| Tough Decisions: To Tub or Not to Tub?WIFR Blog Listing | ||||
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Ever since I saw Ricky Lake’s documentary “The Business of Being Born,” I’ve been fascinated by water births. Before I got pregnant, my husband and I thought I’d for sure have one. However, now that I’m there, I’ve learned none of the hospitals that my doctors group has privileges at does them. I know I could go to a birthing center or do it at home, but I feel much more comfortable being at a hospital. There are two hospitals to choose from. One actually has a birthing tub, where you labor in the tub and as soon as the baby is ready to come out, you get out of the tub. The water is supposed to help relax you and alleviate some back pain. It also makes going without an epidural a bit more tolerable. To me, it’s the next best thing to a water birth. My husband and I decided to tour both hospitals to help us pick which one we want. We started at the one without the tub, because that’s where my OB/GYN goes. We really liked it and thought about stopping there. However, because my doctor is part of a group, whoever delivers me is on call, not necessarily my OB/GYN. So we decided to tour the other hospital as well. I finally got to see this tub they talk about. It looked like a taller, portable bath tub. For some reason, I was envisioning a kiddy pool, so I’m very happy I was wrong.
The nurses who gave us the tour at both hospitals were very nice, but this one was spunky, someone I could imagine giving great encouragement when the time comes. When it came time to explaining the tub, she started to say “if you’d like, your husband could be…” I thought she was going to say in the room, so I’m thinking “duh.” But she continued “in the tub, he probably just wants to put swim trunks on!” We thought she was joking around, but she was totally serious!
I’m sorry if any of you reading this had your husband in the tub with you, but my goodness that is bazaar! No, Steve will not be swimming in the birthing tub.
I feel much better after seeing both hospitals so we know what to expect. It’s unfortunate there’s no chance my doctor can deliver me, because I really like her. But this is something I really want to try. There’s always the possibility the baby isn’t positioned right or something else isn’t right, where I won’t be able to use the tub anyway, but I think it’s best to at least make it an option.
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