Waterbirth Question

michellepeanut

Another question for you lovely ladies:

I bought one of those little three ring pools that's supposed to be good for waterbirths but I'm just not sure about it being able to support me in different positions during labour and I think it would be easier to clean out/empty a real bathtub. Our option 2 is our basement bathroom which is close to the room that I would use for the birth (and the furthest bathroom from our daughter's room), the existing tub is pretty shallow and narrow but we've been planning to renovate it - would now be a good time to go ahead and renovate and put in a wider deeper tub and some extra body sprayers/better shower head for labour/delivery? What's your experience?

malisaann

There is no way I could have done water birth in our house's tub. It's super shallow and narrow and I couldn't submerge in it.

If you want water birth at home, I'd get the deepest, widest tub you can! You don't want to be cold or have half your belly out of water.

cwm11985

I didn't have a water birth (my hospital doesn't allow it) but did labor in the tub for hours.  I agree with pp, you'll want a deep and wide tub.

rooftop

Ditto PPs. You are gonna want the depth and the ability to rewarm the water if labor goes longer than expected. A lot of the relief comes from the buoyancy and the warmth so if you can swing the renovation before the birth that will be your ideal choice. good luck!