Having Your Baby, Your Way: What To Look For In A Water Birth Health Care Facility
Once you've decided on a water birth, you're bound to feel more butterflies in your tummy than the average expectant mom, with questions and curiosities galore. Enjoy this time, but also make sure you know what you want and what to look for in a water birthing facility. Once you have the "Okay" from your physician and you've covered all your medical insurance bases, begin the journey of finding - and getting to know - the perfect place to have your baby.
1. A Home Away From Home Feel
The decision to deliver in water is a personal and special choice and the facility for this occasion should be equally as special, with a personal or "home away from home" feel to it. Tour the places you're considering for water birth and have a good look around. You want to feel secure with the medical professionals; however, you also want the unique touches and distinct setting that creates the soothing and special ambiance of a water birth.
2. Childbirth Education
Most especially if this is your first child, education classes are essential. Even if you're on your second or third baby, you should at least be offered the opportunity to attend a special class, designed to improve the pre and postnatal experience in a number of ways:
- Boost your confidence during delivery.
- Answer all your questions.
- Alleviate fears and apprehensions.
- Learn about all your options during delivery.
- Help your partner and/or family understand the process, too.
- Inform you about the healthiest lifestyle and nutrition choices.
- Give you an opportunity to see the place in-depth and get to know staff better.
If you've had prenatal classes in the past, there's still much to learn, especially if you didn't deliver via water birth. Also, information is constantly changing and updating, so you're bound to discover something new.
3. Hospital-Like Accommodations
Just like a traditional birth at a standard hospital, your water birth at a health care clinic should include overnight accommodations, including access to specialists, nutritious food, and other little touches that make your stay a super special experience. With health and wellness the priority, expect to be attended to with all the TLC and doting you deserve. The room you reside in will probably have more personal touches than a regular, sterile-like hospital, making it more relaxing for you. Ask ahead of time how long you and your baby will probably stay and what you can expect in terms of personal services.
4. Experts On Staff
Just because a water birth sounds like a less traditional experience doesn't mean it's going to be any less professional or less safe than what you'd expect in a standard maternity ward. By the time your due date arrives, you should be familiar with a host of helpers, including an obstetrician. Rest assured, too, that if any complications arise, a water birthing facility has the means to deal with them quickly and effectively.
5. Help With Breastfeeding
Hopefully, you and your newborn won't need much coaxing or assistance with lactation, but if you do, it should be right there waiting for you. Some babies don't latch right away or the shapes of their tiny faces make approaching the breast for feedings difficult, but no matter what obstacles you face together, you'll get through them easier with a coach. The benefits of breastfeeding are well known, but you need to know specific details, such as how to handle and store your milk.
6. Infant Safety Briefings
From CPR to crib safety, you've a lot to learn. Keeping your baby safe and secure is your number one priority; thus, safety briefings and courses on what to do in the event of an emergency are essential at the place you give birth.
7. An Invitation To A Support Group
No matter how a baby is delivered, the parents of newborns need support. Ask about a local group you can become a member of after your baby is born. Don't automatically assume you won't need the help of such a group, because even if you have everything under control, it's still good to mix and mingle with other new parents, to trade ideas and lessons learned or to simply have someone to relate to during this profoundly life-changing period.
8. Midwives And More
Your choices don't stop at water birth, in fact, there are a lot of decisions to be made regarding how you want your baby to be born and what type of services you'd like for yourself. Get to know the midwives where you'll be delivering and ask them about special treatment, such as Reiki, the use of birthing balls and hydrotherapy during labor. You want the place where your baby will enter the world to be special and set up just for you, to make the experience as perfect as possible, in every way.