Water Birth Stages: What You Should Expect?

Water birth is requested by more and more future mothers all over the world. Unlike the traditional method, this is less painful, it runs faster and is more relaxing for the mother.

Water represents a good environment for birth, but besides this, water birth offers other advantages as well:

• It reduces the actual duration of bringing the child into this world.
• It offers the mother more freedom of movement.
• It offers the baby the possibility of transiting more easily into to the outside world.

Also, water allows a better dilation of the cervix and has anti-spasmodic properties, allowing muscles to relax.

The fact that the mother is able to move as she wants and has the possibility of choosing her most comfortable position, represents a great asset for this method of giving birth. Additionally, she can be held and supported even by her husband, which is able to stay in the pool throughout the entire birth process.

First Stage

The gynecologist consults the mother to establish the level of expansion of the vaginal. Also, he`ll also try to decide on the manner through which the method of birth by dilation will be facilitated. Then, the doctor listen the fetal and maternal heartbeats, sometimes controlling everything through a monitor.

Second Stage

This stage is represented by the moment when the baby comes into this world. When his head emerges, he`s helped to exist by a doctor or nurse. The risk of swallowing water is almost non-existent, and this is because the baby has enough oxygen to survive in case he`s diving under water.

Third Stage

Further, to ensure the infant is breathing properly, the doctor performs an aspiration of mucus, both in the mouth and nose.

Fourth Stage

At this stage, the respiratory function will be performed when the baby`s lungs are flooded with oxygen. This is the threshold at which the cardiopulmonary breathing process starts, which is determined by the need of the blood to receive oxygen.

Fifth Stage

If the father was present at the moment of birth, now is the time to intervene by cutting the baby`s umbilical cord. The father may enter the pool next to the mother, and moreover, he can even stand by her side throughout the entire process. – Visit this page!

He`s assisted by the doctor while he`s cutting the umbilical cord, but he must follow the instructions of the medical personnel. If he didn`t attended to the process of birth, the mother receives the help she needs from the doctor or a nurse.

Sixth Stage

The mother is helped to rise, supported from her back, either by the father or medical staff. Her lifting needs to be made under the armpits, because in this way he person helping her will support her weight, as she`s exempted from any additional effort. Then, she can hold her baby in her arms and receive care from the gynecologist.

Less Painful Labor

The main role of water is to help the mother overcome the period of labor by adopting a natural position, instinctive, to ease to entire birth process. Muscle relaxation is good for the mother, and the contractions are in most cases painless.

However, a lot of doctors believe that labor has its own role in the later development of the child, the contractions being the ones that prepare the fragile body of the baby for life outside the uterus. Therefore, water birth is controversial in a lot of countries, the process being able to happen only in certain gynecological centers with relatively high expenses.

A Mild Postnatal Recovery

There are cases when the mother leaves the pool in which she gave birth almost immediately, without requiring postnatal recovery. Nevertheless, according to many experts, water birth is still a fancy way of bringing a baby into this world.

The woman who is ready for childbirth needs to stay immersed in water for around 1 to 2 hours. Some of the mandatory conditions for this type of birth are:

• The average temperature requires constant control.
• The water needs to be prepared in advance for the procedure.
• The environment needs to be disinfected to not allow the access of any factors that may harm the baby.

Are there any Risks?

Unfortunately, there were too many studies made regarding this type of birth. Any studies made until now regarding any involved risks offered mixed results. Some studies shown that water birth is just as safe as natural birth, while other ones shown risks for the baby in rare cases. – More info!

Overall Conclusion

In case you are interested in less pain when giving birth, your pregnancy is healthy, and your baby is in the right position and at term, don`t hesitate to inform yourself better about water birth. It can be a wonderful experience, less stressful and painless for you, and surely less stressful for the baby.