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If we take a look at how babies are delivered in most hospitals today, we find a lot of technological dependency, excessive drug use and rising cesarean rate. The need of the hour is to educate medical professionals and the public on the benefits of family-centered, natural childbirth, midwifery as the model for maternity care, and the use of warm-water immersion during labor and birth. Miracles happen when warm water is used to ease labor and assist with birth. The process of waterbirth helps us helps us realize the truth that women can give birth without intervention and that babies can be born without assistance. After providers and nurses witness the power of birthing women, they begin to depend less on the medical interventions and more on the woman's innate ability to give birth. A profound, but subtle change takes place when that happens. Water is an amazing tool to assist with normalizing birthing practices as well as the birth process itself. Here are some facts about waterbirthing: What is Waterbirth? The baby has grown in a fluid environment for the past 9 months. Babies adjust very well to being born in a birth pool. Why Waterbirth? Human beings are comprised primarily of water, and many special characteristics we have link us to aquatic mammals, perhaps carrying the memory of a time when the human species had an "aquatic interlude." A three-day old fetus is 97 percent water, and at eight months the fetus is 81 percent water. By the time a human has grown to adulthood, the adult body is still 50 to 70 percent water, depending on the amount of fatty tissue. Human beings' natural alliance with water is best witnessed in human babies who can swim naturally and easily long before they learn to sit up or crawl. During their first year of life, babies will calmly and happily paddle underwater, gazing around with eyes wide open. When they need to breathe, they naturally paddle toward the surface of the water before taking a breath. Babies instinctively know not to breathe while their heads are still submerged underwater. They wait until they reach the surface of the water before breathing. It seems to be only later that humans lose these instincts and become more prone to drowning. 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, and 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.
Normally, practitioners usually bring the baby out of the water within the first ten seconds after birth. There is no physiological reason to leave the baby under the water for any length of time. There are several water birth videos that depict leaving the baby under the water for several moments after birth and the babies are just fine. The safe approach is to remove the baby, without hurrying, and gently place it into its mother's arms. The first and foremost question in everyone’s mind is: How does the baby breathe during a waterbirth? There are several factors that prevent a baby from inhaling water at the time of birth. A detailed explanation of the factors is beyond the scope of this article. All of the factors combine to prevent a newborn that is born into water from taking a breath until he is lifted up into the air. So, what does happen to initiate the breath in the newborn? As soon as the newborn senses a change in the environment from the water into the air, there is a complex chain of chemical, hormonal and physical responses, all resulting in the baby breathing. The use of Dolphins to assist in waterbirth: Sometimes when a baby is born the dolphins nuzzle it to the surface to help it breathe. Charkovsky first experimented with dolphins and children in 1979 at a dolphin research station. He discovered that the mammals, sometimes up to 9ft in length, were exceptionally gentle with the children, whose ages ranged from eight days to eight years, allowing them to ride on their backs. What are the advantages of waterbirth as compared to the way birthing is normally done in hospitals today? The Top ten benefits of water during labour & birth are
Promotes labour Free from gravity's pull and with sensory stimulation reduced, the body is less likely to secrete the stress hormones noradreneline and catecholamines that raise the blood pressure and slow or inhibit labour. This allows the body to produce the pain-inhibiting endorphins that compliment labour. Furthermore, the increased relaxation encourages the uterus to contract more effectively. Encourages circulation Increases focus Many women acknowledge that once they get into the water concentration is strengthened. Doctors and midwives who attend waterbirths find that the mere sight and sound of water pouring into the tub helps some women release whatever inhibitions were slowing the birth, at times so quickly that the birth occurs even before the pool is filled. Often women get in the pool with intention of using it for labour only and the birth occurs before they can get out of the pool. Relieves Pain Promotes elasticity of the perineum Enhances a newborn's birthing experience Water recreates a womb-like environment and offers comfort after the stress of birth, allowing bodily systems time to organise. During birth babies often open their eyes. As a baby is born into water, its limbs are able to unfold with ease and lights and sounds are softer when perceived from under water. Even the touch of its mother's skin against its own tender skin is softened by the presence of water. The innate alliance human beings have with water is first apparent in babies who move toward the surface of the water before taking a breath. This mechanism remains in tact throughout the first year of life.
Creates a positive birthing experience It is believed that a mother and a baby share the emotional experiences of birth due to hormones secreted and absorbed by the baby. A woman who delivered a baby by means of waterbirth recalls her feelings in her story: “I was so ecstatic. I felt so proud. I kept saying, I did it! I did it!”
More importantly, in the normal practices followed, without our knowledge the baby is being subjected to severe traumatic conditions. These continue to affect him throughout his life and are referred to a “birthing process blocks”. Notable among these are: Separation from the mother: Newborns are usually taken away to a different room immediately after birth. Being separated from the mother at this stage is very traumatic to the baby. In the waterbirthing process, the newborn is kept with the mother for long enough for it to feel comfortable and to allow a really strong bond to develop between the two. Waterbirth is therefore a wonderful way to experience the birthing process- both for the baby and for the mother. It is gaining popularity worldwide and till date there are over one hundred thousand documented cases of waterbirth in the United States alone. It is strongly recommended that new parents-to-be choose this alternative. Acknowledgements:
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Waterbirthing