waterbirth tubs--a big bother?!

[CrunchyGranolaMom]

We're due with #4 next month. Our first hb, second water birth, and fourth mw-attended birth. We got a call that the birth pool we rented is in, and, talking with the mw about all that it entails, I think dh and I are both getting cold feet about using it. Sounds like we need to rig a hose coming from our basement washing machine up to the second floor (bedroom where we plan to birth) to get the water in, either start super early filling it or supplement with boiling water b/c it's a 6-ft. pool and there's no way our water heater holds enough to fill something that big, then, after, we'll need to use the provided pump to drain it and then use bleach to clean the inside before returning it. Umm, this sounds like a LOT to do when we're trying to give birth and then in the immed. postpartum stage. How do other people deal with this???? Any advice?

I keep looking at my bathtub adn wondering if I could just birth in there comfortably.....It seems a little higher than a normal tub (or maybe it's just that we moved here after a lot of apt. living, and you know those teensy apt. tubs....), but is definitely not very wide or comfortable for me now.

Thanks for any help and advice.

[LeosMama]

See if there's someone around who will rent an AquaDoula. They have a liner and a built in heater. The woman around here who rents them delivers it (you have to set it up though) a couple of weeks before your due date and then picks it up after birth. She does the draining and cleaning after birth b/c she wants to make sure it's really clean. I think she charges $250?

And the deal with the water, which you know, is not just about the hot water, it's about the buoyancy, being weightless enough to take the pressure off the belly and contractions. Trust me...the bath tub, even a deep one like we had at our hospital, is not deep enough. Only the hot tub I was in at home (should have stayed at home! duh!) was deep enough to take the edge off the pain.

[violetbutterfly]

Well, I didn't have to deal with getting the water from one floor to another but we just used the three ring plastic fishy pool and that worked GREAT! My MW gives it to her clients to use (she's a big waterbirth advocate) and we really had an awesome experience. Honestly we just taped a plastic liner to the inside before the birth and after the birth we just siphoned the water out into the grass in the back yard. The pool was in our bedroom and we had a glass door that opened up to the back. Since it had a liner MW wasn't freaked about cleanup. Anyway, it seemed really easy for us but I don't know if that is an option for you. I enjoyed being in the water but since you have already had a waterbirth I guess you know if it's worth it for your labor or not. Good luck whichever you decide.

[Snowdrift]

Mightn't there be water pressure issues with trying to get a garden hose to work two floors up from where it's connected? Why not use the bathroom sink? You can get an adaptor at any hardware type store for like two bucks...

We're pretty sure we're going to move out homebirth to my in-laws house. Lots of good reasons, but high on the list is their sunk in outdoor hot tub with surrounding privacy fence.

Of course it's our first so I dunno what i'm talking about really.

[renaissanceed]

We used the 3 ring fishy pool too (bought our own) & it was definitely worth it. The tub - and we have a big deep 6 ft tub - would not have been as comfy.

We had the luxury of having the pool setup ahead of time (minus water) in a room that wasn't being used for anything else. That made it much quicker to deal with later on. We also did a wet run ahead of time to see how long it would take to fill and how warm it would be.

We determined that we would turn up the temp on the hot water tank once labour started in order to help with the hot water scenario and this worked fine (we turned it down again after the birth to prevent scalding).

My DH was in charge of setup & once he got the OK from the MW it took about 15 minutes to fill the pool. We also had a hose from the basement to the second floor den where the pool was and there was no problem with that.

As for afterwards, DH took care of that, draining the pool and cleaning it with Dettol and putting it away and that got done in the first couple of days and didn't take too long (although since I wasn't at all involved, I don't know for sure).

Personally, I thought the pool was worth it as the tub would have been much more uncomfortable and I did a lot of moving in the pool which wouldn't have been possible in the tub. So IMHO if you can swing it, I recommend it.

[2+twins]

I've rented tubs for both my births and now I own a couple of tubs & rent those out (one of which is currently setup for my upcoming birth in my bedroom). It really isn't that big a deal to clean them. I don't have people use bleach - just spa chemicals and disinfecting wipes (and then I clean them again after they come back to me just to be sure). As a birthing mother, cleanup was never a hassle cuz my dh took care of it. It takes us maybe 30 minutes to drain a 170 gallon (5' x 2' deep) tub. We then refill it w/fresh water & run it for awhile w/spa chemicals (doesn't sound like you have this step), drain again, wipe it dry, then wipe it down w/the antibacterial wipes (like Lysol or Clorox wipes) and let it air dry. It really isn't a big deal - trust me - I do it all the time. As far as getting the water in it, there's no reason you shouldn't connect it to the nearest faucet. I'm sure the washing machine was suggested b/c it can put out water faster than a faucet. But it doesn't take that long to fill the tub anyway. With my last birth we managed to get a 5' tub sufficiently filled for me, including having to add 3-4 pots of hot water b/c we ran out too (I think we had a 40 gallon hot water heater at the time). My birth was only 90 minutes from start to finish, btw. Oh, you can also crank up your hot water heater so you stretch your hot water further (I didn't do that!). That will help. Anyway, I'd recommend going through the trouble. It saved me!

