This March, the Hospital Sant Jaume de Calella, a center managed by the Corporació de Salut del Maresme y la Selva, is launching a natural delivery room with a bathtub to attend parts in the water, within the framework of the strategy of the Respected childbirth care that is worked from the Gynecology and Obstetrics service. This new space also responds to the demand of pregnant women in the territory to be able to count on a non-medical and well-equipped environment to attend to normal childbirth.
Until now, the obstetrics area of ??the Calella Hospital had three conventional delivery rooms and one of which has been converted into a natural delivery room. The renovation of the space, which has had a cost of 250,000 euros, has made it possible to have a modern room adapted to the needs of pregnant women so that they can give birth in an intimate, comfortable and welcoming environment and with the security of being in a hospital environment in case any unforeseen event occurs during childbirth.
This new equipment is aimed at women who have uncomplicated pregnancies and for whom a low-risk labor and birth is expected. The space is adequate with a bathtub, a bathroom with a shower, a bed to rest or use during childbirth, a liana, a birthing chair and a ball. Likewise, the lights are adjustable, there is piped music and the walls have been painted an earthy color with the aim of offering a warm, calm and tranquil environment.
The head of the Gynecology and Obstetrics service of the Maresme and La Selva Health Corporation, Dr. Marta González, highlights the importance of having a room like this in a regional hospital. “This space adds to a set of initiatives that we have been incorporating and giving them visibility in recent years to guarantee the humanization of the process.” In this sense, Dr. González recalls the use of “aromatherapy to promote physical and mental well-being emotion of the woman in the birth process, the accompaniment in non-urgent caesarean sections or the impression of the placenta once they have given birth, which improves the experience of women who go through this process”.
Dilating in water relieves the pain of this stage of labor and is more satisfying for the woman. Likewise, the water provides a relaxing effect and allows greater mobility for the pregnant woman.
Birth in the water is one more option that from now on can be offered to pregnant women who come to give birth at the Calella Hospital, provided they meet the inclusion requirements. This type of delivery is assisted by specialized midwives, since prior training is required to care for the woman and the baby in an aquatic environment. In this sense, in Calella there is a midwife and a gynecologist trained to assist this type of party at each turn.
The Hospital Sant Jaume de Calella has attended 719 deliveries in the last year (2022), 72% have been eutocic deliveries, that is, normal parts without complications and without instrumental intervention. Calella is the reference center for all pregnant women in the towns between Canet de Mar and Tossa de Mar who must give birth.
Having natural delivery rooms increases the probability of vaginal deliveries and reduces the incidence of instrumental deliveries or caesarean sections. Until now, all the natural births attended at the Calella Hospital were carried out in the different conventional delivery rooms. “We adapted the rooms with the best possible conditions” explains Cristina Torres, head of midwives at the Maresme and Selva Health Corporation.
