We tend to think spending labour in water is something new. However, Janet Balaskas (2004) tells us that there are legends of South Pacific Islanders giving birth in shallow seawater and of Egyptian Pharaohs born in water. In some parts of the world today, such as Guyana, women go down to a special place by the local river to give birth..

Giving birth in water (rather than spending your labour in it) is probably a recent development. The first waterbirth that we know about took place in 1803 in France when a mother whose labour had been extremely long and difficult was finally helped to give birth in a tub of warm water (Church 1989). In the 1970s, some midwives and doctors in Russia and France became interested in ways of helping the baby make the transition from life in the womb to life outside as easy as possible. They were concerned that more advanced countries were making birth a traumatic experience for babies. Some doctors, including French obstetrician Frederic Leboyer (1983), felt that babies could be traumatised for life as a result of the way in which they were being born.

Using a water pool not only seemed to help women with the pain of childbirth, but also seemed to offer babies a more peaceful journey from the womb into their mothers' arms. The doctors and midwives noted how calm babies were after they had been born in water. They cried less than babies born on land, appeared more relaxed and were eager and ready to have eye contact with their mothers and to suckle.

During the 1980s and 1990s, interest in waterbirth grew in the UK, Europe and Canada (Odent 1994; Garland 2000). Midwives were sometimes frightened of the responsibility of helping women give birth in water, but were often thrilled to be able to assist at a birth that was natural and relaxed. A woman giving birth in water needs the help of the special skills in which midwives are trained, rather than the technological help which obstetricians are expert in.

References



Balaskas, J. 2004. The Water Birth Book. London: Harper Collins.

Church, L.K. 1989. Water birth: One birthing centre's observations. Journal of Nurse Midwifery. 34 (4). pp.13-16.

Department of Health. 1993. Changing Childbirth. Part 1: Report of the Expert Maternity Group. London: HMSO.

Garland, D. 2000. Waterbirth: an Attitude to Care. 2nd edition. Oxford: Books for Midwives Press.

Leboyer, F. 1983. Birth Without Violence. 9th Impression. London: Fontana (First published in France under the title Pour Une Naissance Sans Violence (1974) Editions du Seuil.)

Odent, M. 1994. Birth Reborn: What Childbirth Should Be. 2nd edition. London: Souvenir Press.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/referenc...yofwaterbirth/