 Made
in water
Mum of four, Carine was worried about the pain of labour before her
first birth but also felt that giving birth without feeling anything seemed
strange. So, birth in water seemed to offer the most effective natural
pain relief. Her story illustrates how, with a little persistence and
good luck, you can have the kind of birth you want.
I decided to write "Birthing pool" in my birth
plan
When I got pregnant with my first son, like most first time mums I started
to worry about labour pain. All my friends had chosen epidurals and were
advising me to do so as nowadays there is no need to experience childbirth
pain.
Although the idea of a painful labour was obviously not very appealing
giving birth without feeling anything seemed strange. I was actually very
curious about knowing what it was like. After reading that water was considered
as the most effective natural pain relief, I decided to write "Birthing
pool" in my birth plan. The community midwife informed us that there was
only one pool at our hospital so it may not be available and unfortunately
this happened on the big day.
I was a bit disappointed, but was offered to use the bath instead which
I gladly accepted. The relief was immediate and my labour progressed steadily.
After all, may be birth was not supposed to be so painful…. little did
I know that I would end up giving birth 18 hours later under an epidural.
I was asked to leave the bath
Due to shortage of staff I was asked to leave the bath in the middle
of hard labour and put under monitor as midwife could not be present all
the time. On my back and unable to move, the pain quickly became unbearable.
From that moment it was the usual cascade of event which leaded to an
epidural and a very difficult birth. It took more than 12 hour for my
cervix to dilate from 7 to 10cm.
The whole experience actually confirmed my belief that pain was manageable
especially with the help of warm water and that only the wrong environment
and wrong people around me had made it unnecessary more painful that it
was supposed to be.
My second attempt at a waterbirth
 The
birth of my second boy could not have been more different. Leaving now
in SE London in an area where midwives are really pro homebirth and waterbirth,
I was at first offered a home birth. At the time we were just back from
a long trip in Australasia and sharing a flat with a friend so home birthing
was not an option and I hoped again for a waterbirth in hospital. My contractions
started on my due date and luckily this time the birthing pool was available.
I had the same midwife through the whole labour and as no one asked me
to leave the pool in the middle of it, it took only two and a half hours
to deliver my baby underwater. No one needed to order me how and when
to push, I could feel my whole body working and helping my baby moving
down the birth canal. The burning sensation as his head crowned was overwhelming
but staying in total control made the experience much more enjoyable than
giving birth under the effect of the epidural.
I really appreciated the privacy that the birthing pool gave me and unlike
my first birth I felt completely relaxed about pushing the baby out without
anyone staring at my bits. Not being laid on my back with my leg up also
meant that I could see my baby being born. Well "once a waterbirth always
a waterbirth", I went on to have two more baby girls both born at home
in La Bassine Birthing pool that I had the chance to design myself.
Third and fourth time lucky!
The birth of my second daughter Carlita born this September, really make
me appreciate the benefit of labouring in water once again. I had suffered
from severe SPD during the last two months of my pregnancy and my movement
were really limited. I don't think I will have coped with the pain if
I had to be on dry land or worst lying on a bed. When the contraction
started I was very grateful that this baby seems decided to come early
as I was only 38 weeks. It was 4pm; the boys were back from school and
playing in the garden. The contractions quickly intensified and at 6 pm
I called the hospital. The midwife arrived half hour later and after I
put my little girl in bed, she decided to check how far I was. Hooray,
I reached the magical 5 cm which meant that we could start filling the
pool.
The boys help daddy to set up the pool (see picture below) and checked
the water temperature, it took just 20 minutes for the pool to be ready
and by 7pm I was in. Not suffering anymore pain in my pelvis thanks to
the buoyancy effect, I could now concentrate on the contractions; breathing
and choosing whatever position felt comfortable. The boys kept busy by
covering the house with extra absorbent pamper mat and then sat very calmly
next to the pool, watching carefully through the transparent wall as they
did not want to miss the baby coming out. Eventually, 1h30 later, they
got bored and decided to go to bed asking to be wake up when the baby
would be here. I was feeling so relaxed myself that it was difficult to
believe that I was in active labour. Finally I decided to get out of the
pool to get things moving. Well only 10 minutes out of the pool, and I
was screaming to be helped back into it. The contractions were following
odd patterns very close for few minutes and then space out and again close.
Although the pain was really sharp it never last for long and I found
this labour to be the easiest of all four!
At 10pm I could feel the baby making her way down, the contractions got
very intense and painful, I knew I was about to give birth. The pushing
stage proved to be much harder than the labour itself. Finally after three
big pushes and a very loud noise I managed to get the baby's head out.
I touched her head waiting for the next contraction to push the rest of
her body out, but nothing seemed to happen. After 2-3 minutes, the midwives
asked me to push even though I had no contraction. I tried but with no
much success so they asked my husband to help me stand out and the shift
of position and the help of the midwife hand, her body finally slide out.
A beautiful baby girl weighting 4kg, my biggest delivery … no wonder she
was so hard to push out.
What I love about homebirth
 While
we were both being checked by the midwives, daddy started to empty the
pool. Although we were supposed to get a water pump this time, the idea
got lost somewhere and DH used the old fashion bucket like he did for
our first daughter. I suspect that he actually enjoys this bit, where
he can at last use its man strength. Fortunately the pool contains only
400 litres and after one hour and 80 buckets of water the job was done.
It was now passed midnight and the midwives decided it was time to leave.
I enjoyed my favourite hot chocolate with French bread and home made Jam
before going to sleep in my own bed with this new bundle of joy attached
to my breast. That is what I love about homebirth.
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