This text is made for private individuals who have bought or rented a birth pool.
The hope is that this post will make the process a little easier and clear up common questions before you book or buy a birthing pool.
You who rent a birthing pool from us will receive more information in a manual that will be sent to you.
Remember!
Most birthing pools come in different designs, e.g. personal or professional. Personal is for private use, professional is for multiple use, e.g. in the maternity ward where the maternity pool will be exposed to more wear and tear and are therefore made of thicker material.
Before booking or purchasing, please check:
1. Carrying capacity
Some are worried that the weight of the birthing pool will be too heavy for one's house or apartment. This obviously differs from home to home, but here is a formula you can use as a starting point:
The pool's load will be approximately 400 kg per square meter (including water and you as the child). The standard when building residential buildings is to be able to load each square meter with 200 kg. Therefore, a point load of 400 kg per square meter should not be a problem. In order to make a more accurate calculation, you need to know what the house is standing on, eg concrete slab, crawl space, etc.
2. Space
Do you have space for the birthing pool in your home or in the hospital?
Review the birthing pools and compare their measurements. Also make sure that the place you intend to have the birthing pool can handle the load and is relatively close to both drains and mixers (water faucet) to be able to fill and empty efficiently.
3. Amount of water
Is your household/hospital able to supply the amount of water needed?
How much hot water do you have?
An alternative is to boil pots/kettles with water if you don't have enough hot water.
Note! For water births, warm water around 37-38 degrees is recommended.
Overview of accessories
Accessories required:
- Air pump
- Liners
Optional accessories:
- Heat cap
- Whoa
- Water pump
- Mirror (see yourself/others during birth)
- Eco hose + tap couplings
- Thermometer (check water temperature)
- Pressing/incontinence protection
- Small towels (wet, cold on the forehead/neck)
Liners
Liner is a disposable cover that is placed in the birthing pool to reduce the risk of infection and blood contamination between users of the same birthing pool. The liner also facilitates cleaning after using the birthing pool.
Without a liner, your birthing pool may get stains that cannot be washed off.
Liner is a disposable product and should not be reused!
If you have purchased a birthing pool for private use, liners are not a must if you are only going to use the birthing pool. But if you want another family member or friend to also use the pool or if you want to resell it, liners must be used.
Liner is of course a must in birthing pools for hire.
Air pump
You must have an air pump to inflate your birthing pool, you cannot do it manually, for example with your mouth. It should preferably be an air pump with three different sizes of nozzles and an outlet and inlet.
You use the air pump to fill the birthing pool with air and deflate it.
If you have more thoughts or questions about the accessories, visit the online store or email us and we will help you further.
When you have received your birthing pool
1. Control & use
Place:
Inflate and ensure that your birthing pool does not leak air and fits in the intended place. Preferably a place that is not too far from emptying and filling water. A plus is if you have a window or place for a fan near the birthing pool, as it is easy for birthing people to overheat in the birthing pool.
Inflatable birthing pools are susceptible to punctures. Make sure that the intended location is free from punctures, cuts and damage to the floor or other sharp objects nearby.
Scaffolds:
If you want, you can now test how it feels to sit and/or lie in the birthing pool. Get to know what feels like comfortable positions for you with a potential partner so that you feel familiar with your birthing pool.
Tips on scaffolding can be found HERE .
Security:
Place a towel, tarpaulin, incontinence pad under the birthing pool in case of leakage or to catch water when exiting. It is also good as an extra protection against possible damage to your floor. Should the birthing pool get a puncture, the other chambers hold the pool up so that the water does not pour out/empty completely.
Always have a towel next to the birthing pool to avoid a fall accident when getting in and out!
2. Inflate
Leave the birthing pool in the intended location 2-3 weeks before the expected birth (BF). The birthing pool can be about 80% inflated, you inflate the last percent when labor has started. Leave the liner in its package until it's time - then you avoid it collecting dust during the weeks it waits for birth.
Before the birthing pool is fully inflated, the liner is put in first THEN you inflate it 100%. The air pressure in the birthing pool tightens the liner so it sits firmly in place.
