I planned a home water birth with my first child 5 years ago and we hired a rigid pool for 4weeks. Unfortunately due to my waters breaking and labour not progressing I had to transfer to hospital after 30 hours so I never got to use the hired pool. I was really disappointed and my experience in hospital was far from pleasant. So much so that I took my own discharge less than 6 hours after my daughter was born and after having a spinal to remove my retained placenta. I just had to get out of there! After a traumatic labour and birth lasting over 45 hours I then had to wait for the hire company to take the pool away which took over a week so I had a daily reminder of the awful labour I had and the fact that I missed out on my much wanted home water birth. Every time I saw the pool I felt so disappointed. Not to mention the fact that is cost me over £250 to hire it for 4 weeks!

And so second time round, determined to get my homebirth I decided upon buying a Birth Pool in a Box. I figured that at least if it didn't all go to plan the pool could be quickly put away and would be there as reminder.

And so the internet research began! I spent hours reading reviews on many different websites and comparing the cost of each different pool and every time the Eco pool came top. I am also 5ft 11" so I needed a pool which would be suited to my height.

In the end I finally decided on the Eco Birth Pool in a Box Regular, The Standard Filling Kit and A Heat Retaining Cover. Total cost including delivery was £135 (April 2010)

The good birth company also have a fantastic returns policy which states that you can return the pool unopened within 90 days for a full refund or if you have opened the pool and not put any water in then they will refund you 50%. They charge a £5 restocking fee. The other option I thought was that I could resell it on eBay or use it for the kids as a pool in the garden!

My pool was delivered 2 days later. I already had an electric pump and a draining pump so I only bought the standard filling kit which contains a hose and tap connectors.

We set the pool up for a trial run about 2 weeks before I was due and It was so easy to put up, there are 3 valves on the side and one for the bottom all in all it took us about 20 mins to inflate the entire pool. The bottom of the pool is also inflated and there is a seat built in to the pool. The pool took about 10 mins to deflate and put away using an electric pump. So now it was time to wait for D-Day!

When D-Day arrived we decided to set the pool up. Luckily we were using the conservatory so it wouldn't be in the way. Good thing really as it wasn't to be used for another 12 days in the end!

When I FINALLY went into labour and things seemed to be moving on we started to fill the pool. We have a really old back boiler and put the hot water onto constant. It took around 3 tanks and 2 hours to fill the pool and we inflated to heat retaining cover and put it on. We didn't fill the pool right up to max allowing room for it to be topped up with hot water when needed. It was about 6 hours before I needed the pool and the heat retaining cover really did its job well the water had only lost about 2 degrees, although please bare in mind that is was June so the weather was quite warm.

Once I got into the pool it felt AMAZING, The water really helped to soothe the pain of the contractions as did the gas & air! The seat however built into the pool was not big enough to sit on but it made a great back rest as I sat on the floor of the pool! 2 hours later my daughter was born and the water was still lovely and warm. We didn't actually need to top it up at all once I had got in. The pool also has built in handles on the sides which were great for holding onto during contractions.
By the time I had delivered the placenta and was ready to get out, the water was cooling and not a very pretty sight but we used an electric water pump straight into the drain outside and the pool was empty pretty quickly, the disposable liner went straight into a bin bag and the pool was deflated and put away by the same evening.

I would recommend an Eco Birth Pool In a Box to anyone considering a water birth.