how do water births work?

[pipinmybelly]

hi this is my first baby and have been thinking a lot about requesting a water birth and I was wondering if any of you could share ur waterbirthing experiences with me...

i am absolutely pretified of giving birth (who isnt!!) and the thought of being in water really appeals to me but are there criteria to being allowed a water birth?

thanks in advance for any advice!!
xxx

water births sound lovely but there is criteria, I don't know all of it but these are the obstacles I have come across

a) your BMI ideally needs to be 35 or less (mines 39 so not ideal)

b) if you're under a consultant then you may be refused as you may need further monitoring during labour (I'm under a cons for a previous early delivery at 35wks)

c) there has to be a pool available - sometimes they have them in hospitals but more commonly they are in midwife led units.

Hope this helps hun xx

I think you also need to be 37 completed weeks.

I think if you have a medical condition such as diabetes or group b strep - this may affect your chances of water birth as well.

Sorry I keep posting an coming back but I just found this about water births which is interesting.

I promise I'll leave you alone now

i had a water birth and was a high risk pregnancy

i did have to get it signed off by my consultant

basically, unless you have a home birth with and hire a pool you won't be guaranteed a waterbirth as there are limited numbers of pools

there was one on my labour ward and 2 on the MLU attached to it

i was lucky and got the one on the labour ward

it was brilliant - i used the gas and air and the water was lovely and warm. made it easy to change position and i felt very supported

it helped with pain relief as well - i didn't have constant monitoring - the MW used an underwater doppler every so often

DD was born underwater - all very calm and quick

i can highly recommend it

If i have DC3 i would deffo have another waterbirth

cherrypie thank you!! i think i fall under all the criteria apart from i havent reached 37 weeks yet but am hoping to. thanks for the links!!

ruby how did u get a pool in the hospital...do u have to book it or do u just get lucky if there's one free when u go into labour?

iv got an appointment with my midwife on the 9th so do u think its worth discussing with her? xxx

You can't book a pool AFAIK. At my hospital they have two pools and it's just luck if one is free when you come in. So unless you have a homebirth and hire your own pool you cannot plan on having a water birth.

i laboured in water and can highly recommend it. With us it was just a case of turning up on the day and using the pool if it was available. I had to get out for the delivery as I ended up having to have assistance, but absolutely loved the water and if i could, would have loved to have actually given birth in the pool.

thanks everyone will definitely ask for one when i have my litle boy xx

In my hospital they have water birth workshops, so you visit the room with the pool and they tell you how it works. There is only one pool, so it depends a bit on luck, though the midwife said it is not too busy and I have good chances to get it... I think you should discuss that with your MW and if possible, visit the unit where you plan to give birth.