Water Labor, Bed Delivery, and Doula Support

Content Warning: This page contains graphic images of childbirth, including sensitive and medically detailed photos. Viewer discretion is advised. These images are for educational purposes only and must not be reproduced, shared, or distributed without permission.

Special thanks to Jennifer Harris CD(DONA), the doula at this birth, for providing the video these photos are taken from…and special thank you to Marni A. Molina for video taping the birth. Please contact either of these ladies directly for information about their services.

Comfort and Support During Labor

The doula comforts the mother while the midwife performs a vaginal exam. The mother moves to sit on the birth ball. The father rubs her shoulders while the doula provides eye contact and caring hands.

Team Effort in Labor

Birth can be a team effort. Both the doula and the father support the mother and give her strength. The mother is back in bed, trying to relax between contractions.

Alternating Between Positions for Comfort

Back on the birth ball once again. An intimate moment between the laboring mother and the doula.

Monitoring the Baby’s Well-Being

The midwife checks the baby’s heartbeat to make sure everything is going smoothly…and it is. The doula holds the mother up during a contraction.

Physical and Emotional Support

Back to the bed again, and another vaginal exam is performed to see how she’s progressing.

Soothing Effects of Water Labor

Time for the tub! Water washes over the mother as she uses it like a drug to let her relax. The mother looks at her doula and relaxes between contractions.

Enduring the Intensity of Labor

That was a tough one! The doula uses a towel to wipe the mother’s head immediately after a difficult contraction. The mother gets onto her knees so the midwife can check the baby’s heartbeat.

Labor Progression and Monitoring

Labor slowly becomes more intense, but the doula’s comfort never tires. Time for another vaginal exam.

Father’s Presence as a Source of Strength

The father becomes the main source of comfort as the mother looks up at him between contractions. The midwife uses her watch and the Doppler monitor to check the baby’s heart rate. Everything’s going well!

A New Position to Help with Dilation

After another vaginal exam shows the mother’s cervix to be at 9cm (but swelling some), the midwife decides that maybe it would be a good time to get out of the water and back on the bed. They aren’t sure if she’s pushing involuntarily or what…but they want her to get onto her knees and her chest to relieve a little of the pressure on the cervix, so hopefully, it can dilate the rest of the way.

Enduring Through Contractions

Everything stops while the mother works her way through a painful contraction. The midwife’s assistant uses the Doppler between the mother’s legs to check on the baby.

The Final Stages of Labor

And yet another vaginal exam is performed. She’s there…just a little bit of a lip holding the baby back. The midwife helps push the remaining bit of the cervix over the baby’s head while the mother pushes. It works and the baby moves into the birth canal. Pushing can now begin.

Time to Start Pushing

The doula plays a “tug of war” with the mother which helps her to direct her pushing downward. The midwife’s assistant applies hot compresses to the perineum to help the mother avoid any tearing.

The Baby Begins to Emerge

The midwife checks the baby’s heart rate again. The labia begin to open and the top of the baby’s head is JUST starting to be seen.

A Gentle Birth

A little more of the baby’s head shows as the mother pushes very effectively! A little more…

The Baby’s Arrival

The midwife lets the head come slowly….and this helps the mother avoid all tears. This baby was born over an intact perineum. The baby is allowed to come out at his own pace…easing its way out.

The Final Push

The baby’s forehead is out… The eyes emerge… And finally, the whole head is out!!

Overcoming Shoulder Dystocia

The midwife pulls on the head gently but firmly…and realizes that the shoulders are stuck. Time for the “Gaskin Maneuver,” named after Ina Mae Gaskin, founder of The Farm and used for shoulder dystocia. Everyone helps the mother flip over onto all fours and she lowers her chest to the bed, leaving her behind up in the air.

Successful Birth

It works…and the shoulders come free. The mother is helped into a side-lying position and the baby is immediately brought up to her.

A Joyous Meeting

The mother, father, and midwife marvel over the new baby. And the father cuts his baby’s cord. The separation is complete.