Water Birth Links and Resources

We are a major resource for waterbirth information and birthpool hire in Suffolk and East Anglia and waterbirth information and birthpool hire in Lancashire and the northwest.

We are continuously building up our reciprocal links with other useful sites (and email addresses) to help women network and keep themselves well-informed regarding the use of water in childbirth

Do contact us if you would like to set up a link with our website or have some useful suggestions for links and resources. Thank you.

Useful Websites

www.homebirth.org.uk

Provides information about home birth, for parents who think that it might be the right choice for them, and for health professionals looking for facts and ideas.

www.sheilakitzinger.com

www.birthchoiceuk.com

www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com

www.aims.org.uk

www.doula.org.uk

www.radmid.demon.co.uk

MIDIRS (Midwives Information and Resource Service) www.midirs.org is an educational charity set up in 1985, providing information and practical resources to maternity healthcare professionals.

www.birthinternational.com - Source of educational materials

www.parentpages.co.uk

A useful and informative uk family directory for parents

www.ceilsbabyshop.co.uk

A useful resource for sourcing baby supplies

www.bigyoulittleyou.com

Anna offers, amongst other things, Baby Massage and Baby Yoga in south Liverpool

www.hypnobirthinglancashire.co.uk

Find out more about hypnobirthing in Lancashire on Norma's site

www.hypnobirthingnw.co.uk

Find out more about hypnobirthing in the Wirrall on Susy O'Hare's site (Tel: 0151 201 6232 or 07769 583889)

'Midwifery Guidelines for the use of Water in Labour' by Ethel Burns and Sheila Kitzinger

Ethel Burns and Sheila Kitzinger have produced a new 2nd edition of the evidence-based set of practical guidelines for midwives on using water in labour and birth @ £6.50. Contact eburns@brookes.ac.uk

for more information and how to order your copy - or download an order form from Sheila Kitzinger's website.

Resting during labour in a birth pool

Independent Midwives

Find an independent midwife in your area:

www.independentmidwives.org.uk

Manchester Midwifery Practice

offers Independent Midwifery care - contact Judith Kurutac on 0161 434 4563

Liverpool Independent Midwives

contact Vicky Feeney

www.liverpoolindependentmidwives.co.uk

Yorkshire Storks

Chris Warren and colleagues offer a personalised midwifery service.

E-mail: birthyorkstorks@aol.com

Supervisors of Midwives

How to find your local Supervisor of Midwives in the northwest:

Email: marian.drazek@clha.nhs.uk to find out the name of a local Supervisor of Midwives, or write to: NorthWest LSA, Tenterfield, Brigsteer Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 5EA Tel: 01539 797815

Doulas & Birth Preparation & Parenting Classes :

www.rumplebums.co.uk

Lucy Coleman is a Doula based in the Stoke-on-Trent area. She also sells baby slings and organic baby toiletries

'Doula by Nature'

www.doulabynature.co.uk

Jude Robinson is a Doula based in Leigh covering the Lancashire and Greater Manchester region.

'Mothering Instincts'

www.motheringinstincts.com
Abi Yaffe is a Doula based in the Southport area and can support births in Ormskirk Hospital and homebirths in the surrounding areas.

Norwich Birth Group

www.norwichbirthgroup.co.uk

are a collective of doulas serving the Norwich and Norfolk area offering antenatal groups, birth support, and a baby garden for mums & babies, with peer breastfeeding support. They specialise in support for natural birth and home birth. (For your information, Blue Lagoon has a base in Rendlesham in Suffolk near Woodbridge - not too far from the Norwich area)

Another Norwich Doula

www.gentlebirthchoices.co.uk

Carla Jones is a Birth and Postnatal Doula in Norwich having completed a 'Nurturing Birth' training course in February 2008 and is a member of Doula UK

Pregnancy2Parenting

www.Pregnancy2Parenting.co.uk

offers private birth preparation and parenting classes run by professionals; offered individually in the home or in small groups in a variety of community settings. Based in Horwich.