[~Quse~]

Originally Posted by lovinglife

We're due with #4 next month. Our first hb, second water birth, and fourth mw-attended birth. We got a call that the birth pool we rented is in, and, talking with the mw about all that it entails, I think dh and I are both getting cold feet about using it. Sounds like we need to rig a hose coming from our basement washing machine up to the second floor (bedroom where we plan to birth) to get the water in, either start super early filling it or supplement with boiling water b/c it's a 6-ft. pool and there's no way our water heater holds enough to fill something that big, then, after, we'll need to use the provided pump to drain it and then use bleach to clean the inside before returning it. Umm, this sounds like a LOT to do when we're trying to give birth and then in the immed. postpartum stage. How do other people deal with this???? Any advice?

I keep looking at my bathtub adn wondering if I could just birth in there comfortably.....It seems a little higher than a normal tub (or maybe it's just that we moved here after a lot of apt. living, and you know those teensy apt. tubs....), but is definitely not very wide or comfortable for me now.

Thanks for any help and advice.

We rented a birth pool with similar requirements and specifications for ds' birth. It was set up before I went into labor but we only managed to get it half full before it was too late. I don't think I'll do it again for the next one. I might try something else like the 3 ring pool.

[Peppamint]

We used the fishy pool last time and will this time also. We set the pool up in the kitchen and it was fine, just used a 5-10ft house with an adaptor to the kitchen sink. We'll do the same thing this time I guess. Emptied it out the back door and that was all the cleanup required besides a couple of towels that needed washing.

Worth the effort IMO... but since my labors tend to be fast I wouldn't want to deal with trying to get a big pool filled with warm enough water and we don't have the space to have an AquaDoula type pool set up ahead of time.

[cottonwood]

You should be able to get a special faucet attachment so you can attach a hose to a regular sink faucet, but yeah it's a hassle.

My second child was a waterbirth, for my third I labored in a deep tub (rubbermaid trough) but gave birth on dry land, and for my fourth I just didn't want to bother setting it up. For me, the biggest advantage to having a birthing tub was so that it helped me feel like my body wasn't so on display or so accesible, and so helped me be less inhibited. With my last birth this really wasn't an issue as it was UC. I do like hot water! But if it was going to be hard to keep it hot, I wouldn't bother. And yeah, all the trouble of going to set it up and clean up... yeesh. I just wanted to keep things as simple as possible this time, and it was nice.

[MamaTaraX]

Rentedan AquaDoula.We had to drain and fill it many timesbefore thebirth (who knew I'd gestate so long this time!?) It was worth the hassle every time We didn't have to go to a different level of the house. YOu can use other faucets than the one with the washing machine. We used the washing machine thing because it was the hot water hose itself (look, seriously, I don't know what this stuff is really called, sorry!). We hooked the hose to the water pipe, cranked on the spiget and voila, water flowed. Cleaning it was no big deal and they cleaned it again anyway (I watched him do it). One reason we rented that typeis because of the water heater. The water was warm and usable for 3-4 days at a time. It NEVRE would have worked out if we'd have to fill it when I went into labor. It took about 5 hours to fill it correctly. I was in labor less than 2. So I would have missed my waterbirth with a fishy pool.

Namaste, Tara

[CrunchyKat]

I'm not sure where you are from, but I rented a tub from a lady in Olypmia, Wa. She owns many, and rents them out for $215. She drops them off and picks them up from your house and does the cleaning herself. It also came with very extensive directions on how to put it together a few weeks before baby arrives, and then how to fill it. It came with the gadgets that we connected to our bathroom sink. We filled it and then stopped (to get the water heater warm again) and in the meantime boiled water. Honestly, I wasn't bothered by anything, I don't even remember it! Because the tub was already set up in our room and the gadgets and hose were right next the sink, my husband just attatched it and started fillin when my labor really started. Then my MW and Mother boiled water and filled it up for me while I was laboring. For me, being in the shower really helped. I was able to hunch over and hold on to railings and breath through my contractions and then I would transfer to the tub and so on. I STRONLY encourage you to continue through with your water birth, and just get everything set up before hand so there won't be any added stress or confusion. Good luck to you and happy birthing!

[CrunchyGranolaMom]

Thank you, everyone, for replying. I picked up the tub yesterday, and it doesn't look quite as difficult as we had anticipated (of course, it's in a million pieces in the middle of my bedroom at the moment!). It's good to see that, though everyone did it a little differently, it all seemed to work out in the end....

Thank you! I'm sending my dh a link to this thread so he can also read all the great advice (esp. since it will mostly all apply to him!)

[childbirthchoices]

As a doula, I've been to 2 births in the past month where there was no time for the mom to make it to the tub. One was a 2nd baby, 3 hour labor and the water wasn't warm enough so the dad spent all his time boiling water while the mom was in transition. And the other was a 4th baby (2 hour labor) and the dad and midwife spent all their time boiling water to get the tub warm enough but mom had the baby before she could get in. So if you have fast labors, I think you have to decide what is most important, assign a designated pool person and definately have someone who is only doing labor support. FYI, both of these tubs had heaters, you just have to to get the water warm enough first. I"m planning a waterbirth myself next month using the aqua doula but I'm a first timer so I figure there will be plenty of time.