Include Birthing Tubs at Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Childbirth Center
August 29, 2009
To: Executives/Executive Board of Colley Dickinson Hospital
From: Women of the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts
Re: Birthing Tubs and Waterbirth at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
We, women of the Pioneer Valley, pride ourselves on the ability to think for ourselves and make our own choices. We do our research, making sure we are as knowledgeable as possible in subjects that concern us or our families. With the knowledge that we gain by research, we therefore can make the best and most educated choices.
If we feel that our needs are not being met, or we do not have the choices we desire and believe to be most beneficial to us, then we are not afraid to fight for that choice, or to seek that choice elsewhere.
To this end, we feel Cooley Dickinson Hospital%u2019s refusal to install a birthing tub is unconscionable. As women interested in natural childbirth, we know waterbirth is a great, safe, drug-free option for helping to usher our babies into this world. A Comparative Study of Over 2,000 Waterbirths (see link for complete research): http://data.memberclicks.com/site/wi/FD_T_Waterbirth-AComparitiveStudy.pdf illustrates that episiotomy rates for waterbirth are far lower (non-waterbirths resulted in a nearly 2 times higher episiotomy rate), and a 25% higher rate of having a drug-free birth. This and other research papers also go on to illustrate the safety of waterbirth in a controlled and knowledgeable environment for both Mother and Baby.
Since the beginning of modern water births in Moscow in the 1960's and in France with Dr. Michel Odent in the 1970's, water birth has become an increasingly accepted alternative to the medical model. In the UK today, this kind of birth option is becoming extremely popular with half of UK hospitals having installed birth pools for their local communities. Women who birth in water are often ecstatic about their births. And they tell others about their experiences. It is a ripple effect.
Many Pioneer Valley women want this option for their births and will seek out other places - namely their own homes or Holyoke Hospital or Baystate Franklin Medical Center- if Cooley Dickinson Hospital chooses not to offer this option to them.
Studies have shown water birth to be a valid, safe mode of birth. In 1995 research was complied and published into 'Water Birth Unplugged', which gathered information from 19,000 water births around the world via the leading international water birth practitioners. Dr. Paul Johnson, a neonatal physiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England offered his findings about the newborn's dive reflex. This research provides information, scientifically confirmed, that a newborn is protected against breathing while underwater in the moments after leaving the birth canal and emerging out of the water. This research supported the existing research of two German researchers, Gerd Eldering and Konrad Selke and helped to design the safety guidelines for water birthing.
Benefits of laboring or giving birth in water include:
- significant pain relief
- reduces the need for drugs and interventions
- facilitates mobility
- enables the woman to adopt optimal positions for birth
- speeds up the labor
- promotes relaxation
- conserves energy for the birthing woman
- helps to reduce tearing
- creates an easier birth for the mother and a gentler birth for the baby
- lowers blood pressure of laboring woman
- increases sense of empowerment in the new mother, increases the mother-child bonding process
These are only a few of the many benefits that local Pioneer Valley women can achieve if heard by Cooley Dickinson Hospital. If CDH wants to be in the local forefront of this movement, if they remember that women in this community can choose to go elsewhere, birthing tubs will find their way into the CDH Childbirth Center.
August 29, 2009
To: Executives/Executive Board of Colley Dickinson Hospital
From: Women of the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts
Re: Birthing Tubs and Waterbirth at Cooley Dickinson Hospital
We, women of the Pioneer Valley, pride ourselves on the ability to think for ourselves and make our own choices. We do our research, making sure we are as knowledgeable as possible in subjects that concern us or our families. With the knowledge that we gain by research, we therefore can make the best and most educated choices.
If we feel that our needs are not being met, or we do not have the choices we desire and believe to be most beneficial to us, then we are not afraid to fight for that choice, or to seek that choice elsewhere.
To this end, we feel Cooley Dickinson Hospital%u2019s refusal to install a birthing tub is unconscionable. As women interested in natural childbirth, we know waterbirth is a great, safe, drug-free option for helping to usher our babies into this world. A Comparative Study of Over 2,000 Waterbirths (see link for complete research): http://data.memberclicks.com/site/wi/FD_T_Waterbirth-AComparitiveStudy.pdf illustrates that episiotomy rates for waterbirth are far lower (non-waterbirths resulted in a nearly 2 times higher episiotomy rate), and a 25% higher rate of having a drug-free birth. This and other research papers also go on to illustrate the safety of waterbirth in a controlled and knowledgeable environment for both Mother and Baby.
Since the beginning of modern water births in Moscow in the 1960's and in France with Dr. Michel Odent in the 1970's, water birth has become an increasingly accepted alternative to the medical model. In the UK today, this kind of birth option is becoming extremely popular with half of UK hospitals having installed birth pools for their local communities. Women who birth in water are often ecstatic about their births. And they tell others about their experiences. It is a ripple effect.
Many Pioneer Valley women want this option for their births and will seek out other places - namely their own homes or Holyoke Hospital or Baystate Franklin Medical Center- if Cooley Dickinson Hospital chooses not to offer this option to them.
