Using Water During Childbirth
by Samantha Thurlby-Brooks

Ever had a hard day where your muscles ache and you've had enough of the world? How's about having a nice warm bath to soothe away your troubles? Well, that's exactly what a bath, birthing pool or shower can do for your stresses and strains during childbirth.

The benefits of water during childbirth are well known. Just some of the benefits of using water in any form;

• Immediate relief from discomfort
• Allows a healthy labour to progress faster and easier
• Gives support to a womans body to move around more freely
• Helps a labouring woman to conserve her energy for the second stage of labour
• Helps the cervix dilate quicker
• Immediate feelings of relaxation
• Reduce the need for drugs

If you are planning on using a birthing pool during your labour, it is strongly advisable to only use it after you have become 5cm dilated, and not to spend more than 2 hours immersed in the water. Getting into the pool too soon or for too long will actually make your labour slow down rather than speed up. Getting out of the pool when you've been in there for 1-2hours will likely result in the onset of the second stage of labour in a healthy birthing, if all other conditions are optimal (that is, the labouring woman has been allowed to relax, the lights are low and there has been adequate privacy).

Before 5cm dilation water can be used in the form of a warm shower (focusing on the sacrum can relieve a lot of discomfort), placing the feet in a bowl of water or running a tap. Even the sound of water can create deep relaxation in a labouring woman.

Best Temperature:

• 35 degrees celcius (95 degrees farenheit) during the first stage of labour
• 37-38 degrees celcius (99 degrees farenheit) during pushing and when you're baby comes out

These are important temperatures to keep you and baby safe and comfortable.