32 weeks pregnant... considering a waterbirth

[LittlePeanut33]

Hi all,

Currently 32 weeks pregnant with my first and obviously really excited to meet my little one. I'm considering a water birth and the MLU that I have had all my appointments in seems great.

If anything were to go wrong I would need transferred to another hospital but its not even a 10 minute drive.

Am I being too optimistic to have my first baby in a MLU that doesn't offer any epidural?

I love the water and a water birth sounds right up my street, I'm just worried about the pain being too much to handle.

I had a water birth with my first, didnt even have gas and air and had a perfect textbook birth...so it does happen!

Just take a neck support OP!! Like a blow up travel one. If your birthing pool at the hospital is anything like mine, it's just a giant bath with hard sides.

I'm pregnant with my first. This is not scientific, but if I look at my friends and family the vast majority did not have an epidural with their first (or later ones). Most people don't have an epidural (I've read some research on this but can't get it right now). So I don't think you are being optimistic. If the hospital is 10 minutes away, it's not that far if you do want one. Have you read any positive birth books? E.g. the one by milli Hill? You might want to take some of it with a pinch of salt, but it helps you be realistic and informed about labour

Lots of women do not have epidurals and you can still have gas and air in a water birth. To some extent it is going to depend on your pain threshold, but you are only really going to know that at the time.

The issue is whether you are happy being 10 minutes away from the hospital if there is an emergency, but if you are happy to take that risk then go for it.

The only thing I will add is try not to get your heart too set on it. If for example you end up needing to be induced, depending on how they do that you may not be able to go to the MLU - here if you get induced on the drip you have to go to the CLU so no water birth (or at least not here) and it may worsen the experience for you a little.

I've got a 17 month old ds and had a water birth with him - would highly recommend it!

I had a tiny bit of gas and air. To be honest spent a good 75% of labour at home on dry land but once at hospital I was mainly in the pool on the labour ward for the last couple of hours. Ds was born into the water and while the contractions were very painful I got no ring of fire or anything like that. I know Ive got nothing to compare my experience to but I honestly think being in the water helped so much as I really don't remember experiencing that much pain down there while actually giving birth / not as bad as I'd expected.

Something to consider and investigate - does your MLU only allow women who had the routine 2 scans?

I had a very text book pregnancy with zero problems but because I'd had about 4 growth scans I didn't qualify for my local MLU. Because the growth scans were always a false alarm and baby was fine all along every time, I assumed I'd be an ideal MLU candidate as I'd had a nice straightforward pregnancy. However my MLU was quite strict and as soon as they saw the number of scans on the page they weren't having any of it, no matter how we explained things. I was over 5cm dilated when they told me this and I will never forget being wheeled off in a wheelchair out of the MLU I'd had my heart set on and into the labour ward!

In the end the labour ward had a pool which was the only reason I wanted MLU so in the end it really didn't matter at all - I'd got my wish after all. Having said that the drama of being told 'no' while so far along in labour was a drama I could've done without! I'd definitely advise checking first whether you're eligible!

Good luck, you'll do brilliantly

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I’ll definitely check out a few books.

@firstimemamma so far totally routine pregnancy, just the usual two scans plus an early pregnancy one... but I’ll definitely double check that with the MLU when next in.

Did you catch baby yourself or let MW do it?

@LittlePeanut33 the midwife did it, as was always planned. I'd never been that fussed about doing it myself and couldn't have done anyway as was in total shock!

Midwife handed me baby in the pool and I held him to my chest, cord not yet cut and all. It was truly magical and I'm grateful that it turned out that way for me. I just held him then my fiancé cut the cord once it had stopped pulsating.

Getting out of the pool to birth the placenta was not fun - I pushed out the baby in under half an hour but turned out it took 45 mins for me to birth the bloody placenta! And they don't let you do it in the water, just a heads up.

I needed stitches but it honestly was ok, they numbed me up.

My top tip would be to remember to prepare for your post partum recovery not just labour. Also I used the positive birth company's digital pack and personally really liked it.

I don't think you'll know until childbirth. Personally, I dont really agree with all this stuff about pain threshold. It's just that some people's labour is quicker, simpler and less painful than others and the other way round. My labour was very painful, but I was never a candidate for a water birth as I had to be induced. I think you can plan for a water birth but just be prepared for things to change and be prepared to be transferred if necessary. And never rule anything out. Good luck, I hope you get the water birth you want.