Do Kettering General Hospital have a birthing pool? Yes they do, two of them in fact!

Can you have a waterbirth at KGH? The answer is yes you can!

Naomi shares her birth story…

“After a very normal day for 39 weeks pregnant I went to bed with no feelings that labour may be looming. Once in bed I couldn’t get comfortable and was quite restless, but again, nothing particularly unusual. Then at around 11pm I felt a ‘pop’ followed by a wetness. I got up and went to the toilet, put a pad on and then woke my Husband who had been asleep for an hour! I called Kettering General Hospital’s delivery suite they advised that I stay home for a couple of hours as at that point I wasn’t experiencing any contractions. So, what to do for a couple of hours when I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep!

I bounced on my ball and finished my book. My husband sat and tied up some loose ends he had for work! Two hours later and still nothing seemed to be happening, so we called delivery suite again and they told us to come in. We arrived at the hospital at about 2am on the 16th June, they established that it was my waters that had gone and after being put on the monitor I was having a few very mild contractions. They booked me for an induction 24hours post my waters breaking in the hope that I wouldn’t need it and sent us home.

We arrived home at about 4am and tried to get some sleep. At about 6am I woke with a few mild cramps so got up made a cuppa, had some breakfast and bounced on my ball. At about 8am I decided that I should probably wake up my husband as the contractions were starting to become a bit more frequent. At about 9am I ran a bath and just remember the relief when I got into it. My husband lay on the landing timing contractions! By 11ish things had really begun to intensify and we rang delivery suite again and they advised that we head on in.

We arrived just before 12 midday- I was shown to a room, given some gas and air and then examined and was 6cm dilated. We talked about other pain relief, but I knew that I didn’t really want pethidine if I could help it as even a couple of codeine make me gaga and I was coping fairly well so didn’t feel I needed an epidural! So we stuck with the gas and air and opted to give the pool a try. The instant relief it gave me was amazing!

At about 2pm (this is when timing get fuzzy) I got out of the pool as they wanted me to try and go for a wee- I couldn’t so I had an intermittent catheter put in and was examined- I was now 9cm dilated! After a bit of convincing from my husband I got back into the pool and not long after I just remember saying that I couldn’t do it anymore!

Jacob was born in the pool at 15.04 weighing 6lb 2oz. To say I was amazed that I had given birth vaginally was an understatement! I’m a nurse who catastrophises and have a mum and a sister who have both had C-sections- so I was truly amazed at what my body had just done! A few stitches later and Jacob appearing to be feeding well we were up on the ward- we were kept in for 24 hours as they wanted to monitor Jacobs blood sugar as he was deemed to be a little on the small side. I can truly say I couldn’t have hoped for a more positive experience and would recommend a pool birth to anyone!”

If you would like to fully prepare for labour and birth, no matter what that might look like for you, then click “learn more” below!