Home water birth questions - help please!

[cath_x]

Well, I'm a week away from my due date, my first baby, feeling terribly excited and positive about my planned home birth. We've got a pool now, it's a regular birth pool in a box. Have inflated it, and tried out the hot water situation (by filling 4 baths full to check the quantity of hot water we can get and how long it takes to fill, haven't actually filled the pool itself yet).

I have a couple of questions though, would really appreciate some help on these, even though they're probably a bit daft

Firstly, is it really necessary to have a full trial of the pool - ie fill it with hot water and then drain it afterwards? If so, do I really have to use the liner, then throw it away and buy another one for the actual birth? Seems a bit mad to do that, but that's what they suggest.

Secondly, the pool came with some non-slip mats and a waterproof sheet. Would I put down the non-slip mats, then the sheet, then the pool on top of these? If I want to add extra padding/insulation in the form of a blanket or quilt underneath the pool, should this go under or on top of the non-slip/waterproof stuff? The flooring in the room I'm using for the pool is engineered oak wood flooring if that makes any difference?

Thirdly, how essential is some kind of cover for the pool? Would it be worth me placing a quick order for one of their budget covers? And when would it be wise to fill the pool - I know this is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question

Finally, what is the possibility that the heat/steam/moisture from the pool might somehow damage the room it's in!? I know this sounds silly, but we've only just finished the room, a garage conversion, and it's fairly newly plastered and painted, with new built in MDF painted cupboards, and new wood flooring. Is there any possiblilty some of that might get damaged by having 650l of warm-hot water in it for hours? Anyone else come across moisture damage of any sort from a birth pool?

Ok - so sorry for the million and one questions, but if you could kindly put my mind at rest with some of them, I'll go back to relaxing and preparing to welcome the new arrival

 

[Janiepops]

Heyyyyy, we never had a full trial of our pool, just inflated it to see how it was done, as long as you know how the hoses, pump etc work, and the liner goes on really easily too anyways. Even if you did do a trial run, I would put the liner in, then clean it out with some milton fluid afterwards. This is what we did when it was filled up on a false alarm lol
We just put the pool on top of the waterproof mat. The weight from the water would stop it from slipping anyways, I used that mat for getting in/out. I don't think using anything underneath it would help insulation-wise, the floor is inflated so this helps.
We never bothered with a cover, and the pool stayed warm for HOURS! Keep the hose in and top up if you need to. Besides, you'll not want it as warm to start anyways, so will be topping up the heat as you go.
I had my pool right next to the walls in the corner of the room and there was no damage at all. don't think it's hot enough for steam if you have the heating on the room too.
Hope this helps a wee bit! And hope you have the perfect home/water birth xx

 

[JenStar1976]

We never filled the pool beforehand either as we have a new on-demand boiler and, like you, we knew how long it took to fill our bath and couple of times. We inflated it about a week before and kept it inflated as it took about 40 minutes in total. For us it was a good job we had inflated it because I had a really quick labour and was only in the pool for 20 minutes - just in time to deliver Alex!! I also put an extra duvet underneath for extra padding, although we didn't really need it as the pool had an inflatable floor. Like Janiepops says, the weight of the pool with the water in stops anything slipping about, so if you want extra layers, then just make sure the waterproof one ends up being on the top.

I didn't buy the lid, but went to B&Q and bought some thick bubble wrap for a couple of quid and cut it to size to lay over the top (we didn't end up using it obviously!!). xx

 

[mrsmo7]

Hello i had my 3rd home/water birth last week and i would say no you don't need to have a full trial run with the pool but if you do i wouldn't use the liner. keep it sterile for the birth.
you don't need extra padding under the pool as the blow up bottom is padded enough and we just put the waterproof sheet under it for me to step out onto. you only need to put something on the top i.e a towel if it gets slippy but this didn't happen.
and we didn't have a cover i would say when you fill it make it too hot as it is easier to cool it down than warm it up! but as long as you have a bucket to take water out and add hot water you will be fine.

We had the pool in the courner of the living room an you wouldn't know it had been there.

 

[cath_x]

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.

Now I just have to hope that she decides to come fairly soon, had an antenatal appointment yesterday where there were already suggestions of induction because little one is head down, but not engaged yet at 39 weeks

Hope I don't end up with a fight on my hands to get my home birth