Waterbirth question.... maybe I'm overly paranoid?

[prettypixels]

OK, I have read about how you are supposed to use a brand new garden hose to fill the tub of your choice as old hoses may harbor bacteria. But here is where I am getting confused or perhaps just a little bit bonkers with paranoia.... don't PIPES harbor bacteria too? I mean if I hook up a brand spanking new garden hose to my kitchen sink to fill my pool, do I need to worry about the pipes getting the water to the sink faucet? :

Please feel free to tell me I'm being an obsessive compulsive paranoid wierdo! Actually that would be nice to hear and then I don't have one more thing to think about...

[BelgianSheepDog]

You're using your kitchen sink, right? Well I don't know about bacteria in pipes, but even if they are, you've been drinking them for months, if not years. I doubt they would pose any special risk.

[~Kristina~]

I don't think you'll need to worry about it too much. Do you drink the water? If so, then I think it's fine. If it's like my parents water that smells like sulfur and you can't drink it, I wouldn't use it!

[midwifetx]

even if you don't drink the tap water, you bathe in it at least occasionally

[~Kristina~]

Originally Posted by midwifetx

even if you don't drink the tap water, you bathe in it at least occasionally

Very true...I'm just glad I've never lived at my parents house!

[sapphire_chan]

I thought you were supposed to use one of those hoses intended for drinking water? Like they sell for RVs and such?

[prettypixels]

Sapphire, I don't know... anyone else care to comment on the drinking water hose idea? I thought a regular garden hose was fine, just a brand new one...

I asked my husband this q right after I posted (shoulda asked BEFORE I guess), and he pointed out that I drink the water from the pipes so any bacteria in there is already in ME, and thus, in baby. That makes sense!!!! I had a feeling I was over-thinking a little.

[~Kristina~]

That a good question about the hose. I would have thought the same thing about a new hose.

[caterpillar]

Yeah, use a drinking water hose (usually white with a blue stripe). Our midwife supplied ours, which was nice, because those things cost about 30 bucks!

Our water baby was born in July. We have musty water (it kind of smells moldy and definitely doesn't taste good). Nonetheless, the water is potable (even if I don't *want* to drink it!), and the baby was just perfectly fine! Oooh, I'm getting all warm and fuzzy thinking again about my water birth...

[huggerwocky]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

I thought you were supposed to use one of those hoses intended for drinking water? Like they sell for RVs and such?

We got one, it didn't cost any more and is lead free.

[heidi_m]

NO garden hoses; use a drinking water quality hose. I'll bump up a recent thread...

[Catherine12]

I second the above! If you look at the labels on garden hoses they mention birth defects, etc. and tell pregnant women to wash hands after using them. They also say not to drink the water out of them. I would definitely not want to use a garden hose for a birthing tub! Our mws loaned us a food grade hose with our tub.

[prettypixels]

Thank you for the heads up about the foodgrade hose and dangers of garden hoses! I swear it was somewhere here that I heard to use a *new* garden hose, so hopefully some other folks will read this as well