Stupid waterbirth question

[AFWife]

Okay, this is probably really dumb...

When I gave birth (hospital) my mom said I lost a lot of fluids. (as evidenced by my iron levels dropping from 11 to 8) I assume it's the same in a waterbirth...

Does it gross you out to just SIT in the water that's full of birth stuff? I mean, right away i can imagine you're still on birth high...but do you want to take a shower afterwards? The thought of sitting in water full of blood and whatnot kinda weirds me out.

[cocobean]

I haven't had a waterbirth yet but plan to with our next child. BUT IMHO I don't think it's that big of a deal. Birth is messy no matter how you do it. It gets on you, your baby, and birth attendents. I'm sure that most people do take showers soon after birth in a tub. But I'm sure most people aren't even really thinking about that since they just went through a lot durring a birth and now they're holding a brand new baby. Like I said just MHO.

[Catherine12]

I've had one dry land birth and two waterbirths. In my experience, waterbirth is actually cleaner because the fluids are confined to the tub. Yes, the water will be pretty bloody looking after the birth, but it is still mostly water, it feels like water, and when you get out of the tub you will look and feel fairly clean - probably cleaner than after a dry land birth, since the water will have carried away fluids which would otherwise have stuck to your legs. You probably will want to shower afterward, but not any more so than with a dry land birth.

[alegna]

Agreed that waterbirth is actually cleaner. Had one of each- took an herbal bath with each in the hour after.

-Angela

[Right of Passage]

I had a waterbirth on saturday, the water only had amniotic fluid, vernix, and part of the bag in it (DS was born in the caul). I got out to deliver the placenta, no blood in the pool. My DH was pleasantly surpised at how neat everything was. Here's a picture, you can see the water looks clear.

[emnic77]

Haven't had my waterbirth yet, but I feel like I would feel cleaner having all the gunk contained and diluted, I remember hating the feeling of ooze and blood and everything else stuck to my legs & crotch after my other births.

[gillibean]

I can't remember where I read this but it goes, "The solution for pollution is dilution." Basically, with the amount of water in the tub, the birthing fluids are fairly diluted so it's not that big of a deal.

[*MamaJen*]

Yeah, I remember the water looked really clean when I got out. Even if you did lose some blood, there's a ton of water in that tub -- most are in the 100 - 200 gallon range. And say you lose a pint of blood, that's not a whole lot diluted in a couple hundred gallons.

[meesh933]

I had my son in my garden tub a month ago (placenta was birthed on dry land). I didn't feel terribly dirty, in fact, it didn't occur to me to take a shower until the midwife suggested it after she'd repaired my tear. Like everyone else said, everything washes off your body and it's pretty diluted. There was some blood in the water, along with amniotic fluid and vernix, but it wasn't awful. I sat there a good 20-30 minutes holding the baby before I started to think it was getting a little weird to still be in there. (And DD wanted in with us, so it couldn't have looked that bad!)