What If You Know In Advance You'll Run Out of Hot Water Before the Tub is Full?

[witchypants]

Hi DH and I are ttc right now but planning on a homebirth when the time comes. Thing is I know I'll want a tub for laboring and possibly birthing in but I KNOW we will run out of hot water LONG before the tub is full. Has anyone else been in this position and successfully managed a solution? If so, what did you do? What are some ideas? I know we could heat up water on the stove as well, but I'm just concerned with the overall idea. I'm looking for some thoughts from ladies who had a GOOD waterbirth experience. Thanks!

[Brittee]

No actual experience, but some information

No personal experience on my part, but some tubs have the ability to maintain and heat water to a specific temperature. I'm thinking of the aquadoula specifically. You can rent them fairly inexpensively from the company, and I know of a midwife in my area that rents an aquadoula of her own for less. I'm sure there are other brands and other actual experiences that will help you a little more, but when DH and I get to ttc (we waiting atm trying to pay off credit debt), I am leaning toward an aquadoula.

[sunfish21]

I was also thinking about the heater in an aquadoula....but maybe start to fill your tub right away and then cover it, give the heater some time, and then add the rest of the water? I am fortunate enough to have two water heaters to fill from...but have heard of the stove top also! Good luck!

[Peace+Hope]

from reading around, this is probably what i'd do (other than replace our old water heater, which we did do!):

turn up the water heater approaching birth to as high as it will go, and be careful meanwhile.

do a practice run to figure out exactly how well this works:

fill it ONLY with hot, and as it cools, the cooler water will cool it, rather than having both hot and cold on to fill so you end up w/ lukewarm. if it's not going to be enough to get full and be warm enough, cover it and wait for the heater to recover before continuing to fill.

keep it covered if you're not in it to keep heat in (so, order a pool w/ a cover)

my hot water heater recovers quickly, even though it's small-ish, so w/in 30 mins it can be used to add/keep up the heat in the tub. maybe yours will be the same turned up?

orrrrr.... find a MW w/ an aquadoula tub, or go in w/ some of her other clients to buy a tub she can then keep.

[cileag]

It took us about 3 hours to fill our tub up. We (well, my husband since I was laboring) ran the hot water until it ran out, covered the tub with the cover it came with and with a couple of blankets, then waited the 45 minutes or so for the water heater to fill up again. Rinse and repeat. It worked great--was too hot for me to get in initially and so they cooled it down quickly and I floated in it for about two hours until I hit transition, when I got out, had my bag of water broken and then got back in and had my baby 20 minutes later.

I think it's pretty normal to have refill your heater a couple of times. I mean, our hot water tank is 55 gallons and the birth tub about 180, so you can do the math.

Oh. And my husband pointed out that our's had a built in heating pad too--that might be something to consider.

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by witchypants

Hi DH and I are ttc right now but planning on a homebirth when the time comes. Thing is I know I'll want a tub for laboring and possibly birthing in but I KNOW we will run out of hot water LONG before the tub is full. Has anyone else been in this position and successfully managed a solution? If so, what did you do? What are some ideas? I know we could heat up water on the stove as well, but I'm just concerned with the overall idea. I'm looking for some thoughts from ladies who had a GOOD waterbirth experience. Thanks!

We, well DH lol, filled and heated 2 pools over a 3 day period while I was in labor. Our water heater was lame. He did it by filling the pool 2/3 of the way through the hose and then heating water in large pots on the stove.

I'd love next time around to have a heater in the pool.

Filling and heating that pool is the major reason I am considering breaking from a husband/wife CB. I'm thinking maybe my teen brother can be there, or something. I don't know. It was a pain. He never complained, bless him, but it sure was annoying to not have him by my side every moment lol.

[ishyfishie]

For those who fill with straight hot water (with the tank turned all the way up)...no one's had an issue with a pool popping/melting or anything? I thought I had seen mention of that on MDC. We did a trial run with our pool and it was ALMOST just right by using both hot/cold water on at the same time (the La Bassine instructions say to fill halfway with 100 degree water, then the rest to mom's comfort, so that's what we tried). I know I've seen recommendations here to do a few inches of straight cold water to start with, then add straight hot (the cold to make sure the pool doesn't melt/pop), but my midwife did say she normally suggests doing straight hot and then cooling it off and that she'd never heard of a pool popping, but she didn't want to tell us to do it and then have it burst lol.

I'd prefer to do straight hot and then cool it off, I'd just feel better knowing no one else has actually had their pool melt or pop from doing it that way and I'd rather not do another trial run!

ETA: We have a new 40 gallon hot water tank and if we hadn't tempered the hot with so much cold at first, would have been able to fill it on one tank. As it was, it was only slightly too cool, so a pot or two of hot water added would've been fine. You have to figure for a 100/150/180 gallon pool, you're not going to be filling it ALL with completely hot water, so our 40 gallons of super hot plus remaining gallons of cold were plenty to fill our tub a little above the "fill to here" line (because I wanted it higher) with water that was a pretty comfortable temperature.

