I have been reading a little about water births. Does anyone have any personal experiences with this? I have heard it’s gentler and easier but I would like to hear from someone who has done it/seen it done.
Thanks
Poysyn
I have some Kiwi friends who’ve had a water birth. Actually, it was a home water birth. One friend had a fine time and would like to do it again. The other ended up delivering in a squatting position, after having given up on the pool.
I’d say it sounds good, but it’s not something I’d feel comfortable doing at home.
Make sure you wear your goggles and fins! 
Gah, I was trying to search but with the Boards being ornery I can’t find the thread… a Doper just very recently (within the past month) posted a thread in MPSIMS titled something like “I’m having a baby… right now!” or something, and she was doing a home water birth.
Sorry I don’t have a link but the search results page wouldn’t come up. Just figured I’d give you the heads-up that there’s a thread out there somewhere in MPSIMS!
See this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=121333&highlight=water+birth
I planned one – at home in NZ. However when I went into labour, I didn’t like being in the water all that much so I got out of the tub and gave birth on dry land.
The research is fairly clear that it is a safe option as long as the baby is brought to the surface quickly. The babies who died (there’s a horrific homevideo from Australia which shows some fecking idiots celebrating the birth in the spa pool while the baby quietly drowns on the bottom.) There’s also some astounding new age crap out there that water born babies are wonder children. Having met several, I can assure you some of them are nasty violent wee beings ;).
About the only thing I know about water births is that they mean you can’t have an epidural. Thus it’s nixed in my book, but maybe you have a really high pain threshold.
One of the presumed advantages to having a water birth is that the water is close to body temperature, which helps relax you and eases pain somewhat. Or at least that’s what our childbirth class educator said. It’s the same reason showers and baths (before the amniotic sac breaks, of course) are recommended for pain relief.
Sadly, since I’m being induced and require a significant bit of medical intervention due to group B strep, anything to do with water is out for a while.
Robin
Oh, Robin! Why are they inducing you? If you have group B why aren’t they just doing a C?
I was induced 2 years ago. NEVER AGAIN!!! I’d rather go a month late!
I’m being induced because there’s no reason to do a c-section. Basically, I’ve got three issues going on. I’m banking the cord blood, I’m GBS positive, and the baby is largish for dates. My OB wants to be able to control as much of my labor as possible, so he’s inducing me a week or two before my actual due date. This way, I’m probably not going to go into spontaneous labor, so we can get antibiotics into my system to control the GBS, if there are complications with respect to the baby’s size, they can be dealt with, and the cord blood has to be collected in a certain way, and there have to be at least two people present for that.
My OB is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, who only takes high-risk patients, and the hospital where I’m delivering specializes in high-risk deliveries. Hopefully, all will go according to plan, but it’s VERY comforting to know that complications can (and will) be taken care of before they get too difficult. (FTR, I’m high risk because I lost my first-born to GBS disease almost 8 years ago.)
Robin
I’ve actually had 3 water births!
All three of my kids were born in birthing centers in a hot tub.
The warm water was soothing and dimished the pain. Also, the water prevented rips.
I’d be happy to tell you all about my experiences. What do you want to know?
I would like to know -
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did you find the pain severe or did the water help?
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Was the baby calmer, being born in a water climate?
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I realize modesty goes right out the window when giving birth (I’ve been told) but did you go in the pool naked, or did you wear a top?
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Does anyone know if hospitals are usually supportive of this choice?
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Do the pools come with heaters?
And maybe just tell me the story overall? (you can email me if you prefer poysyn@hotmail.com)
Thanks
I’m the doper who just had a water birth, on June 19. Mine was done at home, in a rented birthing tub. (Nota hot tub, alas. No water nozzles. I lived.) Like autz said, the water is very soothing. The latter stages of labor and transition, which I spent in the water, were actually less painful and stressful than the early stages, which I spent walking around, lying on the bed (big, stupid mistake) and otherwise fiddling about on dry land. And the water prevents the need for three of the nastiest elements of hospital births – epidurals, episiotomies and stirrups.
I too would be glad to share my experiences more in depth if anyone has any questions. My time is limited these days, obviously, but I do get to my e-mail every day.
tlw,
Your profile won’t let me email you, can you email me your address?
I haven’t had one, but the midwives at my local birth center are looking at adding a birthing tub to the amenities… Thinking about the possibilities for kid number three (big assumption, since I’m not preggers at the moment).
Poysyn - The only question I can answer reasonably well from experience is the ‘do hospitals support the option’ question. To which the answer is a definitive ‘it depends on the hospital’.
The hospital I was transferred to for my son Gabe’s birth had huge jacuzzis in the birthing rooms, and as long as you didn’t already have an epidural, you could labor to pushing in there. No births actually in the water, but water labor was fine, then get out to push. I think this is the most likely option to find at a hospital, if they let you in the water at all.
The hospital I was transferred to for Brendan’s birth did not have the facilities for water labor or birth (shower only), and certainly would not have been happy about the idea (using hypnosis in labor freaked them out rather a bit, but at least I stayed in the bed like a nice patient…).
You have to check with the local providers. There are hospitals that do full water births (somewhere - I know I’ve spoken to someone who had one, but it was either NZ or OZ, I think), and ones that do water labors, and ones that don’t like anything that isn’t in their ‘standard OB procedures’ manual (often for legal reasons).
Sorry to bother you, but I’d be grateful if you could e-mail me also. My wife and I are considering water birth and would love to hear first-hand about a sucess story. Please mail me at publicblast*******@yahoo.com (remove the *s first). Thanks!
Sorry to bother you, but I’d be grateful if you could e-mail me also. My wife and I are considering water birth and would love to hear first-hand about a sucess story. Please mail me at publicblast*******@yahoo.com (remove the *s first). Thanks!
Sent the birth stroy of my most recent water baby to Poysyn and PublicBlast
Robyn: I was Group B Strep positive, and therefore had to have IV antibiotics during labor, but they still let me go into the hospital birthing Jacuzzi. The nurses just kept the cords out of my way.
For the record, the Jacuzzi helped not a whit with the contractions I was having. In between contractions it felt pretty good, but contractions were contractions no matter if I was in the tub, on the birthing ball, or in any of the recommended birthing positions taught to us by our birthing instructor. I think this was because I was in back labor, which sucks a lot, and also on Pitocin, which sucks even more.
Erm, anyway, like I was saying before going off on that tangent there, I’d find out about maybe getting to use the tub even if you have to have the IV in. A lot of people say the tub really helps ease the pain of contractions, and probably if your baby isn’t trying to come out diagonally and sideways like mine was, the tub might actually do some good.
Just an update, I found out two hospitals in my city have birthing tubs, but only one has them hooked up. The one with usable tubs has a current policy that allows you to labor in the tub, but not to delivery.
They are considering changing that, keep your fingers crossed for me, after all, my baby isn’t due till January, maybe the policy will change