Benefits and Risk of Waterbirth

Below description of benefits waterbirth

• water is soothing,relaxing and comforting
• the buoyancy of the woman's body allows her to be more comfortable, lessens her weight, and allows for freedom of movement
• encourages the body to release more oxytocin, promoting more efficient contractions, and shortening the length of labor
• Immersion may lower high blood pressure caused by anxiety/pain
• seems to decrease stress-related hormones, allowing the mother's body to release endorphins, which are pain-inhibitors
• relaxes the perineum which reduces the incidence and severity of tearing and the need for stitches
• as the woman relaxes physically, she can concentrate her efforts on the birth process--the baby exits in to an environment similar to the amniotic sac
• eases stress of birth on the infant.

Risk risk of waterbirth

There are theoretical risks including water embolism, when water enters the mother's blood stream. Other possible complications may include difficulty delivering the shoulders of the baby, due to positioning, and cord complications if there are several loops of cord around the baby's neck. There has been very little research done in this area, but it has been our experience that these difficulties are rare. Women are carefully screened to see if they are potential water birth candidates. Fever/infection, meconium stained amniotic fluid, or a non-reassuring fetal heart rate are some of the reasons that use of the tub would not be permitted.