tell me about water births

[klevmomma]

Not to hijack, but hohaas - my 4th baby was born at the same BC you went to, and she had the same issue with the hearing test :-)

[hohaas]

Originally Posted by klevmomma Not to hijack, but hohaas - my 4th baby was born at the same BC you went to, and she had the same issue with the hearing test :-)

Well, that's interesting! did you have a water birth? When did you have your 4th?

[RachelFlores]

I delivered my third baby three weeks ago and while it was not a water birth, I did labor in the water till I was fully dialated. If I have any other children, I will be doing the same thing. The relief was amazing and immediate as soon as I got in the water. I went from not feeling any break in my contractions to having pain free periods between them to rest. All of my births have been unmedicated and this was the easiest and quickest birth I've had so far. I don't think it was only due to laboring in water, but I'm sure that helped. The hardest part of my labor was getting out to be checked and then to push, but due to the size of my babies (all 9+ lbs) my midwife wanted to have more control over the actual birthing than me pushing in the water would have allowed her. I would not hesitate to reccomend a water birth or at least laboring in water to anyone, it was awsome.

[Squig'sMumMum]

Water helped tremendously. I loved that tub. Pain was still there, but I could tolerate it (whereas when they made me get out I was in excruciating pain, I have long prodromal labour (3-4 days), followed by long active labour(14+ hours), because my uterus and cervix are tilted and I have to wait for it to come around >_<).

Healing- I felt GREAT. The first 2 days after birth I was a bit sore, but after that? I felt perfect, like I hadn't just pushed out a baby. After DD1's hospital birth and a long and painful/uncomfortable recovery it was a shock to feel so good. I attribute it to a combo of the water and of using comfrey soaked pads and comfrey in a peri bottle afterwards

DD2 was 8 days late by ultrasound date (11 days late if you went by my LMP), but I had a homebirth, so they really didn't care if I went late. Had nothing to do with the waterbirth.

[KLeeCW]

Like a pp, I did a water labor, but got out of the pool for the birth. For DD's home birth, I labored outside of the pool for awhile. When contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart and I was needing to really breathe through them, I got in the pool with DH and alternated between leaning over the edge of the pool and relaxing with DH sitting behind me putting pressure on my hips/back. Eventually my back labor got to be a bit too intense and I couldn't find a comfortable position in the pool. I got out of the pool and delivered on my side in bed. I really enjoyed having the pool and would have it again. I used a fishy pool, so the cost wasn't a big deal. If you are at a birth center or hospital you'll likely have a water option there. If you are home, you'll need to make sure you have all the supplies for filling and emptying the pool, a spot for the pool, and test filling and emptying the pool before you go into labor.

With my DS I delivered in the hospital with an epi. The epi didn't take well. I honestly felt more pain with DS's birth, tore way worse, and had an awful recovery. With DD, it was painful, but bearable. I only had a small tear and the midwives actually had to tell me to sit down because I was feeling so good. Like a pp said, the most important thing is laboring on your own body's cues rather than on someone else's schedule.

[7arrows4God]

Originally Posted by klevmomma My first birth was hospital, epi, episiotomy, etc. Numbers 2 and 3 were natural, but not water births. I delivered both of them in the shower. Numbers 4 and 5 were both water births. My recover with #1 was unpleasant. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck the day after he was born. My recovery with the others was light years better. For some of them, I felt better after they were born than I did my last week of pregnancy. It is a shocking difference, really. Like PP said, I primarily attribute it to pushing only when my body wants to, rather than when a monitor, nurse, or whatever tells you to. Yes, you still feel pain with a water birth. But, hydrotherapy is amazing. With #2, when I got in the shower, I was shocked at the reduction in my pain. I kept asking my midwife if I was still in labor because I felt about a million times better. To me, it was better relief than the epi with #1 - I could still move and control my body, so didn't have the drawbacks of the epi, but the pain relief was just as good for me. Here's the other benefit. If you plan for a natural delivery, water birth or otherwise, you can always change your mind, right? It's not all or nothing. Go for it and try it, and if you are unhappy, you aren't going to be any worse off for having tried :-)

Amy, pm you on your pool birth vs shower births. All my home births have been pool which I love but because of living situation right now considering just the shower and if just asich relief.

Sorry do not want to completely high jack thread. Very curious.