"No birthing pool at Cumberland Hospital"

When I went in to labour with my first child I used the birthing pool, it wasn't part of my birth plan. The pool helped me to continue labour without any intervention for about another hour, when I then requested gas and air. Before I got into the pool I felt like I needed something at that point. The whole water birth expereince was amazing, more relaxing and much less medical intervention.

I have just had a dating scan for my second baby and I was told that the pool is no longer in use and will not be for the forseable future. The cost to get a new pool in is only about £3000. Not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things. The thought of having no pool available is filling me with dread, as I now how much it helped the first time around.

I have thought about hiring my own pool but as I had a retained placenta, it is best for me to give birth in hospital, as it is likely to happen again second time round.

The fact also that no epidural is offered at Carlisle is another huge reason to get this pool reinstated. If I had a choice of an epidural or the pool I would pick the pool straight away. In my mind if the pool can help with labour pains, why would you need an epidural.

I would like to add that my whole experience with the maternity ward at the Cumberland Infirmary was brilliant, the midwives were brilliant and really supportive. They are really worth there weight in gold.