What is a waterbirth?

Some of you know that I decided to deliver our baby through waterbirth. "What is a waterbirth?" you may ask. Well it is exactly what it sounds like--giving birth in water in a tub or small pool. At the beginning of my pregnancy Daniel and I were researching which hospital we wanted to deliver in. I went to the website for North Fulton Regional Hospital and found out that they had the option of waterbirths there. So I started doing more research about this method of delivery and came to the conclusion that I wanted to do this. I had always wanted to have a natural childbirth but I was pretty scared about it. Well, a waterbirth is all about the mom and helping her give birth in the most gentle and relaxing way possible (without drugs). It's also completely safe for the baby. This idea calmed my fears and gave me the courage to have a natural birth. If you google the hospital I named above, they have information about waterbirth on their website and a video about it. The midwife in the video was actually one of the midwives I saw throughout my pregnancy. Only midwives perform waterbirths, by the way. I loved my midwives! I went to an Ob-gyn's office that had two midwives and a doctor. I only saw the midwives, and they were amazing! At the end of my pregnancy, another midwife was brought in because the other two were on leave (go figure!). I saw the third midwife only once before I delivered and she was the one who delivered me. Even though I had only met her once, I really liked her and had confidence that she would be a huge support during labor and delivery. Well, she was. She told me exactly what to do and directed Daniel in what he was supposed to do and everything went so smoothly. She told me how to position my body to make myself comfortable and how to get the baby out in the best possible way. She knew exactly what to do! She was so comforting and reassuring and knowledgeable.

Now I will admit that my labor was very fast. I started having contractions at about 1:00 am and Noah was born at 6:43 am. I got to the hospital at about 3:30 or 4:00 and was in the pool for about an hour or so. Once I got in the pool, things went pretty fast. One of the benefits of a waterbirth is that labor tends to be shorter. The warm water was very relaxing and reduced the pain of the contractions. Once I started pushing, Noah was out within about 20 or 30 minutes. I only pushed about 10 times. I hardly felt any pain when Noah was coming out. Some people talk about a "ring of fire" when the baby's head comes out. Well, I only felt a little burning, which barely hurt at all. Noah "came out" without any problems. No one had to pull on his head or use forceps or a vacuum, which really scare me by the way. He was able to come out on his own without any assistance (except at the end when the midwife had to catch him of course). A waterbirth also reduces the chances of tearing, and I only had to have 2 stitches for my tearing.

An additional benefit of waterbirth is that the husband is very involved in the whole birthing process. Daniel held me up from behind while I was in the pool and helped position my body to make me comfortable. He also got to see the whole birthing process firsthand and he got to cut the umbilical cord, which he thought was very cool.

So, was it worth it? Would I do a waterbirth again? Absolutely! Noah was so alert and ready to meet us when he was born. Having a baby without any medication was also very empowering and liberating as a woman. I had always wondered if I had it in me to do a natural childbirth, and now I know that I do. Did it hurt? Was it very painful? Of course it was! But it was also very doable. Childbirth had always been one of my biggest fears, and waterbirth helped me conquer that fear. I highly recommend this form of childbirth to any woman out there who may be thinking of having a natural childbirth. If I can do it, anyone can!

If anyone has any questions or wants to know more about waterbirth, please feel free to ask me!