Water-birth – with added dolphin!

May 11, 2011 • 2:57 pm

by Matthew Cobb

This video shows a woman giving birth in water – quite a usual but dramatic procedure (which pretty much sums up any kind of birth, come to think of it, though this one seems a lot nicer process than the two more traditional versions that I have had some intimate knowledge of). The baby of course is in no danger as it has spent the last 9 month in a fluid-filled bag and is still getting oxygen through the umbilical cord, not through its lungs. What’s odd about the video is the presence of a dolphin, which is clearly very intrigued by the smells/tastes/sounds of the whole business. You might find this cute, an example of trans-species grooving, or you might just think the dolphin was feeling a bit peckish…

32 thoughts on “Water-birth – with added dolphin!”

    1. I think that only happens if they birth into cold water, since the sensation of cold is what triggers inhalation.

      Proper waterbirthing involves clean water heated to body temperature, to prevent the newborn from inhaling until it’s removed from the water. No dolphins, either. 😉 Wikipedia says it’s safe, and it knows everything!

      1. Yes, as long as you start with clean water, all the feces excreted as a consequence of childbirth can be ignored. Makes perfect sense.

  3. In addition to the problems with water-birth cited above by grasshopper, the addition of the dolphin is woo of the highest order. The allegedly sympathetic, nearly psychic nature and capabilities of the dolphin are somehow supposed to aid the birthing process. Penn and Teller did a Bullshit! about this.

  4. Right, put a defenseless child around a highly aggressive and physically powerful 500 pound carnivore. Brilliant.

    1. Yes, quite.

      Too many people think that dolphins are happy, LULz-loving, super-intelligent, almost-nearly-human friends.

      It never occurs to them that dolphins:
      1) don’t eat carrots.
      2) are intelligent mammals in the same way as lions and wolves are.
      3) are undomesticated
      4) have been know to kill people occasionally.

      This is not a smart thing to do, and any mid-wife worth her license should not agree to accommodate these fanciful notions.

      1. Dolphins “don’t eat carrots”?! That must be why I failed biology A-level…
        😉

  5. A dolphin apparently in captivity no less. Hmmm. Still, I am amazed at the lack of sweat on the mother. Re the deaths – why is the baby swallowing if it has gone from one fluid environment to another? Seems an odd thing to suddenly do.

  9. “The baby of course is in no danger”

    — I dunno about you, but my doctor doesn’t hang around in a speedo. So I’m assuming there are no medical professionals present. If there were any complications, the kid would likely be screwed.

  10. Any animal, pretty much, can be agressive in certain circumstances. What we call normal birth is subject to plenty of dangers. Seriously though, there is a fair bit of new age ‘woo’ here –
    http://www.jeyarani.com/press/press_water_kindred_sp.html
    I don’t know – life is full of risks, to stir things a bit I would say show me an example of a dolphin killing a baby while it was being born.

    1. Wait a second, lets not discount it just yet! Look at what I’ve found
      From
      http://www.psychicchildren.co.uk/3-6-BirthWithDolphins.html

      “For some reason, dolphins are attracted to pregnant women and young children and as most people are aware, the dolphins can also help heal people with mental and psychological problems. But the children, who are being born with the aid of dolphins, at least with the cases documented in Russia, are extraordinary children. Most of the have IQ’s of over 150 (genius range again), plus extremely stable emotional bodies and strong physical bodies. They are superior in one way or another.

      There are videos that document these babies and children up to age three, sleeping on the bottom of swimming pools. They even come up for air whilst still asleep and turn their heads over the surface of the water, take a breath, then go back to the bottom. It is as though this is their natural home. Some people call them ‘Homodolphinus’ , because they seem to have the characteristics of humans and dolphins. Water is becoming their natural environment, plus they are also super intelligent. ”

      Don’t we all want to have a genius baby that sleeps on the bottom of our swimming pools?

  12. “Of course, the baby is in no danger, having spent the last 9 months in amniotic fluid getting oxygen through to the umbilical cord….
    This is Such BS and Woo. And Inaccurate and Dangerous.
    I am a neonatologist who has seen thousands of babies transition from fetal to neonatal life. That’s what birth is about, the baby making the PHYSIOLOGIC TRANSITION to extrauterine life. Shortly after exiting the mother’s body, the babe will be completely dependent on the extrauterine environment for oxygen and a whole bunch of other things. ERGO, it is imperative that the TRANSITION, a well-studied stage in obstetrics and neonatology, GOES WELL. Interruptions in the normal transition can lead to serious respiratory conditions, lack of the necessary changes from fetal circulation to the neonatal circulation patterns, etc. etc. The pulmonary arteries have to dilate and the patent ductus arteriosus has to close. The baby is NOT a WATER-BREATHING ANIMAL. The baby is an AMNIOTIC FLUID breathing animal when ATTACHED to an umbilical cord. WATER DOES NOT EQUAL AMNIOTIC FLUID and as stated above, when aspirated during these “natural childbirth” attempts, can result in severe pneumonia, failure to transition, and need for extensive hospitalization, and death. Water is very hypoosmotic, and the baby essentially drowns, and then develops lung injury. There are also two tubes there folks….there is a trachea (for BREATHING air, NOT WATER) and esophagus (for swallowing–preferably MILK). A NEWBORN BABY BREATHES AIR–this concept that “the baby is safe” is so wrong, and this type of birth, with or without the fucking dolphin, is ALL ABOUT THE PARENTS AND THE ‘BIRTH PROCESS’, and not about their baby at all. It is WOO. It is DANGEROUS. Please refrain from saying it is otherwise.

