Home/water birthing in a small home?

[sattygirl99]

My question of the day..

I know I'm not the only mom but talk to me about homebirthing/waterbirting in a small space. We currently rent but are talking about buying a mobile home and while it's pretty nice, it's not as big as my rental house, which is hard for us on many levels (you get spoiled, lol).

I know plenty of women birth in apartments, condo's and mobile homes so I'm wondering how I need to rethink my birth. I was hoping the home we would buy would have a garden tub but the one we're seriously considering does not. It used to, but they took it out so now it's just the round area that it was. I'm figuring I can always re-arrange the master BR to have space for the birthing pool (it wouldn't be that hard to slide the bed all the way against one wall to make more room).

I suppose I'm just looking for reassurance that yes, a wonderful home waterbirth can and does still happen, even in a smaller space!

I'm excited about the prospect of owning and paying way less than my rent but these people have sooo much stuff in their house (and I mean it's WAAAY crowded, not because it's small but because they have a ton of stuff!) that it was hard to really get a feel for the 'okay, we'll put x here, and y there' thing.

thanks ladies!!

[shishkeberry]

I haven't done it yet (having my first homebirth in July), but if you want a home water birth, I think you should be fine as long as you have a space big enough for the pool. Some women even have their waterbirths in their bathtub. Besides, it's not like you have a large space to labor/deliver in when you have a hospital birth anyway. My hospital birthing suite was tiny! Only a little bit bigger than my bedroom and that's not saying much

I'm setting my pool up in my kitchen.

[RJones1204]

Hi mama! My bedroom was teeny tiny about 10x11 or so. We had our bed at the top of the room and a pool was wedged (literally it was pressed up) against the bed. It was a tight squeeze. The good news is that I just had to climb out of the tub straight onto the bed.
Yes a wonderful birth experience IS possible in a tiny area. Mamas do it everyday!

[patricegonzales]

I didnt have a water birth, but did have a birthing tub set up in my tiny house. It was actually really nice because everything was right there. Since I could be across the house in steps, getting to where I wanted between contractions was easy!
I think having the pool RIGHT next to the bed sounds so nice! you could rest your head on the bed while in the pool and get in and out very easily!

It will be great! Have fun Mama!

[47chromosomes]

Well, we are going to have to move our kitchen table out onto the lawn in order to have a spot for the tub. I hope it does not rain on the day our baby is born, or we will have to ask the neighbors if we can put the table in their living room for the day. But, it's just one day, so I guess I'm not too worried. What I am worried about is when baby gets mobile. This is house is too small for 5 people!

[isras1]

I live in a small house and I think there'll be plenty of room, but then again, it'll most likely be just me, DH, midwife and her assistant.

As for any concern you may have, I have noticed (from working as a doula and attending numerous HB) that women have a tendency to stay in one place toward the end of labor. They "move to their cave", so to speak. Some momma's I've helped had big houses and we stayed between the bedroom and bathroom.

[sattygirl99]

Thanks ladies!

There's a master bath off of the mbr so likely that room will be my cave anyway. It was just a matter of 'omg my room went from huge to half the size'. I know it can be done, its just an adjustment on many levels.

Moving the table out to the lawn isn't a bad idea... I was envisioning privacy though so making the BR work is what I need. I suppose I can put our 2nd dresser in one of the kids rooms too. I have this vision of dark space with candles and laboring in privacy so I will just have to make that happen anywhere!

Thanks so much! I just needed a bit of reassurance!

[jorona]

I'm another one who will be wedging the birth pool into the bedroom (our house is old and none of the bedrooms is significantly larger than another, so there's no "master" really). It will literally be between the closet door and bed - which will have to be moved over more as well - but I know I'll be more comfortable in there anyway.

[jennica]

We have a 2br apartment and I'm putting the tub in the living room. I am making everyone else go into other rooms or the den off the living room at least, to give me privacy. I can't use our bedroom because of concerns about noise levels and neighbors, but probably would if not for that.

[Funny Face]

I had an amazing waterbirth in our 800 sq ft apartment. There were three attendees, a birth photographer, dh and my mom and no one was cramped. Everyone just sits around wherever you are laboring anyway.

We folded down our dinning table and put the birth pool there.

We're in a house now and I'll probably still put the pool in the dinning room. I like the bedroom to itself for recovery so you don't have to watch/listen while they dismantle and clean everything.

[47chromosomes]

Originally Posted by sattygirl99

Thanks ladies!

There's a master bath off of the mbr so likely that room will be my cave anyway. It was just a matter of 'omg my room went from huge to half the size'. I know it can be done, its just an adjustment on many levels.

