Bath delivery
Hot water has a lot of benefits! Using the shower long and often during your labor can be very helpful. It soothes labor pain and helps you relax between contractions. Many women experience the relief of contractions lying in a bathtub as pleasant. You are literally carried by the warm water, allowing you to move more smoothly and also unwind between contractions.
Giving birth in the bath
The relaxation that then occurs may even make your labor go faster. Warm water has a relaxing and pain-relieving effect. Therefore, we often hear that women look back very well on their delivery with the use of a bath during dilation or expulsion. Bath deliveries are increasingly in demand. Whether you want to give birth at home or in the hospital, there are almost always opportunities to do (part of) your delivery in a bath. You just need a good bath for it…. An ordinary bathtub is often too small for a home birth. If you have a large bathtub at home that the midwife, the maternity nurse and your partner can easily move around, it is suitable. Usually, a professional delivery bath is a finer and better option; it is a lot roomier and offers you more freedom of movement. Plus, you can put it wherever you want. Would you like to give birth in the bathtub? You can buy or rent a birthing pool from various organizations. It is also possible to give birth in the bath in the hospitals in this region (subject to availability).
Bath birth
You can adopt different postures during your labor. Changing positions is important, even in the course of your labor. You can also give birth in the bathtub. Are you curious about the effect of warm water on your body and mind during labor? Would you like to give birth in the bath? Then read the information below about bath birth. Of course, you can ask your midwife questions about this during pregnancy.
Giving birth in warm water…
Warm water is relaxing, has a good effect on the relaxation of your muscles, but it can also promote the contraction activity of your uterus and the progress of your dilation. What is very pleasant for one person may be very different for another. In some situations, you cannot give birth in the bath. This can occur in situations where more checks are needed to monitor the condition of your baby during labor. The midwife will then inform you about this.
Giving birth in a hot water bath has several benefits. It is recommended when women have back pain, pelvic instability and or other physical discomforts and disabilities during pregnancy. It soothes the symptoms. Water carries your body because of the upward pressure. Going underwater with your whole belly relieves and makes you less heavy, allowing you to move more freely. Because of this freedom, your body automatically adopts an active birthing posture that promotes your delivery. Warm water relaxes. Because of the relaxation you can more easily shut out your surroundings and surrender to the contractions. Giving birth in warm water is therefore often smoother and less stressful. Women experience less pain in the bath and the demand for extra pain relief is lower. Warm water turns out to be a very nice natural way of pain relief. You produce fewer stress hormones and more endorphins. Endorphins are natural painkillers that help you cope better with contractions and therefore speed up dilation. Warm water makes your tissues more flexible and easier to stretch. This reduces the chance of tearing. The midwife always pays close attention to this, should you not be in the bath at the moment of pushing. Then heat compresses can be used which also ensure that the tissues around your perineum and vagina are as supple and stretch as possible.
Science actually only indicates advantages of giving birth in the bath and no disadvantages. A disadvantage for you could be that it is quite a bit of work and gives extra costs. Sometimes there is an extra charge at the hospital if you want to give birth in a bath. For your partner it could be a disadvantage that he is a bit more distant from you. Another disadvantage can be that you also have to get out of the bath after delivery. Sometimes you have to cross a high rim and it can be physically a little more difficult to walk from bath to bed. For us as midwives, it is sometimes a little more difficult to be able to reach you in certain positions. We prefer not to sit in an uncomfortable position for too long.
If you are giving birth under the responsibility of the hospital’s medical team and you have a medical indication, you usually cannot give birth in the bathtub. Sometimes you can have a bath during your dilation.
A bath birth for your baby
Not only is warm water nice for women, for a baby it is a very gentle way to be born. When you give birth in the bathtub, you thereby cooperate in a natural transition from the familiar amniotic fluid to the warm bath water. As a result, babies born in water are often relaxed, cry little or not at all and are also responsive.
Bath birth – practical
- You can enter the water at a time of your own choosing. You are in control. Don’t do that when your waters have broken and you don’t have contractions yet because of infection risk. It is important to enter the bath only with strong, regular contractions. The effect of the warm water is greatest from about 4-5 centimeters of dilation.
- Water works best around 37 degrees. Warmer water makes you too hot and tired faster, you also lose more fluid by sweating. You feel best what is comfortable for you during labor. A bath thermometer can be handy.
- The effect of the hot water may wear off after two hours. It is then wise to get out of the bath for a short time, at least 20 minutes. Go to the bathroom, eat and drink something. When you then step into the bath again, the effect of the hot water may be more optimal again and the water will help you relax again.
- During dilation you can adopt various positions, for example hanging over the edge, lying on your back, but also supporting your partner. Feel free to assume any position you find comfortable.
- The midwife regularly listens to your baby’s heart. This can be done by raising your belly a little.
- The baby can “swim” underwater for 1 to 1.5 minutes after birth if born in good condition. As long as the baby is underwater he/she is still receiving oxygen through the umbilical cord and will only breathe when his/her face comes into contact with ambient air. If the baby is not in a good condition or we doubt it, we will bring the baby to the surface sooner.
