While flipping through Barbara Harpers, Gentle Birth Choices, I came upon a great passage that disclosed many answers to common misconceptions about the safety of babies being born in water. There are certainly too many topics to mention here, but we can skim the question most commonly asked: "How does the baby breath during a waterbirth?" To really answer this question, one must understand that a newborn in utero only has contact with the mothers amniotic fluid, and ocean-like atmosphere and has no need to breath. The human body amazes me everyday. And learning that a baby actually "breaths" by taking the oxygenated air through the umbilical cord harmoniously shared by this perfect partnership.... WHOA! Try explaining that to my 4 year old who wants to know what bellybuttons are for! The temperature of the water is so close to that of the maternal temperature that it prevents any detection of change within the newborn. It is not until the newborn infants skin, especially around the nose and mouth, makes contact with the air, that the baby will take its first breath.
I took this picture with Barbara Harper in January of 2009, at a Waterbirth International workshop. It was the first birth related workshop that I had ever attended. Coming across this picture, taken what feels like forever ago, made me really realize that this journey is a life long one that I am blessed to embark upon. And again, I am sending gratitude to all of those who I have met and helped to guide me along the way!
(For more info check out the Waterbirth International website)
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