Home Water Birth Question

[taranbabyjayden]

I have a simple question... We are not preggo yet, and I would love to do a water birth here at home, since none of our birthing centers have water births here... And I dont like hopsitals after DS#1 birth..

So my question... What kind of water do you put into the pool????? We have a nice hot tub now outside, and of course its treated now with salt water, but I would take all that out and cycle it through and make sure we had fresh water before... But I had wondered do you do anything else to the water????

Thanks...

[LianneM]

We just used our regular city water. DS was born in a fishy pool, so it wasn't like there was a pump or filter or anything.

[Marlet]

I recently gave birth in my bathtub and we just used the plain ol tap water. The tub was clean and we know where we are getting our water from so it wasn't even a concern for us.

[taranbabyjayden]

Ok so basically tap water is ok.. good thing to know.. I had heard from someone (a male) not educated at all on birthing.. that tap was bad LOL, I had thought nah its ok...

As for the hot tub outside... Yeah it would probably be a PITA to clean afterwards..

This fishy tub, thing, does anyone have a linkie to it, so I can check it out to see if it is something we may want to invest in...

We could use our bath tub, but its quiet small, and I just dont see me being able to get comfy in it.. Though I did labor alot in it with DS #1 and it made contractions stop.. So maybe with future pregnancy and labor the tub would be a good thing.. And easy to clean??

[Singfourever@yahoo]

tapwater here too. not sure about saltwater.

[Marlet]

Here you go!

I had actually bought a version of the ones there for 5 bucks at our local grocery store (summer sale). In the end it got popped and we moved to where we had a favulous tub. My favorite part? I pulled the plug when I got out and clean up was done.

[lachingona1]

We just used tap water in a birthing tub. I would have rather it been filtered water though.

[taranbabyjayden]

Great!! Thanks ladies... You are giving out much needed info...

I hope to get preggers in November or December this year, and I have been doing research on Midwives, UC, and water birthing.. Not sure what I can get DH to agree on... I think he knows I dont want a hospital birth... So all the info I can get to give him is better!!!

Thank you ladies..!!!

[Marlet]

If you want any info on a UC waterbirth or want to talk about it period feel free to pm me.

[Jilian]

We used tap water (well water) in the fishy pool, but I ended up getting out of the pool while DS was crowning for some strange reason so he was not actually born in the water. He was born about 5 seconds after I got out

[Saarland]

Why not saltwater? I would love to give birth in saltwater. A lot of women give birth in the ocean and the seem to "heal" faster... I actually have problem with our tap water. I cannot use it. I cannot even take a shower. I don't know. Maybe it is because I am not from the States and I am not used to that stuff they put in the water here. To me the water smells like a swimming pool. When we first came here, I washed my hair and brushed my teeth with Evian!

I noticed that my skin is not able to deal with the tap water we have here and I hate the smell anyway! uah :-(

But if you never have problems with the tap water, I do not see why you should not use it for the birth.

Ooo. about the saltwater. My friends in Germany who gave birth at home in the pool actually added salt to the water... They used what we call Himalayasalt... No clue how it is called here. I might use that as well, because they were so happy with it.

Good luck!

[Kitten]

Saarland, I just wanted to say that if the chlorine in the water here bothers you, you can get water filters for your shower head to remove the chlorine.

[Saarland]

Hey Kitten,

o, now we have filters. Without them I could not take a shower. But when we first came here we lived in the Army lodging...no filters. And when we rented the house we had the same problem... so I had to use the Evian. With the filters now it is easier. At least the water does not stink anymore.

Still, I do not use it for cooking. I know, if it is filtered it should be okay, but I just cannot use it.

[Pilgrim]

I wouldn't have given the tap water a second thought, except our DD is exceptionally sensitive to it and she gets very itchy and rashy in plain tap water. What we do for her is use this device called a "Crystal Ball." It's basically a ball with some carbon inside that removes the chlorine. You can google for them, I think there are several versions out there. Try googling "bath ball water filter" or something like that.

Anyway, I intend to have one floating around in my waterbirth tub for at least an hour or two. I'll plop it in as I'm filling the tub.

And, as someone else already mentioned, a shower-head filter is also a good option if you are birthing in your own tub in the bathroom.