SAY ni DOK | Water birth
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00:00 [Kathleen speaking in Tagalog]
00:20 [Kathleen speaking in Tagalog]
00:30 Good morning and welcome to Rise and Shine Philippines.
00:33 Doc Martin.
00:34 Hi Doc, good morning.
00:36 So Doc, let's talk more about water birth.
00:39 What is it and how did it become an alternative way of giving birth?
00:43 Actually, water birth is delivery in warm water.
00:49 It's not a new thing.
00:52 Actually, there are records from 8000 BC in Egypt.
00:57 The pharaohs used to deliver by water birth.
01:01 If you know anything about the pharaohs, they were supposed to be divine.
01:05 So what happened was they married their sisters.
01:08 So they were inbred and they were delicate.
01:13 So that's the oldest record of water birth.
01:18 There was 2700 years ago, the Minoans also had it, South Sea Islanders.
01:25 And in the West, the earliest record was in 1803.
01:30 It was a village in France, a woman was having a hard time delivering
01:34 and then they put her in warm water and she was able to deliver.
01:37 So it's not something new.
01:40 It's actually an ancient thing because we humans actually have our amphibious roots.
01:47 So as far as my experience is concerned, I started doing this 10 years ago.
01:57 And the patients who do this kind of thing are usually highly motivated, highly educated.
02:07 They're in good physical condition because in water birth, you're doing everything yourself.
02:13 And you have to be in good condition.
02:16 So we ask the patients to prepare by making sure the baby's not so big,
02:21 by dieting, and ideally they're fat adapted.
02:25 So what do you mean by fat adapted?
02:27 So their body is used to burning fat as a fuel.
02:30 If you're always taking carbs, you have about 40 minutes of fuel in your body,
02:35 then you have to keep taking more carbs.
02:38 But if you're fat adapted, you have almost unlimited source of fat in your body.
02:42 So your body will be able to power itself through this process.
02:47 So it's something that is not new, but rather we are discovering it again.
02:55 It is a very good alternative to other forms of delivery.
03:00 And in the correct center, it is very safe.
03:04 So it's like a back to basics.
03:07 We know that many celebrities are trying this method of giving birth.
03:13 What are the benefits of this?
03:16 Why are we going back to basics when it comes to giving birth through water birth?
03:21 If you're going to do natural delivery, there are certain advantages to water birth.
03:29 Number one is compared to being outside in open air, it's more relaxing.
03:39 So there is less perceived pain.
03:42 Because pain is actually two things.
03:45 It's sensation plus emotion.
03:47 Now everybody feels the same sensation.
03:49 However, you can modify the emotional response.
03:53 So if you're more relaxed, if there's nice music, if it's dim, you have your loved ones there,
03:58 you must relax so your perception of pain is less.
04:01 Number one.
04:02 Number two is the woman can find any position that she wants.
04:06 Normally, you're just stuck in one position, the misogyny position.
04:10 But this one, she can find any position she wants to deliver.
04:14 The nice thing is that since the woman is in water, the pregnancy floats.
04:20 So normally, there will be pressure on the major blood vessels.
04:25 This is relieved because the pregnancy is floating.
04:27 So the woman has better circulation.
04:30 Also, if you're going to do natural delivery, there is much less vaginal tearing.
04:36 So what do we do when it's already fully dilated?
04:40 I'm bent over, we're supporting the vagina.
04:43 And because it's hot water and we're supporting the vagina,
04:46 most of the time, there's very, very minor tearing.
04:50 Sometimes, there's no tearing at all.
04:53 And the other thing is emotional high.
04:59 I can't explain it, but when a woman delivers water birth,
05:04 it's such a triumph because everybody's happy,
05:08 including the whole delivery room is very happy.
05:11 Because we're hardwired to welcome children.
05:17 In the Latin countries, like in Spain, the process of giving birth is called Dar Alus,
05:24 which is translated into giving light.
05:27 Sometimes, you really feel that you're giving light,
05:33 you're giving birth, you're giving light.
