OB/Water birth question

[lindsiinc]

I have had the same OB with my first 2 babies, my second I had naturally without the epidural (a huge thing where I live) and decided I will do the same with this baby. I have looked into water birth and would love to try it but to do so I have to go to a different OB. I love my doctor that I had for my first 2 pregnancies but at the same time I'd love to try the water birth and not being in such a hospital setting. So question is! What would you do? Stick with the OB that you already have and know you like but doesn't offer water birth or go to the new one (the only one locally that offers water birth) and chance not liking them?

 

[DolceBella]

If you have your heart set on a different birth experience this time, then I would switch. I had to do the same thing before. My second LO was an amazing waterbirth and I wouldn't change it for anything!

 

[Mrs HM]

Here in the UK we don't get to pick a doctor and I've never seen the same doctor twice in two different pregnancies. We just take the team that are on duty when we go into labour! So it would follow that personally I'd not be concerned about switching doctors to have the birth I want.

I had a water birth with #2 and I'd highly recommend it. The link to my birth story is in my signature if you want to read about it!

Good luck with your decision

 

[shinona]

It depends how easily you could switch back if you didn't like the new ob.

 

[Teri7489]

Are you guaranteed to get the water birth if you switch? I'm in Scotland and there are only two pools in our labour department, which you can obviously only get if they are free at the time. If you can deff get it then why not. I really wanted a water birth but got told i was too fat :-/ lol. xxx

 

[MindUtopia]

I would definitely switch. You can interview the new doctor(s) ahead of time and see if you like them, but personally I'd never see a doctor who said I couldn't do something if it's what I wanted to do. It's your choice, not theirs and you deserve to have someone who supports you in what you feel is right for you. I know being in the UK it's different (though I'm American, so I totally understand how it works there too and know it can be frustrating navigating the system), but I can't even get my head around a provider saying as a blanket statement that they don't allow a certain type of birth. We have complete choice here, regardless of who attends your birth, even if they advise against something. I would switch. Even if you decide not to have a water birth, you'll be with someone who is more likely to support you in your birth choices.

 

[Feronia]

I would switch for sure. (Also, water births are amazing!)

I actually recently did a qualitative study on water births as part of a class, and out of the 34 people I interviewed, not one of them was able to birth in the water in hospital (even though they all planned to). Only the home birth mamas were able to actually birth in the pool, so if birthing in the pool and not only labouring in water is important to you, consider that you might be asked to leave the tub when you get to the second stage.

Of course, this is only in my area (which is really liberal and generally pro water birth), but I assume it happens often in hospital settings.

 

[CaT1285]

I had a water birth in the hospital with my first and I highly recommend it (the water, not necessarily the hospital). But I had a midwife, not an OB, and she was very supportive of my desire to have an unmedicated water birth. Some OBs are not as supportive of that. Make sure you know what you're signing up for and that the OB you're going with will in fact let you give birth in the tub. They should be willing to support you in birthing however you choose to.

With my second, my midwife has moved to a different hospital that only has one birthing tub. So I'm in a somewhat similar situation where I'm trying to decide if I should stick with her and risk not being able to use the one tub because it's not available, or switch to a birthing center where I will be guaranteed a tub.