Video: https://youtu.be/phSkJvpedXs
We do not recommend filling your birthing pool with water before the birth has started.
Adjust height:
In a La bassine maxi birthing pool, you can release the air from the middle chamber to regulate the height of the birthing pool. This is nice for slightly shorter women or those with e.g. ovulation/pelvic pain.
3. Filling
Eko s lang:
We want to reduce all chemicals we can therefore recommend an ecological hose when filling the birthing pool as this water is the water in which the baby will be born.
If only you are going to use the hose, you can use it both when filling and emptying. The hose can then be reused to water the lawn.
If the tube is to be reused by other births, one tube for filling and one for emptying is recommended, this to minimize the risk of blood contamination/risk of infection.
If you don't have a hose, you can fill manually with buckets, pans or kettles.
Mixers & faucet couplings:
If you have a hose, you connect the hose with a faucet connection to the nearest faucet to fill the birthing pool with water. If the birth is quick, the mother can go down into the birthing pool and fill it with water at the same time, spray water on the back for pain relief or where the pain is.
It is important, however, that the child must be born water to water. The child must not be born from water, take air and then go back into the water.
Faucet couplings that are included with our hryespools have the standard dimensions for mixers in Sweden.
Older models usually have external threads and newer models internal threads.
For ultra-modern faucets, we recommend universal couplings that are attached to the outside of the faucet. These rarely hold completely tight. Some newer mixers are not even compatible with universal couplings - then choose another mixer.
Water level:
Each birthing pool has a stretch on the inside - remember not to fill up exactly to the stretch as the water level is raised after 1-2 people sit in the birthing pool.
Keeping hot water:
By using a heating lid, the birthing pool keeps warm water for longer. Soft birthing pools keep the heat better than, for example, a bathtub made of dull material. In a room with 25 degrees, the temperature decreases about 1 degree per hour. If the water has lost heat, empty the birthing pool of cold water using e.g. buckets and then fill with new hot water either through a hose, buckets, pans, kettle.
4. Emptying
Have:
Use a net to remove membranes, blood, faeces, hair and other things that can create blockages in the water pump's intake.
Empty with water pump & hose:
Place the water pump on the bottom of the birthing pool, the pump has suction plugs under it, attach the water hose to the water pump, plug the water pump into the electrical outlet, hold the hose to the nearest downward drain. Empty the birthing pool as much as you can. Eventually you reach such a low water level that the water pump can no longer empty. Then collect the liner to create a "bag of water" that you hold over the nearest drain and cut open to empty.
Other ways to drain:
You can choose to empty the birthing pool manually with a hose through the so-called "hose".
Alternatively, empty the birthing pool of water manually using buckets. This is heavy work and takes a long time but it also works.
5. Cleaning
When you have thrown away the liner, you clean the birthing pool with water and soap, then disinfect. Let it dry properly before you put it in its bag, moisture left in cracks/walls can create mould!
There are simple disinfectant wipes from Dettol.
Water pump cleaning:
La bassine's water pumps are small but efficient. Place the water pump in a bucket/plastic box or similar with hot water and chlorine. Let the pump stand for at least 10 minutes. Then pick up the water pump and remove parts to remove any dirt/hair that may be stuck inside the pump.
6. Roll up
To avoid ruining the birthing pool's bag, it is very important that you empty the birthing pool properly of air! The easiest way to do this is by using the air pump.
Below is a description of how best to empty your La bassine birthing pool, both the large and small version.
Fold the birthing pool
There are no right ways to fold the birthing pool, but the instruction below is what we came up with to get the pool down into its associated sack.
- Fold the pool in half, applies to both the small and large birthing pool. Remember that the walls of the original (the smaller pool) should be over the base.
- Then fold the Maxi (the larger pool) in half again.
- Start rolling up the pool from the side where there are no black blowholes.
- When the pool is rolled up like a cinnamon bun, put your body weight on top of the pool to get the last bit of air out.
- Now put the sack on one side of the pool. When you've got the sack around the pool, you can put it on top and pull the rest of the sack over it.
Feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you think or if you're missing something.
Good luck!
HIRE La bassine birthing pool
BUY La bassine birthing pool
Big hug,
Sandra