[JessJoy]

Hi gals! I'm having my first in late August or early September and I've chosen to waterbirth. I'll be borrowing a birthing pool from a friend who tried it unsuccessfully.

Anyway, I was wanting to hear from anyone who has had a UC waterbirth. What suggestions do you have?
What would you do differently?
What do want to tell other women about water birthing?

I really appreciate all of your imput!

Jess

 

[Famatigia]

Actually I hated the water and couldn't wait to get out of it!

My sister did say it helped me relax, however I don't think so!

Happy Birthing!

:

 

[indigolilybear]

I loved water w/all three babes (3 HB's, 2 freebirths)

My suggestions:
have the pool set up and ready...I missed using it w/our second cuz he came too fast but I really really wanted it!

have a tripod (if filming) set up nearby. We got some neat film of babe three being born.

I can't really think of anything else that would be specific to freebirth. I really liked it, liked that it helps when there are not many hands nearby.

I wouldn't do anything differently and as for what I tell women, I simply say USE IT!! I loved it.
HTH

 

[Mamaperk]

I had a UC Waterbirth two yrs ago. I loved the water ... literally rushed back to the blow up pool after using the bathroom, because it brought such relief.

Have something read to scoop solids - a fish net or something with a little trash can and liner nearby.

Some people do a 'test run' to be sure the pool will fit in the room, and also to see how long it takes to blow up and fill. We blew it up a couple of days before the birth but didn't actually fit it until the morning I went in labor.

Something I would be mindful of ... I had the pool in a place that was 'perfect' but when I left the room and my husband and son started filling it, they had moved it over a bit which blocked the pathway to the rest of the room, causing everyone to have to climb over the bed to get on the other side. Not a huge deal, but it's definitely something I'll be mindful next time around because if I had wanted to get to the other side of my bedroom, I doubt I'd have wanted to crawl across the king size bed! LOL!

We used a fill and drain syphen that was purchased from the Aquarium section at Petsmart ... it worked well to fill the pool, and then drain/fill as time passed and I needed warmer water in labor ... but it got clogged or something and we ended up borrowing a submersible pump from our neighbor to drain it after the birth. My husband said this time, he'll have the sub. pump ready just in case - it was easy and fast, and he drained the water out the bedroom window into the front lawn, instead of the kitchen sink.

I was in a blow up pool and found it difficult to really get my bearings when pushing in the water. It felt so good to be in there, I kept getting back in ... but am thinking of a way to place the pool near a solid wall or something that I can really grab onto if I need to hold something while pushing. There was something about being 'weightless' in the water pushing at the same time that seemed counterproductive ... If I had something solid to grab, I feel my pushing would have been more productive and the birth wouldn't have taken quite as long. Maybe I'll have Dh fasten some handles into the wall or floor. LOL! :LOL

... I'm sure we'll figure out something.

Have lots of towels ready ... some fell into the pool but we had plenty more ready to warm baby when he was born.

If I think of anything else, I'll post. That's all I can come up with for now.

 

[JessJoy]

THanks IGLB, Mamaperk and Fam...

Fam, why did you hate the water?

Mamaperk, your suggestions were exactly what I'm looking for. I plan on using a big plastic tub that a friend got at a feed supply store. It's definitely solid enough to hold onto. I hadn't thought about the weightlessness possibly being counter productive to pushing. The water birth pictures I've seen were in very shallow water. Perhaps that's why! How long was your birth?

I will definitely need to get more towels...I don't want to stain up the nice ones we already have. I'm thinking of going to a thrift store for them. I'm going to place the tub in our dining room downstairs and fold away our gateleg dining room tableand use it to hold supplies. It will be right next to the window which looks out over our hose hook up. It's also right next to the kitchen. I think the test run is definitely in order!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jess

 

[cathicog]

This would also be a good question to ask on www.birthjunkie.com, a UC forum. You would get lots of answers there, as well! Remind me to let you see the Korea birth presentation I made back in May. It was a home waterbirth, with a deep blowup kiddie pool...she had the baby in the dining room, and we moved the dr table out of the way, and it was great. You might want to have extra blankets or padding underneath the pool for comfort.

 

[Mamaperk]

Mamaperk, your suggestions were exactly what I'm looking for. I plan on using a big plastic tub that a friend got at a feed supply store. It's definitely solid enough to hold onto. I hadn't thought about the weightlessness possibly being counter productive to pushing. The water birth pictures I've seen were in very shallow water. Perhaps that's why! How long was your birth?
>>>>

I woke up with a contraction around 5:30 am ... got into the birth pool to relax around 1 or 1:30 and baby was born just after 5pm. Laboring that morning was easy labor ... and I didn't really start needing to focus until about 3:30pm, at which point I needed to be alone (well, DH was asleep on the bed) ... you can read the birth story at http://www.christianuc.com/uc/birth_...herrydylan.php or http://ucbirth.com/ucstories/dylan.html.

So I guess it was less than 12 hrs.

 

[tweetypie]

My dd was born 4 wks ago, an uc waterbirth - although it was unintentional. My mw didn't get here fast enough. (She said later she took her time because it didn't sound like my labor was very intese yet - and being my 3rd, etc.) Anyway, we had planned a home waterbirth with a pool, and had quilted moving blankets to put underneath to add padding, since we have tile throughout the house. We had a couple towels in the dryer being warmed, just because warm towels are always nicer after a bath, i think.

Definitely time how long it takes to fill the pool beforehand, because you never know how fast labor is going to be. I got in the bathtub to relax while dh got the pool set up, but my labor sped up so much he didn't have time. His famous last words were "You aren't going to have this baby in 20 minutes, so relax."

I was too chicken to plan a uc wb, but knowing what i know now...i wish i had planned that choice instead. I would've saved me a couple $$$$.

 

[Zamber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweetypie I was too chicken to plan a uc wb, but knowing what i know now...i wish i had planned that choice instead. I would've saved me a couple $$$$.

Hey, it happens. Now you know what you can do if you choose to have another baby.

Congratulations on your UC!!!!!!