Can you imagine a more peaceful environment to give birth? This is one of our spas, set up in the home of our client. Complete tranquility.

Baby is crowning at this point, and mother is free to reach down and feel her baby emerge. She is the first to touch her baby. The water gives perfect support, so the midwife rarely needs to offer anything more than encouragement and gentle direction.

Dad stepped into offer support and catch baby as she swam to the surface. Again, the midwife is present to guard, rarely playing an active role. The first moment baby opens her eyes, it is her loving parents she sees.

The normal physiologic process of birth is enhanced by laboring in water, thus maintaining a focus on wellness. Birthing women benefit from the restoration of enhanced control of the birthing process.

Waterbirth is simple.

"Within the simplicity of water labor and birth lies a complexity of questions, choices, opinions, research data, woman's experience and practitioner observations," (Harper, 2000).

Laboring in water has many known benefits, the greatest of which may be its promotion of relaxation and effective pain management, minimizing the need for medical intervention. Advocates contribute the weightlessness of the water to decreasing the energy expenditure of the mother, and the increased relaxation to less anxiety and adrenaline levels which therefore, encourages endogenous oxytocin and oxygen to the uterus. Because there is no external compression of the inferior vena cava, as would occur when laying flat on the back in a hospital bed, blood supply to the uterus is improved, allowing for more oxygenation of muscle tissue to produce more effective contractions. Blood supply to the placenta is also increased, allowing for improved fetal oxygenation. The ease at which the mother can move in labor and while pushing is believed to optimize fetal descent.

Readers have shared their concern for the blue color of water-born babies, even suggesting we remove such pictures from our website. This is a normal, physiologic event. Babies in utero are in fact blue. When born gently into water, they are not alarmed by the noise, the coolness of the air, or even gravity, so don't gasp and cry as a more medical-managed-baby would born on land. Instead, babies born into warm water ease into breathing and therefore pink up slower than one might have become otherwise accustomed. The umbilical cord is still attached to mom and they continue to have appropriate heart rates and oxygenation. A gentle birth is physiologic.

Aggressive stimulation that causes the newborn discomfort and crying has not proven beneficial. In fact, far more evidence has been published to strengthen our understanding that increasing the blood oxygen levels above those exhibited by healthy babies born at term provides no advantage and several studies have demonstrated that cyanosis can be normal for the first few minutes following birth. Skin color can be a very poor indicator of oxygen saturation and has therefore, been removed from the list of primary clinical signs to assess within the American Academy of Pediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation course.

Mother to Aurora Lorraine, born in water on June 17th, 2011

See her birth video here.

Louisville Birth Photography

Jessica Deis

Believe Midwifery Services offers four of the spas to the left for a rental fee of $300, and a La Bassine Inflatable Pool, seen below, for $150.

Download contracts for the Spa-In-A-Box or La Bassine and mail to Believe Midwifery with rental fee for reservation. Directions for cleaning the Spa-In-A-Box can be downloaded here. The La Bassine will be cleaned by the Birth Team following birth.