water birth - couple of things

[surfmama]

just looked at the lovely pictures on the thread of things to come and it has me thinking about water births. when the baby starts coming out (head first) I know they have a reflex not to breath if in water, but what if it takes a while and they are under water for too long? is this possible? Also is it normal for partner to be in the water as well as me? I think this would be lovely but he won't even entertain a romantic bath at the best of times and think he might not want to...anyone had any experiences, what do i mean, of course you all have!

The baby is fine in the water until he/she takes his/her first breath. I wouldn't worry about the baby being in the water too long, as either you, your midwife or OH will pick him/her up. Fwiw my DH didn't want to be in the water with me. I guess it is personal choice but in the end it was almost better that he was out of the pool as I could be on all fours during a contraction, with him putting pressure on my lower back, which really helped me to manage the pain.

i'm hoping for a water birth (due any day now) but at the 2 NHS hospitals ran by my hospital trust its made very clear that due to infection control birth partners are not allowed in the birth pools with you. Which tbh is fair enough with me!

I needed dh on dry land to hold the gas and air for me, give me drinks etc, he wouldn't have been much use in the water and he wouldn't have liked to swim in my poo

Baby won't breath in the water as long as it is totally under water, it is getting oxygen through the umbilical cord, the same as when it is inside you and breathing gets triggered once they are out in the air.

If you had a pool at home then DP could be in it with you, if you wanted. But he may be busy with a sieve when the baby is arriving, sorry.

Oh yes, re the breathing, baby will be fine, you just need to make sure the head remains submerged while you deliver the rest of the body iyswim (I know that makes it sounds like they are 2 separate parts!) for me once my Dds heads were out there was a pause, wait for the next contraction then push again for the rest of them, you couldn't leap around at that stage! Highly unlikely you'd want to anyway!

okay that all makes sense, except the sieve dick? good luck mellie keep us posted if you get a spare mo tee hee first baby and i have no idea about spare mo's but am now a little clearer about water births so thank you x

most women push out a little poo when they are giving birth- they may not notice as it will be quietly removed by midwife- but in pool you need to 'catch' it with the sieve!

Sieve - for poo, in my case, surfmama - sorry about that!

Yes, I wouldn't have wanted DH in there as I was on all fours until they asked me to sit back to deliver. It also gets a bit gruesome with waters/blood/poo by the time I was leaving so probably best to be just me in there. However, I think some people do have their partner in there..

As others have said, baby is fine until head is out of water and then the breathing instinct kicks in. I had DD on my chest and nearly let her slip down and had to be reminded to hold her and not let her go under water ..oops!

Don't worry about breathing - as long as baby stays submerged and (if I remember right) stays above a certain temperature. I think that's why they often make the water a bit warmer for the second stage.

DH wouldn't have entertained getting in the pool with me and was on sieve duty anyway.

Sieve for any of the 'extras' that will also vacate as you are labouring, my midwife was very discreet in directing DH to remove 'stuff' who then became quite adept with the sieve!

My DD's head was out and I maneuvered,very carefully into a position to catch her myself under the guidance of the midwife. Was lovely to be the first to hold her.

Agree about DH being outside the pool, nice in theory but much more practical having him on dry land as he could then get on with looking after DD while the midwives attended to me.

It is not a forgone conclusion that you'll poo and the pool will look like a shark attack mind you. With DS1 the water was a bit bloody - no poo and with DD1 there was no poo or blood we had a special sieve bought and ready that remained unused.

I managed to deliver both of my older two myself which was lovely. After DS1 was out the paramedics arrived to deliver the placenta (unplanned homebirth in the bath total labour 1hr 51mins!)And with DD1 the midwife arrived about 20 minutes after she was out (planned homebirth that time but only 55 mins from 1st contraction). DD2 bucked the trend by being a very high risk hospitalised induction with drip etc. And I shed a little quiet tear having to tell DH to go home and put the pool away when we knew I was staying in hospital.

Best of luck.

Just to warn you they appear to have done away with the sieves, at least in my local hospital. I had first 2 DC in pool, one needed sieve, the other didn't. When I had DC3 last month I was told that the infection control dept had banned the use of the sieve. The poor midwife, bless her, fashioned a sieve out of a sick bowl by popping holes in it with a pen! It didn't work too well to be honest, I would recommend asking your midwife what their policy is on sieves and take your own if they don't have them.

yy to idlewild, my poor mw was scooping with one of these cardboard bowls! Have to say there wasnt much to scoop tbh, phew

Research done in Germany was found to show that the temperature of the water made no difference as to whether or not the baby 'gasped' underwater (due to it suddenly feeling cold) so whilst the guidance says the water 'should' be a certain temperature, the main consideration should actually be that the water is a comfortable temperature for the mother.

Oh thanks Fliss was basing my temperature thing on something a midwife once told me - good to know for next time that I don't need to worry about the temp.

I only know as there is a mention of the temp thing on the homebirth.org.uk site, I think the guidance was based on what they thought might happen and hasn't been amended. If you were in a bath and didn't want or couldn't make it out of there to give birth there'd be no temperature regulation so a pool shouldn't make any difference