Midwife FAQ #3: “If you are in the tub, what do you wear?”

Honestly, this is not an FAQ.  But it was funny, and I doubt my dear friend would mind me using her question on my blog.  She’s the only person who has asked me this, but I’m sure that if she thought of it, other people must have wondered it too.  Also, I am in the mood for a short post today after my long-winded ramblings from the last couple posts.

I did not wear anything when I got in the birth tub.  Other mothers sometimes wear a bathing suit top or a sports bra.  Some may even wear shorts until it’s time to push and then take them off.   My friend who asked me this was kind of horrified at the thought of being naked in front of “all those people,” saying that she at least had a gown to cover up when she had her baby.  Now, I admit, I was also naked when I gave birth to my first child in the hospital.  I just kept getting really hot and I decided I didn’t care.  By the time my daughter was born, there were at least 7 adults in my hospital room besides me: my husband, my doula, my OB, a nurse for me, a nurse for the baby, a nursing student, and a pediatrician (the only man besides my husband, and he just ducked in at the last possible second and was gone before I knew it).  There may have been more–I didn’t have my glasses on, so I couldn’t really see, and I wasn’t paying attention to anything else besides trying to push the baby out.

At the birth center, there were 3 people present for the birth: my husband, my midwife, and my midwife’s apprentice.  So even when I was laboring and floating around in the tub, I was perfectly comfortable being in the tub in my birthday suit.  The room was warm and lit pretty dimly too, so it was a fairly relaxing environment — something I believe is very important for allowing labor to progress easily!