Water birth in birthing centre

[louise2710]

I was just wondering if any of you knew at what stage of your labour you get in the pool? I'm sure i read somewhere yesterday that you had to be around 6cm. Is this correct? Seems like a long wait

 

[lynnikins]

it depends on the mw's most want you at 4 cm , best thing is to stay at home as long as possible to get the chance of getting in soon after you arrive

 

[Shiv]

Midwives want you to be in active labour before getting into the pool (anywhere between 4 and 6cm depending on the midwife) to ensure that the warm water doesn't halt your labour.

Remember that water is great at relieving pain, but if you get in early then you may not feel the benefit of teh pain relief when you really need it in the later stages as the pain relieving nature will have worn off, so best to leave it as long as you can.

 

[louise2710]

ah so its not a good idea to use a bath as pain relief when still at home then? God I am worryingly clueless

 

[Shiv]

A bath can be great for pain relief, but I do beleive (and i am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) that it *can* slow down contractions etc in some cases.

 

[Greta Chick]

Hi

I agree with the others that getting into a pool/bath CAN slow labour down if you're not in really active labour. BUT it can speed things up as well, I am living proof of that lol.

With DD1 I laboured at home as long as I could before I wanted to know if something was happening or not. So we went to the birth centre where I was 5-6cm. I stayed on dry land for a while as I was coping absolutely fine, rocking side to side and breathing through the cpntractions, then I got into the pool. As soon as I did so, my contractions revved up and became almost on top of each other. I was only in the pool 5 minutes then my body started pushing of it's own accord. I had no control whatsoever, my body did everything itself. After 15 minutes my baby was born into the pool and I brought her up and out of the water into my arms.

If the birth centre had been open when I went into labour with DD2 I was planning on going there earlier on and getting into the pool sooner than I did with DD1 as I really didn't get any benefit from it at all. There was no relief being in the pool at all and I half wish I'd stayed on dry land but I was so desperate for a waterbirth. If I'd got in sooner I'm sure I'd have had some benefit from being in the water though.

xx

 

[madasa]

I was a thin and stretchy 4-5ish when I got in. But I was at home, so if I WANTED to get in, there wasn' a lot she could do about it.

 

[chysantheMUM]

I have to admit that I find this quite confusing. I too have heard that you shouldn't get into the birthing pool till you are about 5cm because before that stage it is likely to slow down contractions / labour. The reason I find that confusing is because I have also read / heard that it is helpful to have a bath during the early stage of labour to ease the pain / contractions. But does that mean that by getting in the bath in the early stage, its actually prolonging labour because the reason that it is easing the pain, is because it is slowing the contractions I'm not sure thats what I'm hoping to achieve, surely a shorter labour would be better?

 

[Mervs Mum]

They use the 5cm 'rule' to make sure they get you in and out of the pool in the shortest possible time ie. Staffing/costing reasons primarily and more pertinent to hospital/birth centre birth than home. In theory if you get in the pool in good established labour, you should have your baby within 2 hours. Buy when you're at home in early labour and you'd be using baths as an early comfort measure, why not wallow in the pool if you have one?! No one else needs it and sometimes if you're having a long crappy early/latent phase, it can be enough to relax you so that early labour stops....well if you're knackered that might be a good thing! The difference between the pool and bath in early labour is that because the bath isn't as deep and you're not as submerged, it doesn't relax you quite as much and so generally won't slow down early labour in the way that a pool may.

 

[madasa]

^ ^ ^ Took words out of my.... keyboard.... re: time, cost and the bath not being as big and deep as your average ub