The Benefits of Water
for Labor and/or Birth

Greater comfort and mobility. The mother has much greater ease and freedom to move spontaneously and to change position to assist the descent of the baby.

Reduction of pressure on the abdomen. Buoyancy promotes more efficient uterine contractions and better blood circulation, resulting in better oxygenation of the uterine muscles, less pain for the mother, and more oxygen for the baby.

Helps mother to conserve her energy. Immersion reduces opposition to gravity; supports the mother's weight so that her energy can be used to cope with the contractions.

Promotes deeper relaxation. As a woman relaxes deeply in water, her hormones kick in and she starts progressing faster and with more rhythm; labor becomes more efficient.

Water relaxes the pelvic floor muscles.

Water minimizes pain so effectively that for most women other pain control methods are no longer needed.

Water stimulates the touch and temperature nerve fibers in the skin. It blocks impulses from the pain fibers, known as the Gate Theory of Pain.

Immersion is often more effective and safer than an epidural. Some people call waterbirth an "aquadural."

Facilitates a dysfunctional labor. Water can be an effective way to stimulate dilation of the cervix when the mother has difficulty progressing into the active stage of labor.

Water can reduce the need for drugs to artificially stimulate labor. Often, simply getting into the tub will result in dramatic and rapid progress to full dilation within an hour or two.

Lowering of blood pressure. When anxiety is causing high blood pressure, immersion in water often helps lower it.

Change of consciousness. Immersion helps relieve anxiety and promotes relaxation. Water helps a woman to let go and focus inward as labor strengthens.

Easier breathing. Moisture in the air makes it easier to breathe and can be helpful to women with asthma.

Facilitates the second stage of labor. Many mothers are less inhibited in the water. The warm water softens the vagina, vulva, and perineum, leading to fewer injuries to these tissues.

Many women experience rapid second stages, with the baby emerging minutes after the body starts pushing, also known as the fetus ejection reflex (see Odent, The Nature of Birth and Breastfeeding).

Empowerment of the mother. When a woman delivers her baby while remaining awake, aware and in control, it greatly enhances the birth experience for her and becomes a source of great personal strength and power that enriches her life forever.

Greater involvement of the father. Because the mother's pain and stress is so greatly reduced, it is much easier for fathers to particpate and take a more active role in the birthing process. Many men are reluctant to become involved in the birth experience when they know that the mother is likely to endure intense pain, trauma and suffering during labor and delivery.

Enhanced family relationships. When the mother's pain is dramatically reduced, many fathers eagerly take a more active role in the delivery, resulting in a greater family bond. When fathers are more involved it increases the possibility of a joyous birth. Both parents and child get to share a wonderous experience that can enhance their relationships with each other for the rest of their lives.

Better parent-child interactions. A mother who has had a beautiful and empowering birth experience will have an especially positive association in her mind and emotions to that child; and a baby who has had an easy, non-traumatic, not painful, gentle birth will have an especially positive association to the parent. This exceptionally positive start to their relationship will likely enhance the parent-child interactions forever.

Evolving humanity in a positive direction. Many psychologists believe that babies born gently grow up to become more gentle adults, and have a greater ability to deal with problems non-violently.

After the infant has descended through the birth canal into the warm water, the mother can even choose to deliver the infant herself, as the birth attendants wait nearby in case they are needed.

It is a remarkably simple matter for the mother, after she has the last contraction which expels the baby, to reach down, take it in her arms and bring her child up out of the water and to her breast.

Typically, women who deliver in water report a feeling of excitement and lasting personal empowerment that simply cannot be matched by standard hospital birthing procedures. Within seconds, because of air touching the skin and cord, the physiological system is signaled, and the baby easily begins to use its lungs for breathing, without being slapped or roughly stimulated. Since the cord is usually not cut for several minutes, the baby's transition to air breathing is gradual and non-traumatic, and the newborn can take its time to become familiar with using its lungs.

This gentle, slower approach is in sharp contrast to the more common but questionable practice of cutting the cord immediately after the baby is out. Cutting the baby off from its lifeline to the mother so quickly and abruptly creates a breathe or die situation, which can cause a panicky feeling in the infant. In the worst case, if there is an undetected problem and breathing is not well established before the cord is cut, cerebral palsy could result because of oxygen deprivation to the brain.

An Easy Transition

With a water birth, the baby is not taken away from the mother at birth, which can result in the infant experiencing fear, confusion, feelings of abandonment and even terror. Instead, the baby stays with the parents and is held and cuddled by both of them, so that it will feel secure and nurtured, and the important bonding process can take place. Is it not intuitively obvious and perfectly logical to conclude that a child born in such a gentle manner will feel comfort, security, love, and be likely to have positive feelings about its parents and the world? Humanist psychologists know, all other things being equal, that such an individual is more likely to grow up to be happy, self-confident and more prone to non-violent behavior than one whose birth was not gentle; one who experienced fear, pain, confusion, trauma, feelings of abandonment or panic during birth.

Water's Great Gift: Pain Relief

When a woman experiences intense pain or fear during labor or delivery, her body involuntarily tightens up and pulls inward - an automatic, self-protective response. Yet, birth requires the exact opposite - an expansion and release. Since these two conditions are mutually exclusive, the fearful mother's body may be unable to progress to full dilation and her labor may go one for many, many hours as her body tries in vain to both close up in fear and open to release the baby simultaneously. In this situation the benefit of warm water may be most valuable, because the comfort it provides helps the mother to relax very deeply and assists her body in stretching slowly and gently to accommodate the baby's emergence, usually without tearing. It is because of this deep relaxation that water labor and/or waterbirth often functions as an effective and important cesarean prevention method. Without exception, the water birth mothers spoke of easier and/or quicker labors, profound relaxation, alleviation of pain and the excitement and empowerment they felt being in total connection to the process of birth and to the baby. Women who deliver in water evidently feel a strong affinity to their own female power and to the experience of motherhood.

Resources: Daniels, 1986; Balaskas, 1990; Lichy, 1993; Napierala, 1994.

Labor Tub Services    Birth-Tub-Rentals.com      702-296-9261   After having an extremely blissful waterbirth with my own baby, I longed to be able to support other mothers who were ready to choose this method of birthing. I also felt that it would advantageous for our local Las Vegas birth community to have access to quality birth tubs combined with exceptional service. This vision has led to the beginning of Birth-Tub-Rentals.com.   There are so many wonderful benefits to being able to labor and/or birth in a soothing pool of warm water. Additionally, using a tub that is designed for birth has distinct advantages over using kiddie pools.   I sincerely hope you enjoy learning more about waterbirth from this site and that this service will be one that will enhance our community. Happy Birthing--Alisa McAffee, Owner

Birth Waters Doula and Labor Tub Services   702-480-5654 Provides birthing tubs for homebirths across the Las Vegas valley, Henderson, and Boulder City.  Our one-on-one service includes 24 hour on-call delivery, set up, and phone support, as well as tub removal after the birth.  We furnish the original portable spa developed specifically for labor and waterbirth.  AquaDoula has helped mothers and babies worldwide experience a gentler birth.

My daughter Shannon laboring in a Birth-Tub-Rentals.com. tub.

Henry, Shannon and me.