heated and even if you'd been in it (not giving birth, just floating around) the water only had to be changed after a week. So ds came home from school and got in it sometimes. I also got in quite a few times before giving birth and it was wonderful, really helped in late pregnancy. When I was in labour dp got in with me for quite a while and it was lovely to hug him (he kept his boxers on) until I decided I wanted him out (dunno why, no logic to it really!). In the end I went upstairs and had dd on our bed but I'd spent a good 2 hours of my labour in the pool. It was still agony but maybe it would have been worse without it. Anyway, I did think it was worth it.

Agree, monitoring wasn't a problem at all.