Discovering Water Birth Made Me Realize I Can Survive Birthing A Child

For years, I have mildly pondered at the question of how in the world am I going to have children if I faint when getting warts frozen off (true story), let alone having blood taken, IV's administered, catheters in place, epidural needles in my back, and a cantaloupe sized being coming out of my hoo-hoo.  Medical procedures are not my strong point.

***Please ignore the extremely annoying music in the background of the video, and instead notice how calm the mother is and how happy she seems.  NO SCREAMING! Wow!

I stumbled across water birthing during my mad raid of google for any and all things pregnancy related.  This website here highlights some of the basic positive points about water birth, but it is not the only information available.  Basically, laboring/delivering in warm water can be a natural pain reliever.  Gravitating towards warm water is something I do automatically when I'm sore, tired, or feverish, however, I was not aware that I even did it until reading about it's pain relieving abilities.  Have you ever taken a nice, hot, shower when you have a fever and your whole body is achy?  I do--every time I'm sick.  It makes me feel 100 times better while I'm in the water.  Then there are the numbers--the number of c-sections is less for water births, the number of perineum tears and episiotomies is less, the baby is fine being born into water because it is still getting oxygen from the umbilical cord, the baby is also introduced into the world in a more gentle manner than being delivered with forceps or vacuum or being cut out of the mother.  I began to realize that the things about pregnancy that scared me were all things that could be handled/eliminated by choosing to have a water birth.  No epidural, no IV, no catheter, I can eat/ drink if I want, and hopefully no tearing.  So I'm pretty pleased with the whole ordeal.  I know that people think I can't do it.  And who knows.  Maybe circumstances will change and I won't be able to do it for one reason or another.  But I HATE needles, and if I can have a more peaceful and less needly birthing experience, SIGN ME UP!  Bring on the contractions!  And shove that needle up your unbelieving bumoley!


**Waterbirth International is another web site that has some information about giving birth in water.  They have birthing pool rentals, FAQ's, birth stories, and access to research studies and other interesting information.