Water Birth or Not?

B.,

I am due Nov. 16 with my 3rd child. The first was delivered at a big hospital in Washington D.C. and I was pressured into an induction, pitocin, the epidural etc. and it lasted more than 35 hours.

My second was born in St. Paul at St. Joseph's hospital with a midwife and I did a water birth. I went into labor midmorning... we went to the hospital at 5 and Joey was born at 9:00 in the birthing tub and it was the best experience I can imagine. I am planning the same thing for my third. Having done it that way, I would never ever go back to a "typical" hospital birth in a bed with the epidural.

I LOVED St. Joseph's. My LD nurse was fantastic, and my midwife was the best. What I liked about the tub was the relaxing powers! I was so stressed and nervous about the whole labor (after the total hell I went through the first time around) that getting in the tub kind of washed a lot of those fears away. I think it helped speed things along because my body was relaxed. Of course it was still painful compared to the first time when I had the epidural and I couldn't feel anything, but I felt like I was in control and able to manage much better.

If you want to send me a private message with any specific questions, feel free to do so. I seriously can not tell you how much better my water birth was than the "land" birth I had the first time around. It is really difficult to compare them!

Good luck to you,

J.
SAHM to Charlie (3-24-05) Joey (12-4-06) and #3 due 11-16-08

Do it!! St Joseph's in St. Paul has that option and a great pool. We used the midwives through the Health East system with our first one. I tried to do water birth but was in labor for more than 24 hours and had to give in to getting an intrathecal block at around 8. Sounds like you'd be a perfect for it though! If possible, I will try it again with our next for sure! Best wishes!

I didn't do water birth (only c-sections), but have heard it is a great way to go if you want a natural alternative to pain killers and anesthesia. I have been told it significantly can reduce pain during delivery.

Here is a resource on which hospitals in the Twin Cities offer the waterbirth option, and it also lists suppliers of equipment for home water births and doulas.

http://www.minnesotabirthnetwork.com/Waterbirth.html

I had a home waterbirth with my last baby. I found the birthing tub eased the pain to a level that I found absolutely manageable throughout. I was shocked when it was time to push, as I kept waiting for the pain to get bad!!!
Vanessa at http://waterbirthresources.com/ was my midwife and rented me the tub. Her website has lots of info about the benefits of waterbirth.
As far as hospitals, I think Woodwinds and St Joes are the only places that offer waterbirth. \