birthing tub question

[bunny's mama]

this may seem weird, but i calculated the approximate weight of our birthing tub when full of water, me, dh and MW standing by, and possibly doula, too, and i came out with over 1000 lbs.

a friend who is water-birthing has gone into her crawl space and reinforced the floor with 2 x 4s. did anyone else do this, too? what are the chances of our floor collapsing?? this is a weird question, isn't it?

any feedback, stories or experiences would be much appreciated.

[georgia]

i've known more than a few mothers who have had waterbirths on upper levels, and none have had any problems. guess it depends on the space!

my friend's birth in feb, we had the full pool, her, baby, her ds, her dh, three
midwives, her mom and mil, me, my baby, another friend...then her dad----and no collapsing! it never even crossed my mind! wow.

i would say if house or apt seems sound, it is--but then, nothing would deter me from my waterbirth! also,you might ask your m/w or birth attendant for any input. best wishes!!!!

amy

[Peppamint]

That's a good question! I'm having my dad look at our floors this week. Each room in our house has lots of heavy stuff in it, so adding a pool and several people is scary when you add everyone's weights!

I think it would depend on your house, but unfortunately I don't really have any advice.

[Mommy StormRaven]

WE are in a ground level apt. underneath us is a solid concrete floor and the earth - I certainly hope it doesnt' collapse!

[lorijds]

I work in a birthing center...we reinforced the floor underneath the tub (there is a basement below it).

I had never thought of that at a home birth, though.

[MaShroom]

we had to reinforce the floor in our home when ds was born. that house was put together with thumb tacks and spit. it was horrible. so we chose the room with the strongest floor and reinforced it. it all went fine and nobody ended up in the basement.

[annamaren]

Ya know, I have been wondering the same thing myself..... we live in an older home, and I love it, but DH and I were thinking that the weight of a full birth tub might be stressful on the floors.

We were planning on finding the support beam and centering the tub over that.

Another question though- did anyone supplement home insurance while they had a tub set up? I am not sure but I think that our home insurance has a special clause for water-beds. If we had any damage that occured due to having a big heavy tub upstairs.... I am wondering if it would be covered by insurance or not?!

[Peppamint]

Originally posted by annamaren
Another question though- did anyone supplement home insurance while they had a tub set up? I am not sure but I think that our home insurance has a special clause for water-beds. If we had any damage that occured due to having a big heavy tub upstairs.... I am wondering if it would be covered by insurance or not?!

Ooh... great idea! I'll have to check into that!

[MamaMae]

Hey April Mama!

We had a carpenter come and check out our (very old!) house a few weeks ago, and they reccomended some support beams. So that's happening this weekend. I'm not sure it's entirely necessary...but it makes me feel better knowing I won't fall into the basement in the middle of labor! LOL!