Thursday, March 5, 2009

Water Babies

I am passionate about unmedicated births and am especially a fan of water births. I think there's something both powerful and empowering in bringing a baby into the world with only yourself to rely on. I do feel that there is a time and a place for doctors and hospitals, but why use them if you don't need them? That's my philosophy anyways.

My first son was an emergency transfer to Baylor in downtown Dallas after a overzealous midwife moved things along too quickly. We had a "land" birth and even though we were in a hospital, we ended up with the best birth we knew how to have at the time. The doctor on call was wonderful and a huge supporter of unmedicated births herself, so she was extremely helpful and gave us the freedom to have our baby the way we wanted.

My next two children were born in water. Lovely, soothing water. I labored in the water and could not believe the difference in pain management. The sound of the water was incredibly soothing as well. I could lose myself in the noise of the running faucet as each contraction crested. We ended up giving birth in the water as well since it was so soothing. Both times, my babies slipped out easily and gently. We gave our friends a scare since our daughter came out quite blue, but that was perfectly normal and she was perfectly beautiful. I've found that water babies don't cry as much because the transition from womb to world is less of a shock since they are birthed into a water environment and they get a softer first glimpse of lights and sounds.

I recommend a water birth to anyone who is looking for more natural pain management while in labor and during delivery. It's been a method for pain management for hundreds of years. There are studies that show that immersing in water during labor can reduce the length of labor and can help the mom save her energy for pushing out her baby. Who doesn't want those things right?

For more information you can visit http://www.waterbirth.org/.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for this. I have been researching home birth myself, including water birth. I am not expecting again yet, but hope to have enough knowledge to make my clear decision when the time comes. I recently watched the movie, "The Business of Being Born." There were eye opening statistics that I was glad to learn about.
    Were your water births at home, assisted, unassisted or in the hospital?

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  2. You're right - water is wonderful! It really helps with the contractions.

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  3. I had an emergency transfer "dry" birth at Baylor Downtown. Then a water birth at the Garland Birth Center with Kathleen Mayorga. Then a water birth at home, again with Kathleen. I highly recommend water for labor and delivery. That's wonderful that you're doing research now and learning about alternatives to a hospital birth. Of course, if you decide a hospital birth is right for you then I'm sure you'll have a wonderful birth as well...it's just nice to hear about someone looking into what else is out there. A wonderful resource for the DFW area is called the HAND group on Yahoo!. HAND stands for homebirth association of north Dallas. All the women are supportive of however you decide to birth and several of the DFW midwives are on there so you can ask questions.

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