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Childbirth

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

Water Birth Experiences

11 replies

MissKatyKat · 15/05/2019 21:32

Hi everyone
I'm just looking to hear people's thoughts/experiences with water births? I'm 29 weeks with my second, it has to be a hospital birth as my first labour was quite fast and this baby looks to be quite big but I'd really like to give labouring in water a try if I can as my first labour was all a bit stressful for various reasons. Has anyone managed to spend any time in the pool if they had a fast labour? Any stories and tips would be great.
Thank you xx

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PeapodBurgundy · 16/05/2019 10:19

Not time in the pool, but I had a fast water birth with my second. She arrived in the bathtub 40 minutes after I woke up with cramps. Her Dad was downstairs putting down plastic sheeting. The pool didn't even make it out of the box! haha. The water was lovely though Grin

MissKatyKat · 17/05/2019 13:38

Wow that's a brilliant story, thank you for sharing @PeapodBurgundy I'll try to at least get in the bath if things do happen quickly then! xx

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Lizbiz89 · 17/05/2019 14:53

I had a fast labour in water pool with my second. Got to birth centre and midwife had to run into room to get water running mid inspection. Got in straight away and ds was born 20 minutes later. He was also a big baby (9.5 pounds). Highly recommend it though, made pushing just that little bit less painful. Good luck!

PeapodBurgundy · 17/05/2019 16:24

Apologies as you may already be fully aware of this, but just on the off chance you didn't. Make sure the water is as deep as you can get it in the bath, and if you end up delivering in there, make sure baby's face doesn't surface until they're born. Their face hitting the air can stimulate them to take their first breath, so there's a risk of drowning if that happens when only the head is born. Just in case you have a quick arrival and are without a midwife either in hospital or at home Smile

OhGood · 17/05/2019 16:31

Longed for water birth, didn't ever make it. DC2 was too quick. DC1 was made to get out of pool - where I was SO HAPPY - after issues with monitoring equipment. Understandable, obviously, safety first.

Only saying not to pin all hopes on water, as I did, and it will all work itself in the end. Good luck with it! :)

FinallyGotAnIPhone · 17/05/2019 16:33

With my second I got to hospital at about 5pm, triage, 7 cm, sent to birthing suite, pool was already full, in pool 545, baby born 630ish. With my third I got to hospital 5 am, 7cm, no pool ready so just had to give birth on the bed thing as baby came 545. So my experience was whether you got in a pool or not depended on whether one was ready or not when you got there,

Pool was good - would recommend if it’s an option on the day.

Clearly the water is all a bit gross after the birth though....

ChesterBelloc · 17/05/2019 16:48

"it has to be a hospital birth as my first labour was quite fast and this baby looks to be quite big*"
*
Neither of these things require a hospital birth; have your caregivers explained their reasoning?

If they think you're likely to have a second precipitate (fast) labour, it may be a better idea to plan for a home birth, rather than risk a) stalling a naturally rapid labour by transferring in at a late stage or b) delivering in the ambulance/car park/lift on your way to the hospital.

FWIW, I've had six at home, 5 in water (mostly in the bath, once in a pool - much more comfortable!), and have very quick first and second stages (contractions/pushing).

One of them, they thought she'd flipped to breech during labour, and were strongly encouraging me to transfer in; I'm glad I didn't, as less than half an hour later she was born - head first! It's highly unlikely I'd have made it onto a hospital bed before delivering.

N.B: labours that happen quickly are generally very straightforward; if there are problems, these tend to slow labour down rather than speed it up.

N.B2: I'd take no notice of size predictions, based on scans or any other kind of measurements, particularly later on in pregnancy. These are notoriously inaccurate - certainly not a reliable basis on which to make clinical decisions about your care at this stage of your pregnancy.

Frankola · 17/05/2019 19:48

I laboured in a pool and it was lovely. It definitely helped with the pain. I had to go to hospital in the end though as my daughter got stuck!

Heulog · 17/05/2019 19:54

I had a home water birth with #2. It was the most amazing night of my life. The water certainly took the edge off the contractions, was lovely and warm and relaxing in-between, and the pool created a definite 'boundary' so that no one entered my space or touched me without checking with me first. I felt relaxed, safe and strong.

HarrietM87 · 17/05/2019 19:58

Had a fantastic water birth with a quick first labour. Contractions for 1 hour at home, 1 hour in triage in the hospital being disbelieved before they examined me (not great), to find I was 9cm as my waters broke! Got into the birthing suite, straight into pool and baby born 30mins later. The relief of the water was glorious. And as heulog says, it also keeps people out of your space which was really important to me.

MissKatyKat · 18/05/2019 15:12

Thank you so much for the replies everybody, that's loads of helpful information, I really appreciate it.
@PeapodBurgundy thank you so much for that, it's really helpful.
@ChesterBelloc yes there's various different things going on with this pregnancy, nothing dangerous but the reasoning has been explained to me. Thank you for all your helpful tips, what you've said makes a lot of sense.
Thank you everyone, you've definitely convinced me it's what I want if I'm able to. Fingers crossed! Thanks again! xxxx

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