Moving the table out to the lawn isn't a bad idea... I was envisioning privacy though so making the BR work is what I need. I suppose I can put our 2nd dresser in one of the kids rooms too. I have this vision of dark space with candles and laboring in privacy so I will just have to make that happen anywhere!

Thanks so much! I just needed a bit of reassurance!

Dark with candles and privacy sounds great! Our bedroom is up a narrow stairway with no bathroom--it's like an attic and not practical at all. So I keep envisioning myself in the kitchen with the breadmaker going and the crockpot on. At least the Popsicles will be nearby. If it is not ideal, it will at least be comical. I needed a little more comical during my last labor anyway.

[frenchkissed]

Originally Posted by RJones1204

Hi mama! My bedroom was teeny tiny about 10x11 or so. We had our bed at the top of the room and a pool was wedged (literally it was pressed up) against the bed. It was a tight squeeze. The good news is that I just had to climb out of the tub straight onto the bed.
Yes a wonderful birth experience IS possible in a tiny area. Mamas do it everyday!

Same here! I was worried at first about the lack of space, ad specifically asked my midwife about whether the setup would work at our home visit. She said as long as she could reach me in the pool if need be it was fine. My baby's cord was very short so it was convenient to get out of the pool and *right* onto the bed in one motion.

[evjolin]

we are still unsure if we are going the hb route, but if we do, the birthing pool will be set up in the LR. our master is TINY. house is 900 sf, and dh is anxious that the house isn't big enough, but how big is a labor and delivery room???

i am not concerned at all. we will have 2 midwives, my dh, my mom, and our 2 dogs and me. i think it will be just fine.

[Belle]

We had a homebirth in a tiny apartment. We moved our dining room table over in front of the TV. We weren't going to be watching it during labor anyway. Our midwives put their stuff on the dining room table and we put the tub where the table usually sat. It worked out well.

[cocoanib]

Yes, it can be done!
We havbe a 500sq ft condo and had a tub.
We set the tub up in the only place possible, the living room.
The tub with all the midwives stuff did'nt leave very much room, but truly it didn't matter. I wound up birthing in front of the bed, not the tub, but it was wonderful!

[nikirj]

If you can invite another family to your house and have enough room, it will absolutely not be a problem.

I've been to some births in very small spaces. Birth professionals (generalization ahead...) are good at fading into the background, which is usually accomplished by finding a comfy corner and staying in it. I don't think you'd miss the 2 square feet of floorspace each of your attendants will take up. If you can fit a pool and a space for someone to be next to it (not necessary for it to be accessible all the way around, I went to one birth where the only access to the pool was through a doorframe, as the pool filled up the closet the family put it in), you're set.

Our family of 5 lived in a less than 600 sq ft space for a while, and I absolutely would have had a homebirth in that space if we still lived there. We did have a homebirth (water birth) in a 720sq ft apartment, and that was totally more space than we actually needed.

There are actually some benefits to birthing in a small space. Like we didn't have to worry about whether the hose would reach from the laundry hookup to our pool, because the hose would have literally reached anywhere in the apartment. This last time around there was no way to get a hose all the way from the laundry to our bedroom three stories up, so we had to use the slower-flow shower hookup.

[averlee]

My midwives assured me, they had attended births and set up pools in tents, schoolbuses, and one-room cabins. They helped one mother waterbirth in a hand-hewn wooden canoe. In most of the world people do not have big fancy homes or garden tubs and their babies still get born.

[Funny Face]

If you think about it, no matter how small your house might be it's still bigger than a labor and delivery room at a hospital or even most birthing rooms at a birth center!

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by Funny Face

If you think about it, no matter how small your house might be it's still bigger than a labor and delivery room at a hospital or even most birthing rooms at a birth center!

So true!
I was thinking that I would rather be in my tiny condo than a tiny hospital room anyday!

[gentlestrengths]

Just wanted to say that our second baby was born in an apartment that was 740 square feet. 2 Bedroom / 1 bathroom.

I made it a point to NOT compromise the bathroom - and used it only for using the toilet (not for spending time in the shower).

We set the pool up in our daughters bedroom. We moved her into our bed in the middle of the night. I had the (tiny!) living room and kitchen and her bedroom to use. It was totally fine. She woke up at like 4am anyway, and hung out with us and watched the pool fill in her bedroom which she thought was very cool she was almost 2).

I also had our midwife, her assistant/student, and 2 friends, as well as my husband. It was crowded at the time of the birth, but it didn't really matter that much.

It was cozy and quaint (and easy to keep clean!!), and you can do it in a small space!