Until very recently, water birth was a Rare avis in Spain. However, at present, some hospitals offer new options to women and have the necessary equipment to carry out this delivery method of low intervention, indicated only for those pregnancies that have passed without complications and for those who are expected to have the birth equally without them.
"Any woman who can have a natural birth can have one under water," he says. Cristina Pérez Villalta, midwife of the CIMA Barcelona Hospital, whose obstetrics unit has a pool in the conditioned delivery room, both to provide relief to the woman during the dilation phase, and to give birth in the bathtub, if desired.
Benefits for the mother
The benefits are clear, according to Pérez Villalta. “Water, at body temperature of about 37º, alleviate the pain of the woman. Also, it makes me more relaxed, which allows it to secrete endorphins, the body's natural analgesic hormones. It also helps that the perineum area is better distended and that the mother, weighing less in the water, move more freely and look for the best positions that facilitate the placement and descent of the baby. ”
Not all women do the expulsive in the water, but many remain during dilation in the pool and then give birth outside it
In 2010, the Ministry of Health launched the Normal Delivery Care Strategy with the distribution of a clinical practice guide to promote a less interventional and medicalized delivery model. "The immersion in hot water moderately reduces pain, facilitates relaxation and reduces the use of epidural analgesia, provided that it is performed during the active phase of the first stage of labor (greater than 4 centimeters of dilation)," says the guide.
Benefits for the baby
Being born underwater does not only have advantages for the mother. As Pérez Villalta points out, for the baby, “the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life is softer and less stressful going from a medium with amniotic fluid at a constant temperature, to an aquatic environment at the same temperature ”.
Not all women do the expulsive (exit of the baby) into the water, but many remain during dilation in the pool and then give birth outside it. The goal is for the mother recover the prominence and be as comfortable as possible throughout labor.
No additional risk
The midwife of the CIMA Barcelona Hospital ensures that water birth does not represent any additional risk for the woman and her child. “While the baby remains in the water, keep breathing through the placenta. Therefore, he does not have the stimuli to breathe or cry, and there is no danger of aspiration ”.
A good part of the women who have chosen to have their children born underwater point out that the water calms the pain, they feel light in this environment and can move easily
At this point, Pérez Villalta points out that, like any normal natural birth, it should be properly monitored by health professionals. “In this mode of delivery, what we do at CIMA Barcelona is an intermittent monitoring of the woman to see the fetal heart rate, in addition to checking every hour the mother's body temperature and that of the water to prevent it from overheating. Being in a hospital, if any complications arise, the woman will be taken out of the pool and the actions deemed most convenient will be carried out, whether in the delivery room or in the operating room ”.
Many of the women who have chosen to have their children born underwater at CIMA Barcelona, which has offered this option for two months, had previously given birth by conventional methods. “All agree that the birth has been easier, not only because they are no longer new, but because the water calms the pain, they feel light in this environment and can move easily. Some ended up, in previous deliveries, with exhausted legs, and not this time. Giving birth in water helps conserve energy ”.
