Over 87% Of UK Hospitals That Have Installed
a Water Birth Pool Have Chosen One Of Ours
Active Birth Pools have been instrumental in pioneering the use of water for labour and birth in mainstream medical institutions in the United Kingdom and worldwide.
In 1987 we designed the first bespoke Water Birth Pool for use in hospitals. Today, we offer the most advanced and comprehensive range of Water Birth Pools in the world.
Active Birth Pools are the worldwide market leaders in water birth.
Since we introduced water birth pools to hospitals over 20 years ago, we have developed an established reputation for the highest quality products and standards of design.
Our clients include the NHS, private UK healthcare organisations, and hospitals and birth centres around the world.
Our products are purpose designed medical grade equipment - hospitals can expect an Active Birth Pool to last for decades, unlike non-specialised baths or cheap alternatives.
Our Pools are offered with a 100% lifetime guarantee, and are in the long term by far the most cost effective way for hospitals to make water birth available to women.
Our Design Ethos
Freedom of movement lies at the heart of natural, active birth. By providing a supportive and inviting environment for active birth more women can discover how upright positions are most comfortable and beneficial.
Our pools differ in shape and size to accommodate the needs of hospitals with different spaces, budgets and requirements. What they share in common is a core design philosophy.
Every Active Birth Pool is designed so that the women using them can move freely in labour, and can find and be supported in the positions most beneficial to a natural, physiological labour.
Our pools actively encourage women to adopt these positions. Our newest pools feature seats and supports angled forward to optimise the position of the pelvis as well as handles positioned to support upright postures.
The experience of midwives as well as mothers is a key consideration in our design process. All our pools have been developed in collaboration and consultation with midwives, and this can be seen in the finished products.
Our skirting panels, for example, slope inwards, allowing midwives to kneel under the rim of our pools, so that they can be close to mothers without leaning over for extended periods. This simple consideration avoids lower back pain, one of the most common complaints among midwives attending water births.
An Active Birth Pool is the end result of a process involving mothers, midwives, obstetricians, microbiologists, architects and engineers, all of whom we listen to before we even put pen to paper.
We are constantly looking for newer and better ways to meet the needs of everyone who will be working with our pools.
Company History
Following the pioneering of the first water births in Russia in the 1960’s, Michel Odent introduced the use of water during labour at the state hospital in Pithiviers, France in the late 1970’s.
After delivering 100 babies in water he published an article in the Lancet* and was visited by journalists and birth professionals from all over the world.
At this point, there were no purpose-designed Water Birth Pools. Women gave birth in inflatable childrens pools or large bath tubs.
In 1987 we designed the first portable water birth pool, enabling women in the United Kingdom to use a birth pool in the environment of their choice.
In 1988 the obstetrician, Dr. Yehudi Gordon, asked us to design a pool for the Birth Unit at the Garden Hospital in London. Working with midwives and Dr. Gordon, we developed the design for the first installed Birthing Pool in the world - the Original Deluxe Water Birth Pool (today available updated, as The Original Birth Pool).
As other hospitals asked us to supply them with birth pools it became apparent that there was a need for a range of different size and shaped pools to suit their varying requirements.
Over the past two decades, we have radically expanded and advanced our range of water birth pools.
Our pools are installed in over two thirds of hospitals in the United Kingdom, and in many more across the globe.
Our new range of soft furnishings continues our mission to provide the most complete set of products for natural and active birth.
We have been delighted to hear from thousands of women who have benefitted from our products helping them to give birth naturally and more easily and of the appreciation of midwives who have attended their births.
* Odent, M. (1983). Birth under water. Lancet, 1476-77. |
