What should you use?
You can use any pool that you think is deep and wide enough, that is, one that will cover your pregnant belly when in the water. Take into consideration your property’s water capabilities and your hot water tank. If you have a 250 litre hot water tank and it’s heated over night, you must have some other way to keep the water hot. Large pots on a stove are fine and I have had some clients hire an Urn, this was a great way to keep hot water on tap. If you have instant gas then hot water isn’t an issue. An immersion heater can be used for hard sided pools but a blow up pool couldn’t afford to have this heat near the sides.
Do I treat the water?
Tap water is fine for a pool it doesn’t need to be treated with anything and if you are using a spa the ideal is to drain it and refill with untreated water.
How do I empty the pool?
Emptying the pool is easy, it’s just a process of syphoning.
Will my floor take the weight?
Your pool is unlikely to fall through the floor. This is a myth peddled by the hospital to discourage women from arriving with their own pool. Would you put a piano in your home? Or hold a party? If you would do this without worrying you should be fine with a birth pool.
Make sure your hose will run to where the pool set up and that you have the correct attachments for tap to hose. Nothing worse than having to run to Bunnings on the day of the birth for a hose attachment.
Do I Qualify?
At the leading public hospital in this state you have to attend a study day as a pregnant woman before you can be considered for a water birth, your practitioner also has be be signed up a competent to attend a water birth.
Do you really need to be qualified? Don’t worry you are!! You have a baby growing and it needs to come out. This makes you totally qualified to birth in the water. Does you practitioner need to be qualified? A midwife who is facilitate your normal birth is just holding the space she doesn’t need to have any special “waterbirth ability”. YOU are the expert in your birth.
Birth pool reviews.
Custom Made
In South Australia the midwives who birth at home with women have custom made pools. There are more than one type but they all work on the basis of panels overlayed by an industrial tarp. This is a fantastic pool to look at and gives loads of room for you to lay out and for a partner to be in as well. There is no way a midwife can touch you unless she gets into the water. That is a really great thing. The down side is it takes 1 ton of water. This isn’t practical in hill residences with rainwater tanks and limited supplies. The water is also difficult to keep at the right temp and although we have immersion heaters that can retain the heat it cannot quickly heat up a cold pool. You can hire a pool like this from Larissa Inns a midwife in Adelaide. Most midwives in Adelaide provide a pool like this free of charge to their clients.
Made In Water
The next most popular in this state is the made in water. These are British made pools now supplied by simply birth in Perth. They hold much less water. They are not big enough to totally stretch out in but will fit both you and your partner in easily. This is a blow up pool it is easy to inflate and because the diameter is smaller than the custom pool it fits more easily into small spaces. It’s 180 dollars
Ocean Reef
The Ocean Reef pool can be bought through pregnancy.com.au This pool has a bigger circumference than the made in water but is a little shallower so has to be filled really full to be deep enough to cover your pregnant belly. You can lay out in it, and your partner can get in. My difficulty has been keeping the water level right as what is good for one person can overflow with two.. Its cheaper than the made in water at about 80 dollars.
Your Bath
Your own bath can be used although it is very restrictive. Corner baths are fine and really no different to what you encounter at the hospital.
Please add your comments and let me know of any other pools that are available to women in Australia.
- Do you
Homebirth? Share this post with your friends - Recommend on Facebook
- Buzz it up
- Share with Stumblers
- Tweet about it
Related posts:
great info Lisa. Your site is so informative. Talk about telling it like it is. Good you ya!
My birth pool was the one with the blue liner (from Deb Minge). It was awesome. Best pain relief known to man. It was the best feeling getting into the water in my lounge room with the fire roaring. Sheer heaven. I had a VBA2C (not at home unfortunately) but laboured there in that pool for a lovely long time. My son and daughter thought all their christmases had come at once when they woke up to a pool in their lounge room!
HI Lisa in Western australia we have a birth pool for hire called Birth Pool in a box, absolutely wonderful. Let us know if you would like more info.
BEcky
would love more info thanks.
I’m looking at the birth pool in a box it looks great, the La Bassine one was what I used for my second sons birth, it has an inflated bottom so its way more comfy than those hard sided ones, its meant for only a couple of uses but I’ve lent mine out and it’s been thru 5 births going on 6 so the quality is superb, it’s only just needed some patching at it’s 5th birth, my nephew, Massimo!Which is why I’m thinking about getting the pool in a box for professionals as a lot of my friends want to borrow it still. Becky, does the pool in a box have the same inflated bottom like the La Bassine?
Thanks!!
Alyssa
I now have a pool in a box and I think it’s great, I should add it to the reviews. It’s a bit bigger than a la bassine but still less water than the hard sided pool. I also had great pool covers. It does have an inflated bottom and an inflated seat which is ideal especially if a partner is in the water holding the woman.
Hi, do you have a contact number for Larissa Inn to enquire about her birthing pool. thanks
No but you could contact Tania Smallwood 83394074