anyone ever given birth at home in the bath?

[alannabanana]

and by bath i mean your bathroom tub, not a hired birthing pool type thing.

my sister said she recently saw a docu-film about declining midwifry in america (and increase in medical interventions), and in it rikki lake (yes THAT rikki lake) gave birth at home in her bathtub. quite graphically im told . but my sister said it was actually very peaceful and natural and beautiful - quite the opposite to 'one born every minute' the other night! having not had a baby yet herself, my sis said she was really surprised to learn that its actually often counter-productive to give birth on your back, and its more natural to birth standing up/on all fours/immersed in water.

has anyone ever experienced the bath thing?

I've had three home water births, all in pools rather than the bath. All three times I was kneeling with arms one the side of the pool, but bum underwater.

Unless you've got a gigantic bathtub the water will not be deep enough to give birth in. It's important that the baby is born under the water (or not in it at all) rather than half and half.

hmmm, that makes sense actually. i would love to give birth in water. hopefully can this time round!
may i ask a very personal question re tearing?...ive heard that water births reduce the risk of tearing, would you say thats been the case with you?

sorry - this is long, if you can't be bothered with details, water births are good!

first birth I'd planned a home water birth and ended up transferring to hospital (meconium in waters) had dd1 on a bed there. I did tear quite badly, it was recommended that I needed stitches but I refused them, Just being examined was very painful and my lovely midwife (who I'd know all through pregnancy and had been at home with and who came with us to hospital) told me I'd probably heal just as well without them. I was sore afterwards, very uncofortable for a day or so, then sore for a bit longer but healed fine

second birth, dd2 was the best of the lot! home water birth in middle of night, very calm and lovely. I didn't really push her out, breathed lots and it was about as relaxed as it could be. I had a very small graze and felt fantastic afterwards.

third birth, less relaxed home water birth due to some issues getting hold of trained midwives when I was in labour. All was OK in the end, but only got the right MWs there 2 hours before dd3 arrived. I had a very small tear, all Ok afterwards.

fourth birth, again bit stressful due to lack of qualified staff. In the end the MWs who attended in early labour weren't qualified in water birth, they left as things weren't that far gone. Things then got going very fast and they missed the birth by 5 minutes! just as well really as they'd have tried to get me out of the water! no tearing that time at all

For both the third and fourth births I had explosive deliveries- there was no second stage as such, the baby just burst out with a contraction. In my notes for #3 the second stages is recorded as 1 minute, but the midwife told me that's cos it has to be a time for the computer records, it took much less than that.

So yes, tearing was much less in water, but I'm not sure that's becuase of the water, or just cos everything's strecthed already! the water births were all easier than the first one, had loads of gas and air in hosptial but only tens the pool at home.

my sister had all four of her kids in or near the bathtub... one was born in the water, one in the bath with the water just emptied out (her DH needed to see what the situation was as the MW hadn't arrived - the baby arrived a moment later) and the next two on the mat next to the bath tub. All four were "easy" trouble-free births, the strongest pain relief she had was paracetamol. She was put on this earth to bear children!! But anyway, they weren't exactly waterbirths (apart from the first), but all were good experiences for her.

PS she didn't tear for any of them - a slight graze for the first was as bad as it got.

There are a couple of lovely calm waterbirths on the One Born Every Minute Website. The ladies may be making noise but that is normal. They seem calm to be anyway!

You can labour in a bath but for giving birth it would have to be deeper than usual for safety reasons already stated and a birthing pool would be more comfy.

Water is great for preventing tearing although I had three on land and did not tear except for a tiny graze with first one. I wanted a home waterbirth but was induced unfortunately. If I was to have a fourt (which I won't) I would try again.

wow, all very interesting stories. ive seen a few water births on youtube etc and it just looks so much more appealing than the 'dry land' deliveries we all see as the norm. i was induced last time round due to high BP so im just hoping beyond hope that a)my blood pressure behaves this time, and b) that they actually let me have a water birth!
i really think there is a lot to the theory that a woman's state of mind has a big impact on the way the birth goes. i.e: calm relaxed mother = easy delivery, stressed out overly interfered with mother = complicated delivery.

bumpybecky - i love the sound of your 'explosive' deliveries! how great to get it over and done so quickly!

re: tearing - torn "on land" with DD but she was born in uncontrolled manner pushing like mad as she was distressed and was on verge of assisted etc delivery. didn't tear in pool with DS but his birth was very slow, breathed him out rather than pushing.

the more i think back to my first childbirth experience, the more i feel that i was railroaded into an induction because of my high BP, when really i could have hung on in there and delivered naturally - there was never any protein in my water so i don't think i was in danger of pre-eclampsia. and i had already had my show, so it couldn't have been much longer. i have definite white-coat syndrome - for example i take my BP at home and its fine, but when a doctor takes it my body tenses up and panics and it goes sky high! i will defo try to control my fear of doctors this time round so that i can have the natural birth i want. and if i can i will do it standing up or on all fours or maybe just maybe, in a pool!

i've had 2 homebirths. had a pool both times, laboured in it for ds2 and got out to deliver him
got in it just in time to deliver ds3 in the water

agree with other posters that a bath really isn't deep enough. you need to ensure that baby is born fully under the water. this could work in the bath if you were lying on your back... but that's counter to what you want to be doing! lol

both times I was happiest kneeling up, leaning on the side

i tore with my first baby, but didn't with either of the 2 who were born at home and both were bigger (9lb5 and 9lb11)

was lovely

I had our DS in the bath nearly 6 weeks ago. I was lying on my left with my right leg hanging over the side. I got the MW to hold up my leg for the actual birth. I was also able to press my forehead on the cold side of the bath which was great. It is not a particularly large bath or bathroom - see photos here if you are interested.

DH had blocked the overflow with duck tape so the bath was really deep and the MW was very experienced in water births.

I think if there is a next time I would try and get a birthing pool; money saved on pool equalled money spent on physio sorting out buttock that went into spasm. Although whether we could sort a birthing pool quickly enough is another matter. Established labour 1hr 17mins.

i managed to get the pool up and filled for ds3 and he was born 48 minutes precisely after i woke up and realised i was in labour!

i did literally have to get in between contractions though, and he was born on the next contraction i had after i got in. but i was in there! lol

thisisyesterday That is very funny. How did you manage the first 47 minutes of your labour?! I was so glad to be in the bath. I had only got into for pain relief and because DH had suggested it. I hadn't planned on a water birth at all, it was just how it happened (I had planned to be at home, though). On further reflection, maybe I could put some towels on the bottom of the bath and kneel on them next time? I do recall a distraction conversation with DH during labour about how we could redo the bathroom to get a bigger bath in. Something about losing the airing cupboard and combi-boilers?! We are doing the kitchen at the moment so the bathroom plans (and baby 4) will just have to go on hold for a while

mother of snortpigs i love your photos
inspirational
should be used in a book - they really capture a feeling of high emotion yet calm...

gorgeous children (great name)

Thanks McB I got your message but I can't find it on my pc anymore...

It was a pretty intense evening, but because it was so quick we were all tucked up in bed by half ten.

Snortpig 3 is currently snufflung away - rather hard to type!

Did you not see this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoIiVszj1EU?
There are plenty of pictures/vids of people giving birth in ordinary baths out there.

Can't be as comfortable as a proper pool, but thinking about it, less "alien" as it's already part of your life and you'll already associate it with being really relaxed.