Watch a video about normal labour and delivery
Labour in water has long been used as a method of pain relief. Delivery underwater has increased in popularity in the last decade, and we have pools at all our Birth Centres and in the Delivery Suite at the Great Western Hospital.
Discuss with your Midwife who will assess your suitability for a water birth.
What to bring You may wear a loose T-shirt if you wish.
Your local pool options Birthing pools available at all units
If you decide to have your baby at the Princess Anne Wing, Bath or Chippenham, Frome, Paulton, Shepton Mallett or Trowbridge Birth Centres you will have the option of a Midwife ventouse delivery.
Our Midwife Ventouse Practitioners (MVPs) provide a service that formerly was only available from a Doctor. Their philosophy is that most women are able to give birth unaided, but that a few will occasionally need assistance. They offer a service which is speedy, safe and compassionate and have assisted hundreds of women giving birth.
Midwife Ventouse Practitioners are available to help if you are tiring at the end of labour, and/or if a baby's heart rate is giving cause for concern in labour. If your cervix is fully dilated, and the baby's head is almost visible, MVPs are able to apply a soft suction cup (the ventouse cup) to the baby's head, and gently pull as the mother pushes, to assist the baby into the world.
If there are any factors that are not completely straightforward, e.g. if the baby's head is lying at an awkward angle, a MVP will not perform the delivery, but will refer the you to an Obstetrician.