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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Guest Blog: Saltwater Birth: A How-To



My husband and I spent our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, and I will never forget that magical vacation! We spent every day lying on the beach or swimming in the beautiful Pacific ocean, and it was so relaxing. After our great beach-side vacation I knew that when the time came for me to give birth to my child, I wanted to have a saltwater birth.

Saltwater birth has many advantages. The extra salt in saltwater has special properties that help relax women so that they don't feel any labor pains. Salt water is also naturally warmer and more organic than tap water, and it's much safer because tap water gets filtered at the sewage factory and they add chemicals to it that will make your child obese.

If you've decided on a saltwater birth of your own, here are the steps you need to follow to make sure everything goes according to plan:

After you find out you're pregnant, the very first thing you should do (after getting a midwife and signing up for the Babies R Us registry) is to send away for the saltwater birthing tub and supplies, because they can take several months to arrive.

Once you have the birthing tub, set it up in a room of your choice (we set it up in our living room), and inflate it. The next step is to line the bottom of the tub with 2 to 4 inches of sand. Then, arrange the rocks and driftwood so that the Feng Shui alignment is positive. Next, fill the birthing tub with saltwater. We imported ours from a saltwater cave in Borneo, but we realize that not every mother is selfless enough to go to such great lengths and expense. If that mother is you, just drive to the nearest ocean and fill up some jugs with whatever you can get. (Make sure the tide is on the ebb, though, or your baby's IQ will be 5 points lower.)

The final step is to add the plants to the birthing tub. Ideally, you should add the plants at least a week before you expect to give birth to give them a chance to take root. Plan ahead, keeping in mind that it's not uncommon for women to go 3, 4, or even 5 weeks past their due date.

If you really want to go the extra mile in recreating the soothing and fun atmosphere of a beach, you can also mount some sun lamps around the birthing pool and point them directly at the water. The way the light shines off of the water when it ripples is very pretty!

During the extensive Internet research we did about saltwater births we only found one potential hazard, but it's important enough that women should definitely know the risk before deciding whether saltwater birth is for them: sometimes algae can form along the sides of the birthing tub, making the water look all icky. All you have to do to get rid of the algae, though, is to introduce some algae-eating fish into the birthing pool and they should clean everything right up. Popular algae-eaters include sea urchins, surgeon fish, rabbitfish, and certain types of snails.

By following these easy steps, you too can experience the kickass saltwater birth you've always wanted! And saltwater is naturally buoyant, so the baby should float right up to the surface with ease.

SeaGoddess13 is an loyal unschooler who just had her 3rd child via salt water birth!


By SeaGoddess13

7 comments:

  1. CrunchyWaterGoddessMarch 13, 2011 at 7:40 PM

    Oh come on Mama Tao, you really have to raise the standards on your guest posters. Everyone who is TRULY educated about natural childbirth knows that their is NOTHING natural about birthing in a tub! The only truly natural way to go is birth in open water. Our ancestors didn't have fancy birthing tubs. They just waded out into a pond :)

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  2. CrunchyWaterGoddess I totally agree with you but this blog caters to all types of wymen--even those who live in cities!! Duh ;)

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  3. I really do wonder at the wimmin who skimp on the quality of water used to fill the pool !

    How can you not do your best by your child ?

    Surely if money is tight all that is needed is the father to get a forth or fifth job ?

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  4. i made sure i had some frogs lay eggs in my salt water i hear that increases the iq of the baby by 12 points.

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  5. remember back when the midwife came to the birth with nothing more than a trained snapping turtle to turn loose in the pond to snip the cord ?i hope this is going to let me post , im not really anonymous,,, sincerely babz covington

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  6. This is interesting stuff. Birthing a child in saltwater?? I was writing a story that involved a mother giving birth, and I thought it would be wonderful if she did it differently from the norm. I thought about the sting of saltwater with open wounds which made me question the viability of the practice. But after doing a search I see now that its more common than I could have ever imagined. But I must say, having to add algae-eating fish to the water you plan on submerging into makes me cringe.

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  7. This is interesting stuff. Birthing a child in saltwater?? I was writing a story that involved a mother giving birth, and I thought it would be wonderful if she did it differently from the norm. I thought about the sting of saltwater with open wounds which made me question the viability of the practice. But after doing a search I see now that its more common than I could have ever imagined. But I must say, having to add algae-eating fish to the water you plan on submerging into makes me cringe.

    ReplyDelete