Natural Birth
Birth pool upstairs?
I'm planning a home water birth and always thought the pool would go upstairs in the guest bedroom, next to the bed, in case I want to switch it up a bit. I'm not too wild about the idea of walking up and down the stairs since there are no bedrooms on the first floor.
DH is concerned about the weight of the filled birth tub upstairs and while I understand his concern, I'm not sure if it's 100% legit. Our house is pretty new so there shouldn't be any wood rot issues.
Should I just resign myself to the fact that everything will be done downstairs? Did any of you have the tub upstairs without any problems?
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Re: Birth pool upstairs?
My dad used to work in demolition and construction, now that I think about it. I'll try and give him a call tonight and see what his thoughts are.
bfp#4 3/19/2014 edd 12/1/2014 please let this be the one!
beta @ 5w0d = 12,026! u/s 4/22/14 @ 8w1d it's twins!
People have bathtubs on the second floors of their houses. Same goes for 2nd floor apartments. Your house is structurally sound enough to support the weight of a tub. If it weren't, every tub in the US would be on the first floor or in a basement.
BUT...
You just need to make sure that your tub has plastic under it/around it and extra towels to soak up water from you climbing in and out of it. Check very carefully for leaks in the plastic and make sure any water spills get mopped up quickly.
This was my thought too, but then I realized the floors beneath tubs are probably reinforced with more braces in anticipation of the extra weight, whereas my guest bedroom would not have the additional support.
I saw somewhere online that somebody said a filled tub weighs approx. 1250 lbs (though we're using a small tub, so probably less) which would be like having a dinner party with 7-8 people in one space around a table, and that doesn't seem absurd. But still, that weight is pretty distributed and not in one confined space for who knows how much time.
Ugh, why can't everything just be simple...
<a href="http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y161/putalittlepolkainyourdot/?action=view
Our first floor was actually on the second floor (garage and entry hallway on ground level). We had the aquadoula in our living room and the only sign that it was there after the birth was a temporary groove in the carpet.
DH who is a civil engineer said "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" when I asked him this question. I told him the weight the tub might be and he said "Absolutely it will work." Hope that helps!