dearest readers, i am over joyed to inform you all that my amazing husband and i will be welcoming something special into the world in late janurary of next year! we hadnt planned to start “trying” until our crazy summer was over (sometime in september), but as it turns out we didnt have to try at all. we have known since memorial day, but kept the big news under wraps until the right time. i am now ten weeks pregnant and already feeling the changes to my body, my mood, and my eating habits. i will be doing an all natural, at home, water birth. we’ve already met twice with our wonderful midwife and i feel so confident that we have made the right choice for our birthing method.
some facts about water births…
benefits to me:
- Most women find a tub of warm water relaxing and comfortable, helping feelings of fear and stress to disappear. This relaxed state of the body encourages the release of pain relieving endorphins. When the mother is not anxious, her body is not apt to produce stress hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, or catecholamines. These hormones stimulate the body’s fight-or-flight reaction, something not desired during labor. The hormones are stimulated when people feel the need to protect themselves, such as in a fight
- This relaxation along with the water exposure, allows the perenium to gently stretch, thus reduces the incidence of tearing
- It has been proved that blood pressure drops about fifteen minutes after entering a hot tub
- The effect of warm water is known to help women to concentrate better, making the birth easier on mother and baby
- Warm water stimulates the release of hormones that encourage contractions
- Many research studies have corroborated the fact that women using water for childbirth request less or no methods of pain relief
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Giving birth in water counteracts the effects of gravity, making it easier for the mother to change positions and avoid placing pressure on the uterus. The heightened ability to assume different positions can be extremely helpful in birthing a large baby or allowing the baby to descend down the birth path
benefits to the little one:
- A relaxed mother will give birth to a relaxed baby, because the baby can feel all of the mother’s emotions during labor
- The first moments after the birth are a lot easier on your baby as he/she is used to be surrounded by water in the womb
- Light and sound will be softer on the baby’s little eyes and ears from under water
- Giving birth in water, coupled with the relaxed, calm environment typical of a water birth, provides a soothing transition from the womb to the outside world. Their eyes are not subjected to harsh overhead lights, medicinal scents and the clutter and clanging of hospital equipment. Instead, they are allowed to acclimate at their own pace
- Studies have shown that babies born naturally are more alert then babies born from medicated mothers
- There is less chance of damage to baby’s brain due to drugs or misused forceps or vacuum
- Babies are more coordinated
- Babies are less fussy
- Babies born to non medicated mothers are able to bond more easily with their mother’s and like wise
- There is no risk of long term effects from the drugs on the baby’s development or behavior such as ADHD or autism, or other learning disabilities
People have been asking me “is it safe?” well… it is completely safe for the baby, because he/she will only start to breath after entering cool air, making drowning impossible. The baby will also be supplied with oxygen from the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord will be cut anywhere between 30 mins to an hour and a half after entering the world– it will only be cut once it stops pulsating (a signal that the little one is successfully breathing oxygen on its on). Hospitals cut the umbilical cord immediately, five or ten minutes about entering the world (which causes jaundice)!
Recently the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom issued guidelines that giving birth in water is the most effective non-pharmaceutical form of pain relief for childbirth which has no negative side effects and should be offered to all women giving birth.
Television and movies have turned child birth into a dramatic, painful, and over all traumatic experience, when in fact it is the most empowering moment of a woman’s life. I have spoken to quite a few women recently who have choos natural births and the words I hear over and over again are euphoric and orgasmic. Our baby will be welcomed into the world, as I lift it out of the water to grasp its first breathe, gently, rather than traumatically, into the world as my husband and I look down whispering words of love into its ears for its very first sounds.
