Understanding Water Birth: Benefits, Risks & What to Expect

Question
I noticed that you were skilled in water birth and I have just heard about that. I am not pregnant at the moment but I am looking to start trying pretty soon and I was just wondering if you could explain to me what this is all about. Does it help with the pain, what are the benefits and disadvantages? I am clueless about these things but I want to educate myself on various types of birth to know which will be best for myself and my baby in the future.
Thanks

Answer
Hello Ashley. When a laboring woman spends time in deep, warm water, her labor is much easier to handle, therefore she is less stressed and thus the baby is less stressed. Being born from a warm wet place into a warm wet place is very calming for the baby. No, the baby will not drown. It will not attempt to breath until it's skin hits the air. Once the whole baby has slipped from Mother's body, it is brought to the surface of the water and it will breathe. There are many birthing centers that have birthing tubs, the occasional hospital has one- though rare and most homebirth midwives work with water birth. There are several books on the market about water birth- look in Amazon.com. Since you are preparing for the future, I strongly suggest you read these two books as well. They are Open Season and The Silent Knife- both by Nancy Wainer Cohen. She is THE expert in preventing c/sections. She has a website in her name and you might also enjoy a site called BirthLove.All the best-Cheri.