Health Benefit of Water Birth
Learn about Water Birth, why many women choose it and what are its health benefits for both mother and child...
Being in water during labor can be very soothing
"Most
women report that once they settle into the warm water, their contractions
hurt less and they find little need for medication. With decreased pain
experienced, women feel less anxious and their adrenalin levels also decrease.
When that happens, the natural levels of oxytocin (the hormone which makes the uterus contract) and endorphins (natural pain relieving substance produced by the brain) increase."
Therefore, the labor usually progresses better and the Moms are more able to deal with their labor:
Their bodies become relatively weightless because of the water: and they can reposition their bodies more easily.
Because her muscles are supported in the water, she becomes less tense and can cope with the contractions easier.
Water birth provides mother with more relaxation:
Labour and water birth are usually offered to women with an uncomplicated pregnancy at termShe breathes easier and oxygenation for both the mother and baby improve.
Less energy is expended by the mother and she has more energy to deal with her contractions.
The ability to assume different positions allows for widening of the pelvis and easier descent of the baby.
The water also helps the tissues of the pelvic floor to relax and stretch more easily.
The incidence of tearing of the birth canal and the need for episiotomy decreases.
This means there's less post-partum discomfort for the mother".
Women with a variety of complications, including previous caesarean section, have also used birthing pools for labour and delivery without reported problems
There is little evidence to guide women with high-risk pregnancies in their decision about whether to use immersion in water. Immersion in water during the first stage of labour is less controversial than immersion either during the second or third stage. All women who labour or give birth in water should have appropriately skilled attendants.
Several small trials have compared immersion during labour with no immersion but no trials have compared the effects of being born in water with conventional birth. Many of the issues listed here are therefore theoretical and further research is required to reliably determine the real effects of labour and birth in water and to guide clinical practice: Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Strategies which may increase safety and women's satisfaction following the water birth:
Careful control of the water temperature
Keep the pool clean
Avoid prolonged immersion
Minimize the risk of snapping of the umbilical cord
Optimize the initiation of neonatal respiration
Consider using isotonic water
Consider leaving the pool for the third stage
Warm water, explains Susanna Napierala in her Water
Birth book, reduces the hours and stress of labor, offers
bodily support and relaxes blood flow, helping to ease the baby's journey.
The
baby makes its transition to breathing air in a familiar, gentle medium.
Avoiding the didactics of ideology, Napierala infuses her eloquent
text with answers to commonly asked questions:
- How does the baby breathe underwater?
- What about complications or infections?
- For whom is water birth a viable choice?
- How does a couple prepare for it?
Water Birth guides the reader through the details of parental and midwife preparation, labor, and birth, noting danger signals that must be heeded
"In 1999, my newborn daughter, Isabella, became one of a small
statistic: She was among 9,000 American babies born in a labor pool,
a Jacuzzi-like swimming pool which eases birth for both mother and child
as the infant transfers from the body-temperature water of the amniotic
sac to the pool’s body-temperature water. Even fewer of these births
shared Isabella’s entry into the world at home with a midwife.
My delivery, highly unconventional by American standards, was the most
empowering female and feminist experience of my life. I have never been
so sure of my abilities in any other situation." Read
more
