Is a birthpool for homebirth worth it?

[waitingtobloom]

I am planning a homebirth with second child. I would love to labour and give birth in the water for lots of reasons but am really unsure about the cost of hiring a birth pool.

Around £200 seems the norm around here and ideally I should be thinking about booking it now - am 30 weeks.

What worries me is that £200 is a lot of money - worth it if I knew I would be using the birth pool. But at 30 weeks I cannot guarantee I am having a home birth. Last time my blood pressure went up at 36 weeks (not hugely - was 150/100 once and a few times was 140/90 but would go up and down so within those weeks it would also measure 110/65). They made a big fuss about this and I worry that the same will happen again and I will have to go into hospital to deliver.

Now I know I dont "have" to go anywhere but I know if they are scaremongering - or indeed being realistic - that I will go to hospital. So then I will have spent that £200 on nothing - a kick in the teeth when I will already be upset about not having the homebirth.

So I was just wondering your experiences - if I give birth at home will that £200 be worth it - over and above relief I could get in the bath?

One of my main fears about this birth is repeat episiotomy or tearing and I know giving birth in the water can reduce this. Does labouring in the water help at all or is it just the giving birth in the water?

Options really are

a) go ahead and book pool now and think positively (this is what doula keeps telling me lol)

b) wait until 37 weeks when i see consultant to talk about home birth and then hope that one of the companies will have one free (but bp could still go up i suppose)

c) just use the bath (and then most probably hve to deliver on dry land)

d) Get a birth pool in a box cheap from ebay and then could always sell it again later

Any ideas? Too pregnant to make a decision...

I managed to get hold of a birth pool in a box from e-bay for £50 which I'm planning on reusing as a paddling pool in the garden once it's finished with or of course as you suggest you could just resell it.

Best if luck making a decision.

M

For my first baby I tried to use the bath both at home and in hospital and I just couldn;t get into a comfortable positions where the water was over my belly to soothe me.

The pool I had at home for my second was fantastic. I had one with a heater that could be left filled for 3 weeks and used before I gave birth too. It was fantastic.

I used a bpiab. It was great.

Quick Hijack - (sorry )

I'm going to display the La Bassine I have at a Birth Choices meeting tomorrow night but as I've not used it or lent it out to anyone yet I've not got organised with a pump to blow it up yet.

Does anyone have any recommendations and are they available from the likes of B7Q, Homebase, Focus....?

when googling I come up with a Bestway Sidewinder AC air pump, would this be OK?

Thanks - was originally going to go with bpib but have heard comments that they have a habit of collapsing and spilling the water all over the carpet? Perhaps I could pop it in the garden lol - sure I wont care what the neighbours think by that point.

Motherhurdicure Can you come to the meeting tomorrow? will text you and/or dh......

OP - What area are you in? I have a birthing pool in my loft that I am planning on selling. But its too big to post

there are 12 birth pools for sale on ebay at the moment

Yes, its definitely worth a pool at home.
never heard of a pool collapsing and spilling water, the walls are quite thick, just blow it up before filling - gave DH something to do while I was breathing and telling him not to fuss!
If you're near Oxon/Wilts you can borrow our pool

I haven't read the whole thread but just wanted to say that my local hospital rents out birthing pools for free. MW just puts you on a list and you pick it up when the previous woman has delivered. MW brings round a disposable liner in home birth pack. Perhaps yours does the same? (BTW, my birth was too quick to make use of the pool - I'd be gutted if it had cost me 200 quid!) HTH

Thanks for all the offers - I am in in Swansea so probably not nearby. Am going to have a browse on ebay now. I hadnt heard of any problems until my doula mentioned it.

Marjean - this is my other problem. Established labour was only 1.5 hours which mw pointed out to me today could mean it cant be filled in time. Wasnt literally 1.5 hours from first contraction but 1.5 hours from 2 - 3 cm til he was out

A friend of mine arranged a homebirth recently through her local hospital and the midwived brought a pool with them. I don't think this happens everywhere, but it's definitely worth checking before you spend any cash just in case.

I've just had a HB without a pool- and it went fine, painfully, but fine. It was arranged last minute- I mean I called the community MW 4 hours before baby arrived!
I'd had a bad experience (of being totally ignored in established labour at the hospital) that morning and instinct kicked in and I just knew that hosp was the wrong place to be and came home.
Being at home wasn't something I'd previously considered but it turned out to be fantastic and relaxed (all things being relative), even without prior planning or a pool. However people's experiences of pool- births sound fab and something I might consider if there is a next time...

FWIW I delivered on dry land, leaning forwards onto a futon. No stitches required. I really believe birth position makes a huge difference to the amount of damage to the mum. Both my DD's (this was DD2) had large heads but I didn't need stitches with either. DD1 was delivered squatting. Hope this helps...

Don't know about Birth Pool in a Box, but the La Bassine ones are constructed in such a way that even if you get a puncture, you have time to get out and empty the pool before it starts to spill. See here

The whole package; pool, air pump, water pump, hose and tap connector is about £100 and IMO, well worth it! If you don't use it for any reason you can sell it on as unused, though I do suggest either pre-inflating it or at least practising so you (or your partner) aren't faffing at a crucial time.

Waitingtobllom - it depends on how important a water birth is to you. I hried a birthing pool for my second birth, and I'm not so keen on it, so this time I plan on using my bath for the labour and then give birth on my bed.

My friend bought a blow up pool to give birth in. it had thick sieds and was also had a blown up base.

kinda hijacking as well - I'm consdering a home birth having been to the hospital after a scare been faced by frazzled midwives forgetting so much because too many women and not enough staff...i live in a rented 2nd floor flat though and don't we have the space for a birth pool....1) does it matter if you're on 2nd floor 2) can you do it ok without!

girlwithmouseyhair- My birthing pool was upstairs in our bedroom.

i think that if you don't touch the BPIAB you can return it to them for a full refund.

A La Bassine, filled with water, weighs about the same as 7 to 9 people, so is absolutely fine for using upstairs. The mini BPIAB is around the same, the regular BPIAB is the weight of 10-13 people so you'd want to be putting it near the corner of a room where the joists are stronger.

La Bassine is oval, so can squeeze in nicely to a fairly small space. All the dimenstions are on the website.

Labouring or giving birth in water is not for everyone. The idea really appealed to me and having had a "back" labour the first time round and knowing the bath in the hospital helped (long before hospitals provided birthing pools), I was fairly sure the water would help with the 2nd labour (at home). It did and I wouldn't be without it for the 3rd.