Coombe marks 100th water birth but why is the figure so low?
MORE water births should take place in Irish hospitals, according to a leading midwife – who also claims pregnancy is still seen as an illness in Ireland.
Research midwife Paula Barry works at the Coombe maternity hospital in Dublin, which this week marks its 100th water birth. It is the only hospital in the Republic offering this option.
Ms Barry believes Ireland has become over-medicalised, leaving women without enough options. She said: ‘We’ve had just over 100 water births now but it could be over 1,000. We are so used to everything being quite medical. There’s a place for epidurals for women who need them and C-sections but you can tip too far on that side and have too many.
‘I really feel we need to look at the wellness model. There is still a bit of thinking that pregnancy is an illness. We know a lot of women want midwives who communicate with them; they want to feel in control.’
During a water birth, women are supported in water at a temperature of 37 degrees to help with pain relief and do not g an epidural. Midwives use a Doppler to monitor the baby’s heartbeat but constant CTG monitoring is not applied.
Nerve receptors on a baby’s face interpret the water as though still being in the womb and they only breathe when lifted into the cool air. Jacqueline Strawbridge, from Dublin, had a water birth at the Coombe in September 2015, when she had her second son Guy.
She said: ‘It’s a beautiful water birth room. The whole experience was as chilled as birth can be. It’s a massive bath, and we had music playing – Little Red Corvette, which I love. It was great. The water does help with the pain, it eases it. It was still painful but it helps. The light was very dim, the midwife was sitting there with just a tiny light over me.’
Jacqueline, whose husband was present during the labour, added: ‘It felt so safe and the midwife was great. If we have a third child, I’d love to have a water birth again. I was so happy afterwards – it was a hormonal high.’