Next
BENEFITS AND RISKS
OF WATER LABOR/BIRTH
Advantages for Mother
• Safer, more effective and economical than an epidural
• Waterbirth coined as an "aquadural" or "wetepidural"
• Pain significantly reduced by blocking nerve impulses of pain to the brain known as the Gate Theory of Pain
• Study in Canada; 100% women who birthed in water use no pain medication
• Less use of analgesics and anesthesia
• Fewer birth canal injuries, vagina, perineum and vulva
• Reduction of labor length
• Reduction of episiotomies and painful stitching, water relaxes the pelvic floor muscles
• Decreases maternal hypertension, high blood pressure
• Increases maternal connection over labor and birth environment
• Increases maternal autonomy
• Greater mobility for maternal positioning during labor and birth
• Conservation of maternal energy
• Better focus and concentration in water
• Less blood loss during the birth
• Deeper relaxation resulting in hormones kicking in
• Less pressure on the abdomen because of the buoyancy promoting more efficient contractions, better blood circulation, more oxygen to baby and mother, equal pressure on all parts of the woman's body.
• Helps to relieve anxiety and promote focusing inward, as labor becomes more intense
• Moist air assist better breathing for mother specifically if asthmatic
Next