experiences with water birth?

[COgirl19]

I am happily seeing a CNM practice and one of my options may be a water birth. I am about 9 weeks now and this will be my second child. With my first I had a intervention happy OB who induced at 38 weeks but the birth was otherwise a vaginal birth with no major problems. Anyone's experience with waterbirth's? Does it help with labor? can you avoid drugs?

[catchthewind]

I gave birth at home last time and had a birth pool. I got into it when the contractions got bad and it was heaven. It definitely helped with pain relief. I didn't end up giving birth in the water as my labour went a lot longer than we expected and at one point we moved upstairs to the shower instead. I started pushing there and we didn't have time to warm up the pool again. But for pure pain relief, I would say the water was a huge help. I had back labour and a posterior baby and it was nice to just float in the water. It was certainly still painful, but I'm definitely going to have a birth pool again this time. I'd love to give birth in the water this time, and this baby isn't posterior so far (knock on wood), so hopefully it will happen.

[*MamaJen*]

During my home birth, the house could have been burning down around me and I wouldn't have gotten out of the tub. Waterbirths are great for two reasons -- the relaxing effects of the warm water, and the buoyancy.
You know how if you have cramps, a hot bath often makes them feel better? It's kind of the same effect in labor. It's just very peaceful and relaxing. They call waterbirths the "aquadural" for that reason.
The buoyancy is what separates a birth tub from a regular bathtub. Birth tubs are very deep, and you wind up floating a bit. The water kind of supports your body so you're not expending energy holding yourself up. It really helps you conserve your strength, which you need during the pushing phase.
I wouldn't say that I couldn't have birthed naturally without the tub, but it definitely made it easier. If you have the option, I would definitely use it. And if you don't like the tub, you can just get out.

[solinox]

I've had two waterbirths. First one was in a deep bathtub at the birthing center. It was nice, but I found that during labor I couldn't stand to sit on my bum, and the tub wasn't deep enough to really cover my belly when I was on my knees. So the water helped, but not as much as I hoped.

Second waterbirth was at home in our big hot tub. Yup, a full-size 6-person hot tub. It was HEAVENLY!!! I pushed out that 10 lb 8 oz baby in only 30 minutes with no tears, and I still didn't believe it was *really* labor until I started pushing. I was able to float and shift positions, brace myself in different ways for pushing. I don't think I would have had nearly as easy a birth with that big boy had I not had that much water to be in.

[grumpybear]

I had my first one in the hospital, induced without painkillers.
My second one was an unplanned waterbirth. I knew I probably would be laboring in the tub but was planning on getting out for the pushing stage. But like PP, the birth center could be burning around me but there was no way I was getting out of that tub. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. Painful, yes, but after feeling the relief of the water, I do not think I can give birth any other way.

[AutumnW]

I had a homebirth with my first and had a tub set up for labor. I got in and stayed about an hour and it just wasn't doing it for me. I didn't feel grounded enough, too bouncy. So I wasted a lot of effort on getting it all and setting it up for nothing because I preferred to walk and squat in labor. You never know what you'll want while you're laboring, lol.

[cileag]

I had a waterbirth in October and give it a B+ or so. It wasn't the magical, end-all, pain reliever that I had anticipated, but it was great for the fatigue during labor. It really let me relax and float and just kind of zone out. It also was great just to have different options. I hadn't planned on delivering there but only ended up pushing for 20 minutes and so I didn't really have the time or the inclination to get out when she came.

[mommysaurus]

I use water therapy for labor for my last 4 births (#5, 6,7, 8), with #7 being a waterbirth. I love laboring in the water, it really relaxes me. With this next one I plan on using water again and if I feel like it I'll go ahead and birth in the water too.

[Lilygoose]

I vote for the water. I gave birth in a hospital, but with a midwife with experience in delivering all natural. Knowing that I was pretty firm in not wanting any medical pain relievers they put me in the room with the the big tub. It wasn't a pain free labor, but my DD was big (10lbs 11oz), this was my first and only child and I had back labor-BAD. the tub got me through though. I was able to labor and deliver with no drugs! i got in and out of that tub like six times. The labor itself wasn't too bad-painful, but I felt very prepared and happy and the water allowed me to kind of relax and drift off, it was the two hours of pushing that was tough!