What is ‘natural water birth’ that Kylie Padilla had wanted to do for baby Alas?

On Instagram, Kapuso actress Kylie Padilla shared how she had prepared for a natural water birth for her son Alas, but delivered him through medicated vaginal birth.

"I had decided I was going to have a natural birthing experience with the help of a water bath, also called a water birth," Kylie wrote on the caption of her post.

She'd done all the preps for it, too but on the fourth day of labor, her baby was still high up in her cervix. Said Kylie,“I had to think about the next best thing. For me and my baby. So I agreed to medicated vaginal birth.”

Many of you might be asking: What is natural water birth?

It is the process of giving birth in a tub of water, minus anesthesia, often without medicines too. It is slowly gaining popularity among mothers worldwide, for many reasons.

According to a recent report on "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho", a water birth is more affordable than hospital birth. “There are no supplies, most of the time, walang medicines, you don’t have an anesthesiologist, so yung charages, depende na sa room,” Dr. Martin Mahanan and OB-GYN said.

But economics is possibly the smallest of reasons for pregnant women to choose water birth. “It’s for women. It gives back the dignity in childbirth. Maternal healthcare should be all about the woman and the focus is their well-being,” Jeri Gunderson, founder and director of Shiphrah Birthing Home says in the recent episode of Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho.

Because it’s all-natural, mothers, who have their full faculties during delivery, don’t have anything to recover from. Shares Sahlee Ragrag, who chose water birth to deliver her second child, “after ko manganak, never ako nakaramdam na bangag yung katawan, or na parang patang-pata. Sabi ko nga sa asawa ko pagka-labas ng baby, ‘tara mag-mall na tayo!’

She continues, “nung wala ako sa tubig, bawat contraction, ramdam mo. Pero sa tubig, hindi mo na masyado mararamdaman yung pain, lalo na kung yung warm water nilalagay sa likod mo.”

Pregnant women of course need to prepare for a water birth. They attend breathing classes months before their due date. They dance to loosen up their cervix. In birthing centers like Shiphrah, they are given the space to walk and move around and get comfortable.

Water birth lessens the duration of labor. During water birth, pregnant women are accompanied by midwives and even their partners. With Kylie were her boyfriend Aljur and her doula.

But water birth isn’t for everyone. Dr. Manahan says those with complicated pregnancies, expecting twins, those with severe asthma or bleeding problems should be wary of water birth. “There are medical conditions that are way out of scope of our practice,” adds Gunderson.

Kylie, on her post, said active labor for her lasted a day and a half. “I walked 6 hours or 2 hours in interval, experimented with different positions to get baby down and widen my cervix but it had gotten to a point that I had only dilated 1 cm in one day.” She made the decision to drop the water birth plan on the fourth day. “I agreed to a medicated vaginal birth…although it was a medicated birth, im thankful I still experienced all the natural hormones I did through those four transformative days.”

Watch the Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho report below:

What did Kylie Padilla and Aljur Abrenica name their little prince? — LA, GMA News