When
you arrive at AquaNatal Birth Spa in labor...
You will occupy the private
birth suite of your choice. The perfect alternative to home or hospital
settings, you will have safety, privacy, and the option to labor
as you choose. This is your birth. A completely personal event,
you may choose to labor with the support of very few people and
the monitoring of your midwife. Or you may see your birth as a family
experience and any family, friends, or support professionals you
want to be with you are welcomed. We easily incorporate fathers,
partners, and children into the process. In addition to the private
suite, there are kitchenette facilities and a family room for your
guests.
We take birth plans very seriously, unobtrusively
monitoring labor with a minimum of vaginal examinations.
You will be encouraged and supported in moving and laboring in whatever
way is most comfortable for you and that allows you the greatest
level of relaxation and mastery of coping with your labor. You may
walk, sit, lie in bed, and relax in our 110-gallon birthing tub.
You may also choose to give birth there.
Water birth...
Warm water often helps muscles relax. Sometimes referred
to the "midwife's epidural", the combination of buoyancy and relaxation
seems to lower stress and allow the laboring woman's body to function
very efficiently. Babies seem to like it too. The transition from
water to water eases the entry for many babies and has a soothing
effect on the whole family. Puget Sound Birth Center midwives are
very comfortable with and skilled in water birth and will offer
it as an option for birth when appropriate.
Partner participation...
We take partners' role as parents very seriously
and welcome and encourage their full participation. When appropriate,
fathers or partners may "catch" their baby (after the midwife has
guided the delivery of the head and shoulders).
"Fathers who accepted the opportunity to 'catch'
their own babies (in uncomplicated births with supervision) were
twice as involved with their baby three months after the births
as the dads who had not had this experience".
Dr. John Gottman, The Relationship Research Institute, on a study
conducted by obstetricians Myron Levine and Robert Black.
At the moment of your birth and the precious moments
following it, our focus is to allow you the fullness of this time
together uninterrupted with as little interference as possible.
Mother and baby are never separated and both are monitored and tended
to together.
