Ordered fishy pool.... Now what do I need?

[simplykate]

I just ordered the fishy pool, can anyone tell me what I absolutely need as far as getting it filled and drained, e.t.c? We already have a pump to blow it up.

Also, what are the issues with keeping it warm? Do we have to keep refilling it?

Now we'll see if it gets here on time as I'm 38+5 and having lot's of contractions!

TIA!

[Jilian]

Do you have a drinking water safe hose and adaptor pieces for the hose to fit your sink? I ordered my hose from an aquarium company listed in the sticky at the top of this forum and they also sold the adaptor pieces. To keep it hot just boil water and add a small amount at a time, and bail out some of the cooler water. We kept the pool covered with a shower curtain liner when I was not in it and that kept it nice and warm. We only needed hot tap water because it never got too cold. But we boiled water just in case. You'll also want to put a waterproof barrier under the pool (like a tarp) with something non-slip on top (we used an old comforter).

[BethandLC]

We are using the fishy pool too. We have flannel backed table cloths to put under the pool and then old bathmats to step on outside it. We have a plastic liner - you can get some 3 mil plast liner from Lowes. Then we have a splitter that we have kind of reverse engineered to allow us to hook up to the washer connection so that we can have hot and cold water flow into the hose. We have a second hose to siphon out water that has cooled should we need to add more. Hmm, I may think of more later and be back - I am a little brain dead tonight.

[StephM76]

You'll need a sink adaptor, drinking water safe hose, submersible pump (I got a portable one for under $40) and plastic sheets for under pool. If you don't have a lot of big pots or a tea kettle, you may want to get some. We were constantly boiling water and adding it to the pool.

[DahliaRW]

You can also just bucket bail the pool (if your dh is up to it) instead of buying the pump. My dh chose to do that to save the $35. But what others said: drinking water grade hose, sink adaptor, tarp for underneath, something to cover it to keep it warm.

You also might want a liner (so you don't have to scrub it out afterwards), a floating thermometer to keep track of the temperature, and an aquarium net to fish out any "debris".

I kept my pool warm by covering with a shower curtain liner and then a wool blanket. A couple of times dh bailed out a bit of water and refilled with hot tap water. It worked just fine.

[HappyMommaBear]

Out of curiosity - why the special hose? Why isn't a regular garden hose suffecient?

[azohri]

Garden hoses are treated with chemicals you don't want in your birth pool. You also want the shortest hose that will reach to make the process more efficient.

[azohri]

Oh, and btw, if you haven't checked out this sticky ( http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=589333 ), you'll definitely want to, it's great!

[HappyMommaBear]

OK, that makes sense. Where is the best place to get a good hose?

[MOMYS]

Check that sticky that azohr posted the link to! It is great!

[genesee]

We got our hose at an RV store - cheap!

[srlpenny]

We used the Python Hose and sink adapter with our fishy pool, it was great for filling the pool and for siphoning out the water easily after the birth, and through the many trial run fillings we did. We got that at Petco in the fish tank section.
Keeping the water warm you'll just have to add HOT water to it every once in a while. So have a big bucket/pot ready for that purpose.
We also put a big shower curtain under our pool in case of a leak, and had a pool thermometer to make sure the temperature was still good. (My MW likes to keep it in a specific range) .