[ozmidwifery] re: Waterbirth and water embolus...

[Tom, Tania and Sam Smallwood]

Hi Laraine and all,   I'm not up to date on the current research surrounding this phenomenon, but wanted to add my own experience with listening to Michel Odent (who I believe coined the phrase and introduced the idea to the birthing world), that being that he has actually never seen a water embous, and waived it as a suspected potential problem, rather than an actual one.  I heard him speak nearly 4 years ago in London, and he actually said that he wished he'd never raised the issue, as so many units now deemed water birth unsafe, and were not allowing women to labour in water as a result of the implication that there may be an issue with water embolus if the placenta is birthed in the water.  Anyone else heard any more up to date stuff about this??   Tania