  13. Didn’t Ellen Degeneres have a comedy routine about this? How they had to discontinue the procedure when someone translated what the dolphins were actually communicating?

    “Hey, look at that one…I’ll believe they’re related to monkeys”

    “Someone call Greenpeace! That one’s so ugly his mother should be picketed for dumping toxic waste un the oceans”.

  14. I once attended a water birth of a 9th child born to an Orthodox Jewish couple (still woo-filled, as the father was a rabbi, but the woo was of a different sort than what was shown in the video). Throughout the process, the mother kept exclaiming how much more comfortable she was compared to past births (her previous 8 children had been born land-lubbers). She attributed it to the warmth of the water and the ease with which she could change position. The child and mother were both very calm compared to the non-water births that I witnessed.

    I do have to say that it was dirty, though. We had a bucket and a pool net dedicated to containing floaties. The same net was later used to fish out the placenta.

    Truth is, all childbirth is risky, and in past years birthing in many countries has deviated far from what is “natural”. It does seem plausible that water births reduce the incidence of epidurals, episiotomies, c-sections, and other medical interventions that pose risks to mother &/or baby, though. I’d like to see how the risk for aspiration compares to the risks associated with these other interventions before dismissing water birthing altogether. Maybe it’s possible to make changes to the process to reduce the risk of aspiration.

    1. Uh, Sal…

      there is a post directly above yours from someone who is a professional.

      Pretty clearly and emphatically states that this procedure has risks that DO NOT justify whatever minor comforts to the mother it might provide.

      1. I read Catherine’s post before I commented. I also read this study that documented 2 admissions for water aspiration out of 4032 water deliveries in the UK and found morbidity/mortality to be comparable to non-water births.* I’m not saying we should all start delivering in water; I just don’t immediately see how water-births are more unnatural or dangerous than other common birthing practices and am asking for more empirically-based evidence.

        *Further discussion about the findings of this study and others here.

        1. I just don’t immediately see how water-births are more unnatural or dangerous

          aside from the repeatedly demonstrated aspiration of contaminated water, you mean?

          are you accusing Catherine of lying about it?

          it’s the only conclusion I can make from your statement.

          1. Notice that I compared “unnatural” and “dangerous” to “other common birthing practices”, specifically (from my 1st comment) “epidurals, episiotomies, c-sections, and other[s]”. I respect Catherine’s opinion as a medical professional, and she has given no reason for me to believe that she’s lying. But from her post it’s unclear how much direct experience she’s had with water births, and it is unclear how often infection due to water birth has occurred in her experience.

            Yes, aspiration pneumonia happens. But it doesn’t seem to happen very often from the studies that I could find. And if the risk for other types of injuries (to mother or neonate) is lower in water births, is it possible that the benefits outweigh the risks? That’s what I’m trying to understand.

            I’ve been trying to find studies that compare morbidity and mortality between water births and non-immersion births and so far haven’t found any indicating that water births are more dangerous.

            More references:
            Neonatal infection rate in water births similar to land births
            Shorter 2nd stage labor but no improvement in perineal tearing, maybe worse tearing, in water births; no greater infection rate
            Fewer episiotomies, less analgesia, shorter labor, more tearing (though not as serious) in water births, no infections or deaths in either WB or land birth groups
            Water immersion doesn’t help labor progression, but no differences in morbidity

            There are several case studies of infection in neonates following water births, but those studies give no indication of incidence.

  16. Gotta say, this is the most disappointingly credulous post I’ve ever seen on WEIT.

    I’m completely with Catherine. Childbirth is inherently risky, when things go wrong, they often go wrong very quickly, and the difference between a healthy outcome and one which results in disability or death can hinge on immediate access to medical interventions. Seems like it should be a no brainer, but there are an alarming number of women/families after the legendary Birth Experience who would choose to have a frigging dolphin in the room over a NICU.

    That’s not enlightened, or quirky, or evolutionarily informed. It’s just misguided.

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