Water Birth 

Simply put, water birth has inherent risks that do not exist in land birth. With appropriate attention, those risks can lowered.  

Due to one aspect of these risks, bacterial infection, The Arizona Department of Health has issued a safety guideline for water birth. This guideline can be found online at this address: 

http://www.azdhs.gov/documents/licensing/special/midwives/training/guidelines-for-water-immersion-water-birth.pdf

From the Guideline:

Recommended Birth Pools and Components

  • Portable pools designed and manufactured for use as birth pools for which the manufacturer has provided cleaning and disinfecting instructions. These pools should be used with liners.

  • Single-use disposable pools.

  • Pools with removable jets and a pipeless system.

  • The pool should be deep enough for water immersion.

Pools NOT Recommended 

  • Pools/tubs with piped recirculating water systems of any type that have heaters, jets and/or overflow drains that cannot be easily cleaned. These features may harbor biofilms.

  • Examples include Spa-in-a-Box, Soft Tub, and jetted tubs in client’s home.

  • Client’s (or center's) bathtubs are not recommended due to the presence of recirculating and heating systems in the tub as a place where biofilm develops

  • If the client’s home bath is used for water labor or water birth, clean and disinfect the tub. A pool liner is highly recommended.

The guideline is fairly clear about disposable and lined tubes being the safest pools to use.  For this reason, we have chosen to use a blowup pool with a disposable liner. We also use brand new hose and pump is used with each water birth. 

UPDATE

For those who would like water submersion as an option for labor management, we have installed a copper soaking tub.

We selected copper due to its natural anti-bacterial bacterial properties. This tub also provides the depth necessary to achieve optimal pain reduction.

We do not suggest using this tub for birthing in, but for soaking during labor, it is perfect.

Links to pages in this Info Section