10/13/2025
My hardest labor, my youngest, I don’t know if I could have done it without the water. It was a hard and swift birth of an almost 9 pound baby, with a nuchal hand. I thought my bones were breaking. The water was the only source of relief I had in those 6ish hours of labor.
The Birthing Pool Test by Michel Odent
When a woman enters the pool in hard labor, there is an immediate pain relief, and therefore an immediate reduction in the levels of stress hormones. Since stress hormones and oxytocin are antagonistic, the main short-term response is usually a peak of oxytocin and therefore a spectacular progress in the dilation.
https://f.mtr.cool/kmrqlywqli