Birth Support Bendigo

Why Waterbirth?
A gentle beginning for a New Life

The following is an excerpt from Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper, RN.
Web site http://www.waterbirth.org/whywater.htm
Most people find great comfort and repose with water. Perhaps because we begin our lives surrounded in liquid in the womb, this basic familiarity stays with us throughout our lives.
Using water for labouring and birthing has proven to have many benefits for both the mother and the baby, as their responses to birthing are intricately linked.
Soaking in a tub of water to ease labour sounds inviting to most women. And for women, who find water soothing and comfortable during labour, they usually want to give birth in water. However, labouring in water can do more than merely relax and comfort the woman. Resting in a warm tub of water can actually facilitate the progression of the latter stages of labour. Many women report a sensation like an "energy surge" that moves through them as soon as they step into the water. While a woman in labour relaxes in a warm pool, free from gravity's pull on her body, and with sensory stimulation reduced, her body is less likely to secrete stress related hormones. This allows her body to produce the pain inhibitors, endorphins that compliment labour.
Another benefit of Waterbirth is the elasticity that water can impart to the tissues of the perineum, reducing the incidents and severity of tearing and the need for painful stitches or episiotomies. On the occasion of his 100th water delivery, Michel Odent reported that in the 100 waterbirths he has attended, there were no episiotomies performed and only 29 cases of tearing, all of which were minor surface tears.
Water helps some women reach a state of consciousness in which their fear and resistance are diminished or removed completely; then their bodies relax, and their babies are born in the easiest way possible. The ease of the mother who labours and gives birth in the water becomes the ease of the child who is born in the water, as well. Gentle alternatives that make birth easier for the mother most likely will make birth easier for the child. Their body responses are intricately linked.
Does a Waterbirth or using water in labour interest you? Birth Support Bendigo has available for hire a birth pool. The birth pool kit consists of:

1. A solid rectangular pool. (L-1900mm x W-1230mm x H-770mm).
2. Pool liner and thermal cover.
3. Filling hose and thermometer.
4. Mattress for under the pool.
5. Water birth articles.


When hiring the pool the usual period of hire is for four weeks. Two weeks before the expected due date and two weeks post due date. It is unadvisable to use the pool in the circumstance of post maturity (i.e.: 42wks plus.) If you are interested in hiring the birth pool for labouring and birthing please contact Jane Cameron on Ph: 5447 2799.