My "filling the birth pool" experience

[callieollie]

Quick tip for newbies who may be using a birth pool.  We used the fishy pool and I was so worried about running out of hot water. We started with some cold water so we didn't melt the plastic and then turned it on full heat. I figured we'd run out of hot water, but we really didn't until it was almost full.  We then started to add more cold water because it was waaaaay too hot. I just wanted to get in so we started bucketing out hot water and refilling it with cold.  So then it felt fine (and the temp was fine) but when I got in, the water was only fine on the top.  The bottom of the pool had freezing cold water from the hose being down there. I never thought to make sure we stirred the water up!  So when we did that, it was way too cold. So we had to bucket the cold water out and put more hot water in (which thankfully we still had some of).  So, just a tip for anyone else like me who didn't think of that!  

 

 

[eirual]

Thanks for the heads up!

[kawa kamuri]

This is a great reason to do a trial run! Our technique has been different with no need to agitate the water.  

[callieollie]

I had thought about doing a trial run but felt like it was a waste of water.  Also, my midwife recommended not using the hose before the birth as a trial run to prevent any mold or anything from accumulating in there from water that remained in the hose so that was why we didn't do a trial run. But if we have more children, we'll know for next time!  It worked out in the end - I was glad we had so much hot water and how fast dh was able to bucket out water!  

[kawa kamuri]

It's not a waste of water if you put your giant, aching pregnant body in there and relax. Flushing out the hose is great as they can be stinky. 

[katt]

We ran out of hot water and DH actually boiled water on the stove for the rest.  By that time though, i was already in the pool (fishy pool) and could tell him more or less hot etc...

[Climbing Rose]

I wish I had thought about the birth pool thing a bit beforehand myself.

Once I was in it, I kept saying I wanted it hotter, and it was the only baby I had that I asked someone to take him from me- because I was totally overheated and ended up half-fainting not long after he came out.

(I had already wanted to get out of the water by then, so even if I fainted, DS was safe in my arms the way I was positioned on the floor- no where to fall to- but still not an ideal situation!)

[kawa kamuri]

When we do test runs we find the best temp using a digital aquarium thermometer. When in labour it's then easy to gauge how much hot vs cold water to add.

[RubThyNeighbor]

We turned ours up and that worked well. We were so paranoid about it nit but it worked:)