05:35 It's the greatest thing ever.
05:37 And you have to realize that in the practice of medicine,
05:41 delivering babies is natural.
05:45 There's no illness.
05:47 It's practically the only field of medicine where nobody's sick.
05:51 So I'm very lucky, we're very lucky to deliver babies.
05:55 It's a wonderful process.
05:58 So, Doc, it's nice to know that there are a lot of potential health benefits in water birth.
06:03 But we also want to know, is this safe, Doc?
06:07 Because usually, what we see in water birth,
06:10 usually, it's done at home.
06:12 What if there are complications?
06:14 To me, I gave birth preeclampsia.
06:17 So what if there are such instances, Doc?
06:19 What can we do about that?
06:21 Okay.
06:23 So that's the thing.
06:29 I was initially doing water birth in another place.
06:32 However, it was not so ideal because it was very far from the delivery room.
06:38 Plus, the monitoring wasn't so great.
06:40 So I asked the president of Makati Medical Center, Rose Montenegro at the time,
06:46 to make a water birth facility in one of the working rooms.
06:50 So in 2017, we inaugurated the water birth facility.
06:54 Now, what is the advantage of this?
06:57 So just to explain to you, the most important thing is that the tub has to be the correct size and the correct temperature.
07:06 Now, if you're going to be doing this at home, you're probably in an inflatable tub.
07:10 And you must maintain a temperature of 37 degrees or higher.
07:15 Why?
07:16 Because if the baby comes out and it's less than 37 degrees,
07:22 they're going to gasp like that and they can drop.
07:27 So you must maintain 37 degrees and up for all the benefits I mentioned,
07:33 for pain relief, for no tearing, and more importantly, when the baby comes out,
07:39 the baby does not aspirate the water because that water is not sterile.
07:43 So the tub in our center is big enough to maintain the heat.
07:50 And if it's a little amount of water, you know, the heat varies so much, it will not retain heat.
07:56 And how do you heat your water if you're at home?
08:00 If you're going to put electric heaters there or you're going to have a team of, you know,
08:05 yaya's for hot water, you know, it's not really ideal.
08:11 So the nice thing about the water birth facility is for sure the place is nicer than your room.
08:17 It has a bespoke tub. It has sofas. It has a bed.
08:22 And in case something goes wrong, within minutes, we can take care of the patient.
08:29 So what happens normally is a water birth, if it does not work, it could get stuck.
08:34 What we do is I'll ask for epidural.
08:37 So if you do epidural, the muscles relax, and if it's going to fit, it will dilate.
08:44 So within 15 minutes of epidural, that's going to dilate.
08:48 If it's stuck, it's really stuck.
08:50 So in case we need to do an emergency, it will be done immediately.
08:54 I once had this case wherein we knew there was a port boil.
09:00 They were very insistent on doing delivery to reach full dilatation.
09:07 And then what happened was that when we gave epidural, the placenta separated.
09:15 So normally, we did it then, but we didn't.
09:17 We rushed her. In five minutes, we got the baby out.
09:20 That is the type of speed that we can do when the water birth is right there at the delivery room.
09:28 And our delivery room is extremely efficient.
09:31 Doc, it's nice to know that mothers are given options on what they prefer for their childbirth.
09:39 And water birth is an option, unlike before, where they just do it at home.
09:43 And this procedure is a bit confusing.
09:46 At the same time, it's a bit scary because what if there's a complication?
09:50 So what Doc said is good, that they're really pushing this.
09:53 Like in a hospital here in Manila, where they already have a water birth facility.
09:58 So in case of emergency, at least you know that the family is prepared.
10:02 And of course, we are mothers, that anytime, you can be there in the hospital.
10:07 And they can do emergency issues.
10:10 Well, thank you very much, Doc, for giving us a new insight about water birth.
10:15 We were able to interview Dr. Martin Manahan.
10:20 Thank you very much, Doc, and take care.
10:22 Thank you.