Are there any negitives to using a birthing pool?

[Hayleyandbaby]

There's only one birthing pool at my hospital, but I want it. Is anyone else having a birthing pool? Or does anyone think it's absurd?

Dont set your heart on being able to get into the hospital pool- if they only have one- on both my hospital deliveries someone else was in the pool already .

i always thought i'd fancy a birthing pool but, in all three of my labours, i spent ,most of the time marching up and down the staird and generally walking about - a bit difficult to use in a birthing pool!

also you can't use a TENS machine in a pool

if that's what you want, though,go for it. i think the most important thing is to keep an open mind as you never really know how you're going to feel or what you want until you're in labour.
good luck!

i had a client recently who really wanted a water birth, didn;t want a home birth and only one pool at the hospital. Spoke to head of midwifery who said she would be happy for her to bring in her own birth pool. in the end she decided against it, but the option could well be there for you to take one into your hospital.

Ah! Pagwatch - I had the same experience and hadn't met anyone else who had. I was rather disappointed that I didn't get my perfect waterbirth, as I was completely convinced it would help, and I too hated it once in the water! As Snaf said though, you can always get out.

Thinking about it now, I love being in water, but if I am ill, I don't tend to have a bath. I snuggle up under the duvet. And that's where I wanted to be when in labour/in pain. On a nice bed with lots of pillows and dh to snuggle me. (I also wanted an epidural, so had to be quite assertive about getting it in time, when leaving the pool, as the clock was ticking. It's amazing how assertive you can be, when push comes to shove - sorry, unintended pun(!)

Would thoroughly recommend giving it a try, but be prepared to be flexible.

if labour is too slow, then it can be hard to get it restarted, if you are in hospital it can be steps are taken to augment labour, which has its own issues...

also, it can be really tiring, to have a very long slow labour, where the mother is not able to rest or sleep that much.

michel odent reckons that if you get in the pool at 5 cm, you should deliver in 2 hours.

i thought i would love being in water in labuor, as i love wallowing in the bath, but i hated it ! as soon as i got in, i wanted to get out. i much preferred being upright and moving and swinging on the bedroom door during the hours i laboured at home!

starlight - my labour slowed in that my cervix stopped dilating - but contractions were still long and hideous. That's why it was a bad thing.

I don't blame the water entirely, my baby was in a difficult position, and the water just didn't really help.

very sorry to hear that Starlight.

I very much doubt that anything you have done is causing a miscarriage.

I gave birth to my DS (1st baby) in hospital in a birthing pool. It was a great experience.

I used a TENS in early labour and in hospital until I got in the pool. The only MW trained to deliver in water was busy delivering another baby so they made me hang on until I was fully dilated before getting in the pool. The pain relief from getting into the water was fantastic and apart from gas and air (which I threw away in the end) I didn't use anything else. DS was born within an hour (think I wasn't pushing properly until older shoutier midwife arrived). It was a fabulous feeling to lift my baby up out of the water myself and to be the first to see what sex he was.

I always have a bath when I feel unwell and it usually makes me feel better, so waterbirth appealed to me. I had 2nd degree tear (just a few stitches)but think that was because DS hand came out with his head.

I would recommend that anyone who is keen give it a go if possible. When we decide to have another I'll definitely be doing it in water again - hopefully I'll get to labour a bit more in the pool next time.

I'm not a water baby but the pool was great. It was a bugger getting out though when I had to for the episiotomy! The water sure didn't relax my perineum - it was like a seriously tight elastic band around the middle of DD's head - there was no way her ears were going to get past it, hence the episiotomy.

Like others, I didn't find it gave as much pain relief as the tens had, but boy, the water was soooo comfortable. I could move again!

ok i stand corrected.

just 2 or 3 of my friends had water births and tore quite badly - midwifes explanation was that there is less controlled delivery of the head in a pool cos less easy access iykwim. of course everyone's experiences are different.

starlight am so sorry

have you been referred to teh EPU?

it will be absolutely nothing to do with anything you have done, a healthy embryo, embedded correctly in the utero will not be dislodged by anything you have done.

make sure you are thoroughly checked out, if you are miscarrying, you need to be certain

Hayley

I used a hospital birthing pool and thought it was fantastic. Bear in mind the following points.

Probably wont help the pain but will help considerably to relax inbetween contractions as you can float into a comfortable position. this helps to conserve energy for the next contraction.

Stats show that you are less likely to tear in a pool as the water softens your perenium. I did not tear with DS2 who was born under the water despite having had an episiotomy for DD1 who was born using forceps.

DO NOT get in too early as the relaxing effect has been shown to slow down labour. recommendation is to be about 5cm dilated.

Make sure that your hospital has midwives who are experienced in water births as their is a different technique. They should monitor your progress more by watching you and should have no need to do vaginal examinations to work out your progress. When i told my midwife i needed to push she just said if thats how you feel then go on and push.

If you would like more info then a good book to get is 'the water birth book' by Janet Balaskas. This will give you more factual based evidence and how to get the most out of a water birth.

Hope this is of some help.

Annie M

Another point i forgot to add. When the baby is ready to be born the temperature of the pool should be increased to body temperature and the midwife would not normally touch the baby's head until the whole body has been born. This is because the dive reflex acts to stop the baby breathing underwater and the umbilical cord will continue to sustain the baby until it takes its first breath anything which reduces the baby's temperature can cause the baby to take its first breath too soon.

I thought I would hate a pool but I spent 6 hours in the bath in labour with DS and desperately wished the hospital had a pool. They do now so am hoping to use it next time!

I have had two fab waterbirths, first one in hospital, second at home. Second time round conts were irregular and short but painful so I got in to the pool even though I was not well established in labour (at my mw's suggestion). Within half an hour I was in full blown labour and ds was born 2.5 hours later. There is some suggestion that getting in to a birth pool can actually speed things up for some women as it helps to relax them so well. Of course if you get in too early and it all slows down you can always get out agian. I would encourage anyone to try it. I have had two wonderful birth experiences and as well as it helping the pain it did help my comfort to be able to float and not have to try and find a good position to be in. I can imagine that out of a pool I would feel tired and want to lie down but not be able to as it makes the pain worse.

i had my second baby in a birthing pool and am not doing it again this time for my third!

i didnt tear in the birthing pool so that was good and i was only pushing for 8 mins (dont know if thats related to the water or not). but the mw got me to hold dd as i climbed out of the pool and the placenta was still inside me and that was the strangest experience ever. i was shakey and terrified i would drop her. i know in hindsight i was pathetic and i should have just said i didnt want to hold my baby and climb out at the same time, but i didnt!!

give it a go! you might love it! and you can always get out if you decide you dont like it!!

The water was lovely (I completely agree that it doesn't take away the pain of the contractions, but allows you to rest in between). I was 6cm dilated when I got in (so very established) and it still slowed things down. DD was OP, which was probably the cause. Getting out was horrible though, as I suddenly had to deal with gravity.

Does anyone know if I can use a birthing pool if I am a high risk pregnancy?

Notquitegrownup.
I am glad I wasn't the only one
You can just get out of course. I did so fancy the idea though.....

Completely agree with pagwatch and Notquitegrownup. I love swimming and thought I would really like a birthing pool. However, I was in the bath in early labour and I didn't like the floaty free feeling. I ended up giving birth on my back which isn't recommended at all. However, it was the closest I could get to the feeling of being in a yoga class and found it easier. I think all you can do is think through all the likely eventualities, but expect the unexpected

Daisynova

It may depend on your reason for being a high risk but i think in general it is not recommended as if you require regular monitoring during labour this is difficult in a pool.