water birth

[joyfulmamaofmany]

I'm a mom who will be giving birth in a rather large tub of water any day now.  I've had genital herpes for 24 years and have never passed it on to my infants via birth -- all vaginal births, by the way, and the last three have been in water.  This is my 9th baby.   So this time around, I am getting prodromal symptoms and have that itching feeling that I know will develop into a lesion.  There is a very good chance that a lesion will be active at the time of birth.  So my question is this:  I know that babies of mothers who have had herpes in the past are given the antibodies via the placenta, and even in the case of an active lesion at time of birth, they are somewhat protected by those antibodies....but I am wondering about the water in the tub in which I give birth.  Do you think that it's almost BETTER to be in a tub of water that will/might dilute the herpes virus if it were shedding,  making it an even safer environment for a baby to be born?  or does the water pose more of a risk for transmission to the infant, if active herpes shedding goes into the water?  Does anyone have any knowledge on this topic that they can share with me?

[ruby1221]

Hi, was wondering if you could give an update on your 9th birth? Did you water birth? How is your baby?

[gracefromHHP]

no, there won't be herpes floating around the water to infect the baby.

[joyfulmamaofmany]

I'm concerned with the virus being in the water...
My bag of water (amniotic sac) usually does not break until the time that the baby is crowning, which is a great thing because that protects the baby from possible infection in the birth canal.  I was just concerned with after the baby is out, while he is actually IN the water that I've been sitting in, if the water would be a threat to him if the virus was present.  My thought is that it would be diluted enough and also not being "rubbed" into his skin so not a threat.  I know that water would not wash off any virus transmission, but was just mainly concerned with the virus being in the water at the time of birth, and if the baby came in contact with that water if he could be infected at that time....?

[gracefromHHP]

typically we recommend that if you have a recurrence within a week of your delivery date that you have a planned c section. the risk of transmission to the baby is awfully small since the infection was prior to pregnancy and the baby is full term but it's still the recommendations.  have you discussed this with your obgyn/midwife?

the water birth has absolutely no bearing at all on the risk of transmission to your baby. the virus would be transmitted during the birthing process and can't be washed off once baby is born. make sense?   I don't see any reason why it would increase risk of transmission either.

grace