I can only echo what everyone has said here about how amazing birthing in water is. I knew as soon as I got in that bath there was no way I'd be getting out again until after bub was born. The difference it made to ctx was remarkable. They turned off all the lights in the bathroom so only the soft light from the delivery suite was shining, MW sat in the corner with a torch, and I just did my thing. To be honest I don't even know if/when the water turned manky, not straight away and at some point they pulled the plug just before I said I wanted to hop out anyways. Was probably around 10 mins as we did delayed cord clamping and the first person to take DD from me was DH so I could stand up.

ETA I didn't have any tearing or grazing either and do often think perhaps being in water for almost 2 hours did help there? Who knows.