Waterbirth

Why Waterbirth?

Enlightened Birth Midwifery service offers waterbirth to all of our clients. Women the world over have used water in birth. In fact, in England, the House of Commons Health Committee on Maternity Services has recommended that all hospitals provide birthing pool facilities for laboring women.

Thousands of women will attest that water during labor relieves pain, helps them relax, and makes everything more manageable.

Why Is Water So Great?

Water Baby

It eases the pain. Warm water is so effective in reducing the pain of labor that many midwives refer to it as “the home birth epidural.” Water encourages the production of endorphins, nature’s own painkillers. Endorphins produce a sense of well-being which helps you tolerate the physical pain and stops you from feeling overwhelmed by the experience. As one mother said,

When I got into the water, it made such a difference. It really did ease the pain. I still felt pain, but it was different. The pain had diffused. It wasn’t so concentrated, it felt better. The water helped me to separate the pain from the fear, and enabled me to feel more in control.

It helps you relax. Warm water relaxes you and your muscles, and relaxation is the key to lessening pain and having a great birth experience. Because water relaxes pelvic floor muscles, it is easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal, which may shorten labor.

It frees you from gravity and allows you to adopt the best laboring position. Midwives and enlightened obstetricians through the ages have recognizes that “mother knows best” when it comes to finding the least painful and most effective positions for labor. The sheer bulkiness of being nine months pregnant makes it awkward to experiment with different positions on dry land. Water offers a respite from gravity and makes it easier to move and change positions. Your muscles don’t have to support your body so it is less tiring and easier to stay in a comfortable position.

It reduces the chance of fetal distress. The key to avoiding fetal distress is ensuring that plenty of oxygen gets to the uterus. Laboring in water helps to maximize the oxygenated blood supply to the uterus in several ways:

If the water is deep enough, the muscles which normally maintain posture against gravity don’t have to work so hard so the don’t need so much oxygenated blood. Therefore more oxygen is available for the uterus.
The water’s buoyancy enables you to lie down without the weight of the pregnant uterus obstructing the heart’s blood vessels. This results in blood flowing more freely into the uterus.
As the water is the same temperature as the body, less energy and oxygen is needed to maintain body temperature and more is available for the uterus.
The relaxing effect of the water results in fewer stress hormones being produced and less blood is diverted to “fight or flight” muscles, making more blood available to the uterus.

Waterbirth

“Won’t the baby drown?” No. Babies have chemo receptors around their mouth which initiate the normal breathing response at birth. These chemo receptors are only activated by contact with air. Even with a delay between the birth of the head and the body, the baby will not breathe while under water. In addition, the umbilical cord is still supplying all the oxygen the baby needs, just as nature intended.