[JorgieGirl]

We boiled pots of water and electric kettles. Worked great. Thank goodness my mum was there.

[womenswisdom]

Ran the hot water out, covered with emergency blanket (foil type to keep heat in), waited until hot water heater back up to temp, then filled the rest of the way with hot/cold mix to achieve desired temp. Took maybe 1.5 hrs altogether (? would have to ask dh, as I was laboring at the time :P) Have done this a few times as a mw asst and never seen a problem with the pool.

[witchypants]

Thanks everyone! The midwives we're considering use these large black rubbermaid tubs so I'm not sure if there's a water heater with them or not, but I'm assuming 'no' since I was just at a friends birth and she used this type of tub and I saw no heater. But they have two hot water heaters. We have a deep claw foot tub in our home and I've never been able to fill it even half way using hot water. And when I fill my tub I always use only hot water. It takes about 20mins to reheat. Will that be enough time. At what point did you get in? I'm just thinking I'll be wanting to get in but barely have any water and have to wait 20-30mins to stay warm....

[nikirj]

The only thing I'd add to what others have said is that the heaters in pools don't heat cold water, they just maintain already-warm water, so it's good when you're filling not to let the temp get below your target at all.

[SuzyLee]

We will turn the hot water heater all the way up as soon as I start having any signs of labor. Normally we keep the water heater lower, and wouldn't need to add any cold water, but we would empty the tank. If we turn the heater all the way, we will have to add quite a bit of cold water too, and can just about fill the tub.

I think between that and possibly boiling a pot of water, we will be fine. If I have to use the tub 3/4ths full while the water heater heats up again, I will deal.

[Jackies Ladybug]

just as a side note, i would recommend flushing your hot water heater a few weeks before you are planning to give birth. ESPECIALLY if you have an older one.

we forgot to do this and when it got to the bottom it spewed out a bunch of yuck into the pool and we had to dump it and start over.

good thing we started the process in early labor, i was able to be in the bathtub for a while while my husband set it all up again.

[Peony]

We have a tiny, old water heater, I can never even shower and shave my legs at the same time without it running out. I had a fishy pool with DS, and knew it would take several tanks to full it. I had filled a AquaDoula with DD2 (in a different house) over a couple hour period while in labor and figured it would be similar.

When labor hit with DS though, I was dying. I had bad back labor, and I needed in my tub soon. We filled it up with the first tank of water, which wasn't that much, and I had Dh started putting every pot we own on the stove, we have several huge stock pots. The water level was low I could sit in the bottom, and lean over and get a portion of my belly in the water, so that is what I did while yelling at DH between contractions to boil more water. I am guessing that it took an hour to get the tub filled up, probably a little more, and it stayed hot for my 4 hour labor, we never added more water. And yes, we had the tank turned up at high as it could go. DH would pour in hot water and then add cold until the temp was right and we just kept doing that until there was enough water.

[StephM76]

We added cool water 1/4 of the way. Then put it all the way to hot. We were able to fill the rest by boiling water on the stove.

[McMandy]

I had this issue during our birth- but I learned that the best way to do this is to start out with the water turned all the way to hot, steaming hot... and then add in cold water once it runs out. Stay nearby, swish it around a bit (with something other than your hand to avoid scalding!) until it's the temp you want.

I stayed in our tub for quite a few hours... but your body really adjusts to the temperature as it cools, so it's not uncomfortable or cold at all.. in fact, during labor, you might find it a little refreshing when you're sweating!

[jljeppson]

What I've found has worked the best with my births and the ones I've attended where there was no heater for the tub is we immediately start the 2 largest pots of water boiling on the stove while the tub is filling. That way, when the hot water heater runs out you can immediately pour them in and that (with the cold water you will need to add) tops the pool off. We then fill one pot with water and keep it hot (but not boiling) at all times. When the tub starts to cool off, we use one pot to remove water and put it on the stove to heat and pour the already heated pot in. The water is easy to keep at a constant temp, the hose isn't there bothering the mom, and the hot water heater isn't constantly going so it saves on electricity and water. Very easy and efficient, anyone can do it (if you are having your teenage brother there he can certainly be responsible for this), and if your DH is the one doing it he wouldn't need to be away from you but for a few minutes every hr or two.

[buttercups.nest]

I haven't yet had a homebirth...BUT we did have a 10 gallon hot water tank....

It was either wash the dishes, do laundry, or have a shower. If you wanted to do all 3 then there was a order you do them in, and water for dishes always ended up being boiled.

What about a kettle that you can just push the button? Or a water cooler that has a hot water function? Or the large stewing pots...just keep the stove on all the time at least on low.

I don't know what else to suggest :s
Good luck!