Valerie

My little water baby, Violet was born on June 6, 2010. I am so happy that I decided to do the water birth and will do so again for future babies! The day of the birth my husband set up the pool about 11am. It was a simple set up and the pool was bigger and deeper than I had expected. I wanted to jump right in! Seeing the pool got me excited and gave me a boost of energy to keep going. I did laps around the house and did some stairs, hoping to speed up the labour! As labour progressed, I begged my doula to let me get in the water but she reassured me that getting in too early could slow things down. She said the water would be like my epidural so it was best to get as far along on my own as I could. Around 9 pm the contractions were finally close enough together that we knew it was time for transition and I got into the pool. It was instant relief! My doula was right, it was like an epidural! The water felt so good and the pool was big enough that I could move around as much as I wanted. I tried several positions but spent most of transition on my knees with my head resting on the side of the pool. I grabbed the handles and pushed with all my might during the contractions.

When my legs became so tired, I rolled onto my back and propped myself up on the little seat inside the pool. I grabbed onto the handles during contractions and pulled myself up. My husband was by my side with cold cloths for my face and my doula stayed close and spoke words of encouragement to me as I pushed. I gave birth to my little Violet at 11:51 pm in the pool. She was immediately placed on my chest and I will never forget that moment. She lifted her little head and looked right into my eyes. Because there were no drugs involved, she was alert and strong yet calm, she didn’t even cry.

Being at home allowed us to create the atmosphere we wanted for our daughter’s birth. We had candles burning, the lights were dim and mellow music played. After the birth we headed to bed to rest and snuggle our new baby. She latched right onto my breast and nursed. The midwives tidied up and drained the pool and the next day someone from Baby Birth Pools Inc. came and packed it all up and took it away. It was such a great experience being at home and giving birth in the pool, I wouldn’t do it any other way!