Making the water clean for a waterbirth
I just wanted to share some things I have learned about home water safety that I wish I had known before I had my son in a birth pool at home. If any one has more to add- please share!
Garden hoses generally contain a lot of toxins, particularly phthalates and high levels of lead! So it's best not to fill your birth pool using a regular garden hose (nor your garden if you grow food- but that's another topic). Garden hoses are not made to carry drinking water. Apparently the best hose to use for your edible garden, and therefore filling the birth pool, is a swimming pool hose. Any pool store should sell them.
Tap water in most houses contains chlorine, fluoride and a host of other chemicals you don't want to expose your freshly born baby to. You can avoid this if you use a whole house filter or a filter at the tap you use to fill up the birth pool from. If either of these options wont work for you, then there are garden hose filters available that you can attach to the hose you use. Makes things simple and they are pretty cheap.