Homebirth support groups

SUFFOLK

b.a.b.i.e.s.

http://www.babieseastsuffolk.com/

helping women and babies in East Suffolk to have better birth experiences.

supporting a campaign to open a community-based birth and maternity centre in Saxmundham

supports the local midwives

THE NORTHWEST

Greater Manchester Home Birth Support Group:

Supporting parents in Stockport, Manchester and Cheshire. Very supportive and informal monthly meetings, or contact them by email or phone.

www.homebirth-manchester.org email@homebirth-manchester.org

Tel 0845 330 6339

Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley Home Birth Group meets the first Tuesday of every month at St.Joseph's Hall in Leigh

Contact Jude Robinson (see Doula above) Email:jude@doulabynature.co.uk

Home: 01942 671128 Mobile: 07845 992444

Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation is a highly effective, extensively scientifically endorsed holistic technique bringing wide ranging benefits for all areas of life.

These benefits include personal relaxation, clearer, more creative thinking, better health and improvements in relationships with others and the world around us.

The technique is easy to learn and practice and the many benefits it brings could be of great interest to anyone planning a family.

This is the official website for Transcendental Meditation in the UK and a great source of information on this simple natural technique to improve the quality of our lives. Please click on the following link to find out more:Transcendental Meditation

And for the growing family when you, as parents, are thinking of the best education for your children, you may like to check out this link by clicking on Consciousness Based Education to see how Transcendental Meditation is used effectively in a school in the northwest of England.

Satisfaction after a waterbirth in a birth pool

Useful Books

Midirs, AIMS and the NCT all produce leaflets with information on the use of water.

Other books and videos are available from:

Ace Graphics, you can order a brochure at www.birthinternational.com or try ordering books from your local library as some are out of print.

Titles

Waterbirth an attitude to care by Dianne Garland (we also hold some copies)

Water Birth Unplugged edited by Beverley Lawrence Beech (AIMS) (we also hold some copies)

The Waterbirth Handbook by Dr Roger Lichy and Eileen Hertzberg (out of print)

Booklet: Water Labour Water Birth. A guide to the use of water during childbirth by Annie Sprague

Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper. Photographs and advice on the use of water in birth.

DVD's

The DVD's mentioned below can be purchased from the Birth International site

The Art of Birth. This Australian film explores the beauty and emotion surrounding gentle birth in water. Four births are included - two in a birth centre and two at home.

Birth As We Know It. This is the story of the Russian water birth experience directed by Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova. By going to birthintobeing.com you can watch a preview of the DVD and can order it from there or alternatively from the Ace Graphics site mentioned above. There are two versions: a short version of 40 minutes and the full version of 75 minutes plus 2 additional hours of commentaries.

George C. Denniston MD, MPH Retired Professor of Family Medicine, University of Washington President, Population Dynamics, Seattle WA President, Doctors Opposing Circumcision Former Associate Medical Director, Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently attended one of our Blue Lagoon Birth Workshops and has this to say about the 'Birth as We Know It' DVD.

'Every young woman in the world, before she even thinks of having a child, should see this film. She needs to know that she has a choice. The choice is between fear, and joy. Which will she choose? Before she can make that choice wisely, she must see the film, Birth as we Know it. It is about the happiest day in a woman’s life – the day she gives birth. This film will help her to have a joyous birth, instead of a possibly wretched birth. This film will help her avoid the pitfalls of “modern” medicine, which fails to recognize that birth is a normal, natural process that women have been carrying out successfully for five million years. This film will lead her toward experiencing the empowerment that a natural birth will give her, which is her birthright. It is unlikely that she will ever see as important a film again during her lifetime.'

Born in water. A sacred journey. Shows seven water births filmed in the US and Guatemala.

Birth in Water at John Flynn Hospital in Queensland, Australia

Water Babies which shows water births in Ostend in Belgium made in 1996

We hope the sites and books included on this page will be of some help to you. We do not necessarily endorse the views they express.

page last updated on 06/03/2010

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