Waterbirth
Tammi took Waterbirth International’s Waterbirth Certification Workshop in May, 2011.
Waterbirth International – Waterbirth: Easier for Moms ~ Better for Babies!TM
Water birth and neonatal infections. Experience with 1575 deliveries in water.
Many women I serve labor and birth in water. The water is so helpful in easing the labor journey and is a lovely transitional environment for their babies – from the warm water inside their mom, to the warm water of their birth, and right into their mom’s arms.
Lucas, in mom Jamie’s arms, only but a moment after birth. Jamie had to change care providers during this last pregnancy to have another water birth as she did for her 3rd baby.
In Gentle Birth Choices – Inner Traditions, Barbara Harper writes that:
For thousands of years women have been using water to ease labor and facilitate birth. Wherever there has been even slightly warm water, there have been women bathing in it, using it ritually, and finding great comfort in it, especially in labor.
Soaking in a tub of water to ease labor sounds inviting to most women. If the water is where a woman wants to be and there are no complications, then in the water is where she will feel the most comfortable. When it is time to birth the baby, there is no reason to ask the mother to get out of the water.
When a woman in labor relaxes in a warm tub, free from gravity’s pull on her body, with sensory stimulation reduced, her body is less likely to secrete stress-related hormones. This allows her body to produce the pain inhibitors ‘endorphins’ that complement labor. Noradrenaline and catecholamines, the hormones that are released during stress, actually raise the blood pressure and can inhibit or slow labor. © 1994
What do moms have to say?
- “I had a waterbirth with my last one, too, and will with this next one also. Wouldn’t do it any other way!” Liz, Arlington
- “I’ve had two waterbirths. The comfort of the water, the natural way your body is able to work in the water, it’s amazing. I was able to relax.” Jamie, Stafford
See a short clip of the WATER BABY video .
For families in the Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland region, contact me to rent a birth pool locally.
