Hospital Water Birth at the University of Michigan with Midwives
Hospital Water Birth. This is something we don’t hear very often. But it DOES happen! Select hospitals around the country and the world offer tubs for labor AND birth! University of Michigan offers water births. If you are having your baby at U of M, and you want to give birth in the tub, (even if you are an OB patient,) they will call in a midwife to catch your baby in the water ;)
A few weeks ago, I was able to be a doula and photographer for my client who had to be induced for a medical reason. Her first birth was fast, fairly easy and very laid back, and she was hoping the same for this birth. Sometimes our bodies and babies have different plans.
After a few shifts in the induction schedule due to a busy floor of patients, my client finally got admitted and into a room to start her induction. When they called me to come in, they had been laboring all day together plus the night before. We walked the halls, sat on the toilet, sat on the ball, laid down to rest and repeated it. The miles circuit, lunges, side lying release, and more. Inductions can take a while. You are asking your body to do something it’s not quite ready to do and it needs time to do it.
After a full day of contractions and facing a second night at the hospital. It was nearly midnight and my client was TIRED. Her body went through a lot and she needed rest. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep with the pitocin turned on and contracting all night. We talked about turning off the pitocin so that she could get a few hours of rest. Her body and baby went through a lot in the last 30+ hours and she needed to get some sleep so that she could do it again tomorrow.
One of the nurses mentioned, ‘the goal here is to have a baby!’…which, honestly, rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, the goal IS to have a baby, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s sticking to your birth plan when safe and possible, it’s letting your uterus take a break from pitocin induced contractions, letting your body and mind rest, and it’s NOT leaving the hospital completely wrecked from a long induction with no sleep with a newborn baby to care for.
Their baby was doing great and there was no medical reason to ‘push through’.
You CAN pause and induction (when it’s medically safe) and you can rest. You aren’t going to dilate backwards and loose what you’ve gained. If you are truly in labor, the contractions will continue and things will progress. This is what her intuition told her to do. It’s what her body told her to do. And it was the right choice for her birth! So that’s what we did. They advocated for themselves and what felt right, and the midwives listened. I share this because I want people to know that it IS possible!
After 6 hours of rest, my client woke up and felt much better. She ate breakfast, showered, and restarted the induction. Things progressed much more quickly the second day and she was in active labor by the early afternoon. When I arrived again, she was in the tub and I could SEE the difference right on her face. This was it, and baby would be here soon.
The wonderful thing about University of Michigan, as long as it’s medically safe, you can have your baby in the tub. She had her first baby in the tub, and hoped to have this baby there as well. My clients husband was doing an incredible job in supporting her. Teamwork is so important in labor and he was right there, helping with every contraction, applying pressure and hip squeezes and doing whatever necessary for her. It was amazing to watch! She felt pushy as the afternoon went on and the midwife came into the room and patiently waited. Sarah started pushing on her own, no-one coached her, we just supported her. Her body knew what to do.
After a few pushes their sweet baby girl was earthside! What an incredible birth story. Even when things don’t go as planned, you can still have an empowering and powerful birth. I’m always grateful to witness these births and even more glad to share them. We all need to know that birth can look like this! Thank you for sharing your story, Sarah and for choosing me to be a part of it.
