Water Birth experience??/Queens Hospital Romford?

[Aabs]

Hi everyone,

has anyone had any experience of the water birth at Queens Hospital in Romford?? I am having all my antenatal checks at King Georges but since the two hospitals are linked i was told that on the day of my labour i can call up Queens and tell them im coming in for a water birth. Subject to availibility i should be able to use it.

Just wondering if anyone here has used the water birth pool at Queens, or a water birth anywhere and what was your experience?

Any tips/dos/donts?

Thanks,
a

i have had 2 water births i live in cardiff and its the best thing ever really relaxing i think it easises the back as well if u have one let me know how it went xx good luck

My 2nd and third were born in water, both at home, the third one in the bath!!
Water definitely helps with pain relief. With both of my water births I got in as I felt the pain building which for me meant I had about an hour left. The relief of being supported in the water is immense. Like when you are heavily pregnant having a really deep bath takes the weight of your skeleton (and you feel the weight of your bump again if you carry on sitting there as the water drains) but so much better.
If I ever did it again I would do it in water!
Good luck

I delivered my third at Queen's and had a great birth. There is a fantastic water birthing room at Queen's however there are only a couple of midwives trained to deliver babies in water. I asked to use the pool but was told no as there was insufficient staff to supervise. A few of my friends also asked to use the pool but received the same answer.

When we were shown around the delivery rooms the birthing pool was filled up with birthing balls and supplies. Sorry to put a downer on things. Good luck x

Hi Ladies - thank you for all your tips esp Theaevie re birthing pool at Queens. Im 19 weeks at the minute so a little while to go - just getting all my ducks in a row as it were. I might have to make enquiries with Queens re the birthing pool - kind of crappy that they have one but cant be bothered to use it essentially. Ive also read that a midwife doesnt really need any extra special training to deliver in water - once you know how to deliver a baby you can deliver full stop...so commonly that is an excuse the hospital uses so they dont have to get the pool out. Hmmm...Im going to have to do some digging and make some phones calls!

I think Queen's is so busy that they never use the pool really, I think you're best chance would be to hire one and have a homebirth.

dont ive birth there www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369805/Mother-died-Queens-Hospital-Romford-given-Caesarean-section-ward-floor-staff-tried-resuscitate-disconnected-oxygen-mask.html

Aabs - its not so much that they cant be bothered but that some midwives are quite set in their ways and wont do waterbirths, some are genuinely scared of doing them and more often, if they are looking after 2 or 3 other women, its simply not safe to leave you in the pool and be running between rooms trying to care for all of you. This third reason is the most common in the hospital where I work, and its infuriating for us that like doing waterbirths that we cant do them for safety reasons.

There is no real excuse for the first 2 reasons though and I often try to take a colleague (or even one of the doctors) in with me as a second, more as a learning experience for them than anything. They are always instructed to 'stand there and dont touch or say anything!' and they are usually quite amazed at how beautiful it is.