Labouring in water is a natural pain relief it helps you relax and cope better with the pain. And can help you control your contractions. Just having a bath helps ease tummy ache or back trouble. Two important studies have found that using a birthing pool significantly reduces women 's use of pain relieving drugs. Women expecting their first baby and who spend some time labouring in water use far less pethidine and have far fewer epidurals than women who labour on dry land. The same was true for women who were giving birth to there second or subsequent babies. If you would like to have a water birth ask your midwife at your local anti natal clinic, she will be able to tell you if the hospital your checked into has a birthing pool or one available and in use. The royal college of obstetrics and the royal college of midwives now support water births. Advocates of water birth say the water eases the baby from the warm wet womb into another warm wet environment, offering familiar comfort after the stress of being born. And since breathing doesn't begin until the baby is exposed to the air, the safety risks are minimal. Many women have found that wallowing in deep warm water during labour allows them to relax and gives much relief from the discomfort of contractions. Some choose to get out of the water in the second stage to deliver their baby. Others actually give birth in the water so the baby's first moments of life outside the womb are under water. Please ask your midwife if she has more info on water births. If you are having problems in your pregnancy then this may not be suitable for you.
