What to wear in water birth??

[LPF]

Now I'm sure when you are in the throws of labour - you don't really care what you look like! but when I think about it now - I do care!

I don't really want to wear just a bikini/tankini top with my bottom half totally on show - feel like a bit of dignitiy would be nice but it seems unrealistic to wear something long like a t-shirt.....

What are your suggestions??

 

[bubbles]

When in the pool with DS I was completely naked, didn't bother me one bit. This time, although I'm not planning to birth in the pool I will be in there for alot of my labour and will wear a crop top type bra and some pants until I am ready to get out for delivery

 

[Farie]

I'm planning on being pretty active until about 7cm then head into the pool, I was thinking I'd grab one of DH's old shirts for the most part and be naked once past transition.

 

[trumpetbum]

Tankini with skirted bottoms, I care up to a point so until then being covered helps me relax.

 

[JenStar1976]

I wore nice baggy pyjamas during my labour (January baby) with a vest top underneath which I stripped down to when I got into the pool at home:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3395533&l=2a70d7d171&id=656443239

 

[lisab4939]

I had a water birth in April at hospital and was worried about clothes too. Was advised not to wear anything loose. Apparently it traps the water and can make you quite cold. I packed a bikini top, loose t-shirts etc and ended up in my bra with nothing else. My labour went pretty quick (2 - 8 cms in 15 minutes) and dignity was the last thing on my mind, ha ha ha.

 

[kiwimama]

I had a birthing nightie I bought to birth in but at some stage it just became annoying sticking to me so it came off sometime, I birthed completely starkers!
This time I'll hopefully be having a water birth and will probably wear my bikini top and nothing else. I mean, you can't wear anything on your bottom half anyway!

 

[MrsMouse]

why not look up the birthing wrap from national childbith trust??

sounds like it would suit what you want it for

personally once i got in the pool at 4cm i was too hot to wear anything

 

[rwhite]

I wore a bikini top, it's okay because being in the water blurs everything down there quite a bit anyway Nobody saw anything crystal clear hehe xx To be honest I think a lot of people get to the point where they really don't care who sees what, I was a bit like that! All the best

 

[disneyfan1984]

I had packed a tankini top because I had wanted to labour in the tub (no water births here), but everything went so fast, I never made it!

 

[Pixxie]

It'll be a bikini top for me xxx

 

[Sommerfugl]

I wore a sort of longish vest top thing. It just happened to be what I grabbed to wear when I went to the hospital, and I didn't want to strip down/couldn't be bothered to take it off.
Like has been said, in the pool, nobody can really see lots under the water. Though, the midwives did often need to be able to see below, to check progress, so it's a good idea to be able to easily 'get access'!

Next time, I'll probably go with a bikini top; I know I'll be less bothered about what people see, and the vest top did get quite clingy and was tough to take off when I was trying to get out of the pool.

 

[Chellepot]

I am hoping to have a water birth and was wondering myself what to do because my friend is going to be my secondary birthing partner and although I love her dearly I've never gotten totally naked in front of her (my hubby will be there as my birthing partner too but I know he will probably hit the deck - he doesn't do those kind of things very well). The thing is, if I am wearing something like a tankini for example and baby starts coming quickly what if I don't have the time/opportunity to get it off and I lose the immediate skin to skin I want as soon as the baby is delivered. I don't know if maintaining my dignity in front of my friend is worth the risk of losing the intimacies of birth I want to experience - ultimately I think after initial the awkwardness neither of us will care anyway. I don't care about the midwives though, they've seen it all lol.