Studies have shown water birth to be a valid, safe mode of birth. In 1995 research was complied and published into 'Water Birth Unplugged', which gathered information from 19,000 water births around the world via the leading international water birth practitioners. Dr. Paul Johnson, a neonatal physiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England offered his findings about the newborn's dive reflex. This research provides information, scientifically confirmed, that a newborn is protected against breathing while underwater in the moments after leaving the birth canal and emerging out of the water. This research supported the existing research of two German researchers, Gerd Eldering and Konrad Selke and helped to design the safety guidelines for water birthing.
Benefits of laboring or giving birth in water include:
- significant pain relief
- reduces the need for drugs and interventions
- facilitates mobility
- enables the woman to adopt optimal positions for birth
- speeds up the labor
- promotes relaxation
- conserves energy for the birthing woman
- helps to reduce tearing
- creates an easier birth for the mother and a gentler birth for the baby
- lowers blood pressure of laboring woman
- increases sense of empowerment in the new mother, increases the mother-child bonding process
These are only a few of the many benefits that local Pioneer Valley women can achieve if heard by Cooley Dickinson Hospital. If CDH wants to be in the local forefront of this movement, if they remember that women in this community can choose to go elsewhere, birthing tubs will find their way into the CDH Childbirth Center.
we have no natural birthing options in any Delaware hospitals, no tubs, no nothing. what can I do to change anything???
I hope you guys get it. I am going to start a petition for water birth at Berkshire Medical Center because I would LOVE to have a water birth!
For moms and babies, access to water immersion or hydrotherapy is a critical and proactive choice. Cynthia Lear Stokes, RN, BSN, Childbirth Educator
I recently switched from Northampton Midwifery Care to The Holyoke Midwife Practice in the 27th week of my pregnancy due to the lack of choices at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and their (in my opinion) high c-section rate and low vbac rate. Holyoke hospital offers birth tubs, patient controlled epidurals, and very open to a birthing mothers choices and wishes. Please bring a birth tubs to Cooley and give women more choices!!
Birth tubs have been shown to improve labor outcomes and decrease stress on both the mother and baby. If something is so cost efficient, how can the hospital not want to get it? When I have children, I will be seeking out a birth tub for my birth.
When two of my sons were born at Cooley Dickson Hospital we did not have the option of a birthing tub I wish it had been available then.
My wife would like to have the option of using a birthing tub during labor
I am currently pregnant and I believe woman should have the option to use a birthing tub if desired.
I'm a doula who believes that women have a right to experience the birth that they want and that will leave them most safe, satisfied, and proud. If water is what a mama wants- she should be able to seek out the resources locally to acheive her desired birthing situation.
In my personal experience, a birthing tub made natural labor possible, comfortable even! I think every woman should be encouraged to try this before medications, and at least be given the information about it and have it as an option!
after having waterbirths here in maine, i know the importance of women at least having the option.
I would like to say that I am pregnant with my first child and it has always been a dream of mine to give birth at CDH ever since my mother had such a good experience with my younger siblings. After research I fell in love with the idea of a waterbirth and was all but devastated when I found out that CDH didn't have that option. If I wasn't already 7 months pregnant (at the time) I would have switched practices. I believe that the waterbirth experience would be wonderful and should really be offered at CDH, especially considering the life style and views of most people from northampton. I have to say, unfortunately, when it comes time for my second child, I will go somewhere else if CDH doesn't offer waterbirthing
I am pregnant with my first child, and I decided months ago to give birth at CDH with the understanding that they were working on installing a birthing tub. It was my hope then that it would be installed by my due date, October 15; however, it still is not. I have met with the Holyoke midwives, and I am now considering changing hospitals so that a birthing tub is available to me. Having moved relatively recently to the area, I am shocked and disappointed that CDH is not as progressive as the town it resides in! It is still my hope that a birthing tub will be available in the near future!
The more natural birth the better, for both mother and child.
A birthing tub should be part of every state-of-the art modern birthing facility. I am amazed to hear that DCH does NOT have one yet!
Please make the Birthing Tub a reality instead of an "in-the-works" fairy tale!
I am due with my first baby on November 26th. Early in my pregnancy I decided to give birth at CDH with the understanding that they were in the process of getting a birthing tub and it would be there well before my due date. I am extremely disappointed that it is not in place yet and am considering switching my care to another hospital. Other women I have talked with are choosing to go elsewhere too. It is important that CDH provides the community with resources that are important to them! Please get a birthing tub now!
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. SAFE ENVIRONMENT. ALTERNATIVES. WHY NOT?
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My last grandchild was born in this gentle, peaceful fashion last year at Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, MA. It was a beautiful experience for both mother and child. I feel all woman should be given this option whenever possible.
It is astonishing that the option for water labor/birth is not already available. It is no wonder so many women are choosing homebirths. It seems to be the safest and the only way to have an empowering labor and birth.
I've had two of my children via water birth. Both births were very positive experiences. Of my four children, the two that were born in the water were the largest babies and by far the easiest births.
I just had my baby at CDH on Tuesday and feel that birthing tubs would be a great investment for the hospital. I wanted to have a water birth but did not want to go to Holyoke Hospital to do it since I love the new midwifery center and midwives at Cooley Dickinson. I would prefer to use a birthing tub for when I birth my next child. I think you would find more women choosing CDH as a birth place if the birthing tub option was available.
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