About the anti-water birth uprising

Lately I’ve been seeing a real uptick in posts on social media (a place I don’t even spend much time) about water birth and all the reasons it is BAD. Here’s one and here’s another. The reasons listed for avoiding water birth are varied. Some of them make sense to me on some level and others seem absurd. But mostly I’m curious about why it’s trending to hate on water birth? 🤔

I think it is, in part, a pendulum swing. For a long while, most of the imagery and talk about home birth was pretty focused on birth pools and water birth. I think it almost became assumed that to have a home birth was to have a water birth, when in fact they are two distinctly different choices one might make when planning a birth!

And it’s the nature of culture to self-correct when commonly held perspectives veer too far to one side or the other. The self-correction often initially includes an equally extreme swing in the opposite direction before it eventually settles in the middle somewhere (or fades from being a topic worthy of attention at all).

I actually don’t want to write about my personal stance on water birth. But I’ll tell you my stance, in short: there’s a time and place for it. It works incredibly well for some women and isn’t a good choice for others. Many factors play into whether or not water is part of the birth story. I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence to demonize or shun it, but it also ought not be championed as the golden standard for home birth. (In the interest of full disclosure: I have personally had 2 water births and 4 land births).

I’ve compiled a resource roll with items showing arguments for and against water birth safety. Please review this if you are drawn to exploring this subject in more depth.

Here’s the real take-home message for me: In each birth, a woman’s work is to discern afresh what God wants to do and what she and our baby need without getting trapped in performance or perfectionism about whether it’s “best” or “ideal.” Or trendy.

The goal is make our birth plans in light of our Holy Spirit-infused intuition, fretting not about the trending reels showing us what home birth “should” look like.

This is one of many reasons I’m so over social media, friends. As I’ve been off of it since the start of summer, a real shift has been happening internally that allows me to listen to myself and to God without so much noise crowding out my quiet inner-knowing. My contentment is no so easily stolen by seeing others’ choices and lives constantly. To scroll social media — even the great birth accounts — is to invite in myriad opinionated voices sometimes shouting opposing advice and projecting differing images of “the good life” into your mind.

Sister, what might you need to do in this season of pregnancy to quiet your mind and heart and tune into the voice of your shepherd? How might you build a protective fence around your internal environment that will safe-guard you from being “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Eph 4:14 NIV) about water birth and also every other aspect of your childbearing year and all the choices you’ll need to make within it?

Choose sources of childbirth education and advise that refer you back to the inner work and to finding your own answers!! Side note (not to sound salesy): this is how Embrace Birth Journey is built. It’s a quiet haven for learning, having nuanced conversation, avoiding inflammatory social media sources of information, and looking inward and to YHWH as the ultimate reference point for your choices. Use code MYPERSONALSALE to get $100 off (!!).