# water births and wrinkly hands feet



## chichestermum

ok so it might seem like a ridiculous and hilarious title for a thread but i would really love to experience a water birth, but i hate my hands and feet getting wrinkly, its got worse over the years and now i have to put extra moisturising hand cream on my hands and feet before i even get in the shower to stop my skin from wrinkling up! getting in the bath is a whole different ordeal, i have to moisturise first and then et in the bath and if im planning on having a good soak i have to prop my feet and hands up on the edges of the bath so that they dont soak up all the water! even after short baths or showers and moisturising my hands always feel funny and i cant hold them together or even hold my DD or OH hands for a while.
so the point to the essay is... how bad was the wrinkling on hands/feet and did you even notice it through the pain/ having your new baby.
i would love to have a home birth but just dont know whether i could be in water for that long! I dont want to mess the midwives around by booking a water birthing room and then just using the bed, or worse just be in the pool for 10 mins and then all that water going to waste! 
Thankyou for your help in advance!
oh and feel free to LOL at this as i also find the whole thing ridiculous!


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## Bournefree

I don&#8217;t&#8217; know if you are in the UK or not&#8230; but first off&#8230;
I would say that in the UK &#8220;being booked&#8221; for water birth doesn&#8217;t mean that you will get one.. It will depend on how many pools there are in your Birthing Centre, or Midwifery Lead Unit and how many women there are in labour wanted to use them at the time. 

After my waterbirth, I didn&#8217;t have wrinkly fingers.. But then, my fingers were not submerged in water for the length of time that my body was - I was in the pool about 4 hours - I had hold of other things (my OH, drinks, G&A) so they didn&#8217;t get wrinkly, either did the rest of my body. - I also have to admit, that I didn&#8217;t have even one glance at my feet - but I&#8217;m guessing that they would have been quite wrinkly! So yes your right I didn&#8217;t care; but of course you might. 

Once in the water birth suite in a birthing centre, they are unlikely to move you to a birthing room without the pool, if you have started using the water (most would like you in established labour for this very reason, so you are not using the resource when another women could be), for the very reasons that you say; it would be inappropriate to &#8220;turn around&#8221; (I.e clean) the room in the time you are in established labour.

Also if you are open to the idea of a home birth - which is exactly the same (medically, with all the same equipment), as a birth centre, or MLU then the advantage is that you can get in and out of the pool as your please, as it will be set up in your own home (your not going to find anyone else in it.. At least I hope not! ;-)

How do you think your wrinkled skin effects you when balanced with your labour and birth? 
XxX


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## chichestermum

yea im in the uk, when i had DD my midwife had asked me early on if i wanted a water birth and told me that if there were no birthing pool rooms free i could ask to have a mobile pool set up in a normal delivery suite, im guessing the mobile pool was a blow up 1, as i couldn't see them having some pool set up on wheels to be wheeled in and out of rooms! haha!

hmm i never even thought that my hands wouldn't be in the water alot of course im going to want be holding the g&a for those big sore contractions! so maybe it wouldnt be so bad if i didnt look at my feet then maybe i wouldn't notice it! i think its a fear of wrinkly hands and feet now, as iv had it for so many years and its just got worse and worse, even the thought of wrinkly hands or feet sends chills up my spine, its ridiculous and im actually laughing at myself right now for shivering every now and again because im writing this and thinking about wrinkly feet and hands. Obv the joy of holding my newborn would most likely make me forget about even being in the bath never mind anything else! but if it didnt then i would feel awful for thinking of my feet/hands at such a beautiful moment!

I was debating on a home birth and im still 50/50 about it, my DD will be 3yr 3mnths when baby comes so will obviously be very interested in what was going on and would be old enough to keep herself occupied/watch quietly but still young enough not to be scarred for life for seeing mummy naked haha! but then i think about how much she hates to see anybody in pain and tends to get quite upset if anyone is hurting, so she might put that against the baby when it comes as she would know baby hurt mummy and even tho we would explain that that is what happens and its ok she would probably still be upset about it. plus we live in semi detached with VERY thin walls! haha we can hear the neighbours going up the stairs and even some phone calls so i dont think i would be able to look them in the eye again if they heared my whole labour! 

hehe ''your not going to find anyone else in it.. At least I hope not!'' that made me giggle! id probably find DD and the pooch in it! along with a few daisys, iggle piggles and of course mickey mouse! 

Oh my i have gone on a bit!
Thankyou so much for your advice! at least i still have 6 months to make up my mind!


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## chuck

Weird I was in a pool for a couple hours and to be honest i never noticed if I pruned or not!

I guess there were too many other sensations in my body that were far more powerful/intense for me to notice.


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## pimento1979

I was in and out of the pool quite often over 7 hours (to go the toilet) but didn't remember the sensation of being pruny.


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## chichestermum

hmm so it seems like no1 else has noticed being wrinkly,which makes me feel better! il have to have a good think about it!
either way itl be an all natural birth just like with DD i dont think we need any intervention unless their is complications, DD was born in hospital with just gas and air, it was lovely to be so aware of her coming into the world and to be able to bond quickly and take her home after just a few hours :)


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