can you give birth in the bath? would love input from any MW's/doctors

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I really had my heart set on a home water birth but as we've just moved to a 1st floor place I don't think the floor would take the weight and we can't afford to hire one now. I was just curious what the cons/risks would be of using our bath tub instead not just to labour in but for the actual birth as well. Obviously I would use some kind of sterilising fluid to clean the bath but as babies have been born into toilets and have been fine I don't see a problem with cleanliness in a bath. My MW has even told me of a woman who intentionally gave birth in a swimming pool outside near to winter. The only problem I could see there being is the depth of the water but dont know how deep the water is meant to be for a water birth. Just looking for some opinions really (but please no sarcastic or arsey comments) thanks

I've been wondering about this too, we have got a big corner bath (plenty of room for 2) so wondered if I might be allowed to spend the majority of time in there even if I don't eventually give birth in it. I'm keen on water birth but don't think our floor would take it and am really worried about my DH having to clean up afterwards!

I gave birth twice in our bath at home, didn't plan it 1st time around but it was the most comfortable place for me, ( not the midwives though but they were great )and it just happened.

We only have a normal sized bath so do worry there won't be enough space but have seen home birth videos on YouTube of other women doing it. And I dont know if its correct but im sure I read somewhere that the water has to be a certain depth to stop the baby taking a breath and inhaling the water when the head is out?

You have to make sure you keep your bottom under water otherwise the baby could inhale water, mw kept saying this a lot 2nd time round.

What size bath do you have? Did you have any trouble keeping the water the right temperature?

I think as long as the baby stays underwater you are fine, although I'd imagine that would be pretty hard to do (thinking about the size of my bathtub!) as you would need to be able to birth the baby, possibly get it from between your legs, and still keep your bum in the water! Is it a new build property, could you contact the builders and find out what the maximum weight limit for the floors is?

We had a standard size bath ( moved since) and a relative small boiler and it was fine, mw only kept adding water right at the end. Re legs,2nd time round ( spd) one leg went up which created enough space to birth. 1st time it was one leg over bath whilst the other was on also worked but preferred one leg up

I'm a M/W, dont see why you couldn't deliver in the bath. You'd probably need to be facing forward to get your legs open enough (sorry TMI) rather than the usual direction you'd be in the bath. And you'd need to keep your bum in the water once the head is delivered or else keep it out of the water. You obviously wouldn't have the same amount of space to move and submerge like most women do when labouring in a proper pool.

Angie, on the subject of water births, do you know at what point you are not allowed/advised to go into water if your waters have gone? Someone told me that it was a possible infection risk getting into bath/pool if waters have gone, but surely everyone's go at some point?

My birth pool is about twice as deep as a bath. Also nearly twice as wide.

Lots of women give birth in the bath but I'm not sure it's ideal as a plan in advance iyswim. It must be more tricky for a mw to help you compared to a birth pool where she can get round every side.

The birth pool maintains temperature much better than a bath, too.