Birth Pools

[tigermouse]

Hi, I'm planning a home birth (my 3rd) and in previous labours I've spent most of the time in the bath. I'm now in a new house with a little bath which won't be up to the job, so was thinking of buying an inflatable 'La Bassine' or 'Birth Pool in a Box'. Does anyone have any experience with these or with hiring a birth pool? Any advice very gratefully received...Thanks x

I had a birth pool in a box this company hires them quite cheep.www.waterbabybirthingpoolhire.co.uk/

Hi i had a BPIAB and birthed my dd2 in it last week. We bought it second hand (unused!) from ebay, very cheap, and bought a new sterile liner for it. It was great. Very easy to set up and clean up. Just whip out the liner and throw it away when you're finished. Some useful accessories to have: an electric pump to pump it up, and a water pump to remove water afterwards. I am keeping it in case i am tempted to go for dc3 in the future! Good luck!

Many thanks for the feedback-I did think that the inflatable ones looked great and very tempting in the hot weather for a wallow (although not sure how much relaxing I'll be doing during labour !).
One thing I was wondering-are they easy to get to the right temperature and keep warm?
And congratulations on your baby..I can't wait! x

Thanks

We found it easy to get the right temperature, we just had the hose connected to our kitchen taps, we have a combi boiler so instant hot water, so it was fine. We filled it about half way initially, then topped up when we needed to. An accurate thermometer is a must. Saying that, we only had our pool up for around 4 hours, so if your labour went on for a long time, it may be harder to keep the temp stable. But if you have a water pump, you could jut pump some out each time before topping it up with warmer water?

We figured out that our Birth Pool in a Box only lost 1C an hour without the lid on so hopefully topping up will be minimal.

We bought the full kit (including pumps etc) for the regular size from Boots as it seemed the best value option. Plus I got £17 of advantage club points as there was an offer on - so in a round about way it was a bit cheaper than buying direct.

My husband is a bit miffed by the whole you can get a refund if you don't use the pool offer that there is - especially when they recommend that you do test run before hand (ergo - you've used it).

We've done a test run and obviously I had a sit in it for a bit. It was lovely.

The ones that have their own heater and leave set up, you have to put chemicals in like a swimming pool.