The first family to have a waterbirth at Abbott.
Blooma loves hearing about and sharing the latest options in birth throughout the Twin Cities. So when we learned that waterbirth recently became an option at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, we had to give a little cheer!
A Coon Rapids mom claimed the honor of the first mom to deliver in a tub there, welcoming baby girl Kaelyn on Sept. 15.
“I can’t imagine what it would have been like without the water,” said the mom, Aimee. “It was so relaxing and a huge pain management tool.”
Most women who’ve experienced waterbirth say they couldn’t imagine it any other way. The benefits are immeasurable: easier movement during labor and delivery, natural pain relief, warmth and relaxation. And for baby, an “easier, more gentle transition from mother’s womb to an external ‘womb’ of water that is weightless, warm, wet and soft.”
Blooma families, we’d love to hear from you about your waterbirth experiences: What would you say to couples considering waterbirth? And where did you deliver?
If you’re deciding where to have your baby and birthing in the water is something you’re interested in, see below for other places in the Twin Cities metro that offer waterbirth. Your options are homebirth midwives, birth centers and various hospitals.
When making your decision, be sure to ask your specific care provider if he/she does water birth, how comfortable he/she (and the group) is with waterbirth, and what the success rate is of water births for the given group and/or hospital.
Hospitals:
• HCMC Midwives (Minneapolis)
• St. Joseph’s Hospital (St. Paul)
• Woodwinds Health Campus (Woodbury)
• Regions Hospital (St. Paul)
• Hudson Hospital (Hudson, WI)
Freestanding Birth Centers:
• Health Foundations Family Health & Birth Center (St. Paul)
• Morning Star Birth Center (St. Louis Park)
We’ve also heard that the midwives at Methodist Hospital plan to add water birth as an option sometime in 2012. If we’ve missed listing any other waterbirth resources, please let us know! And to learn more about waterbirth, head over to Waterbirth International for a slew of great info!
Love,
Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma
Not to toot my family’s horn, but we were just interviewed for WCCO-TV about our experience with the HCMC midwives who are celebrating 40 years of care! In the piece, I point out the tub where I spent most of my labor with my son, Kai, who is now 4 1/2 years old. I also mention how with my second daughter, I was surprised when I chose not to have a waterbirth and instead she was a happy land baby! We loved HCMC and all of the choices available with the midwives…
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6286031
Hudson! (I know, a little outside the metro area but they have plenty of metro area patients.) And you don’t even need to be receiving care from the midwives there. Dr. Hartung supports them too. With that said, for my first baby, I liked laboring in the shower better than the tub.
Oh, yes, Hudson for sure! And Dr. Hartung is a favorite among many.
Health Foundations in the Georgiana Suite tub on a cold and very snowy night in February after lots of Pizza Luce deliveries and yoga upstairs… Gotta love the fabulous birthing crew at Health Foundations. Dr Amy Johnson Grass has designed an ideal space in which to labor and have a baby. What a lovely tub. My daughter asks to take a bath pretty much every time we are there– kinda wish we could.
@Molly: Such a wonderful interview! Thanks for sharing it with us. Great job. And a big congrats to the HCMC midwives on 40 years! @ Kailleagh/Laurette: Yes, the birthing suites at Health Foundations are gorgeous!
We did a homebirth waterbirth (VBAC even) with a wonderful midwife and doula. It was fantastic – the tub wasn’t ready (baby was 8 days early!) so I labored in our own regular bathtub and got in the big tub when it was ready…well, mostly ready as it took a while to get enough hot water filled and labor was moving fast! At the most intense part of labor, my mind was saying “I can’t wait to do this again!” During each big contraction, I had water poured on my belly – SO nice to be in water! Can’t imagine what the pain would’ve been without it!
I delivered my second and third babies at St. Josephs in St. Paul, both waterbirths. I would never do it any other way, my third birth was the best as I had no fear, and new what to expect. I highly recommend considering a waterbirth!
Water births will be available at Fairview Riverside next week!