A water birth means at least part of your labor, delivery, or both happen while you’re in a birth pool filled with warm water. It can take place in a hospital, a birthing center, or at home. A doctor, nurse-midwife, or midwife helps you through it. Advantages: • Help ease pain • Keep you from needing anesthesia • Shorten your labor A warm bath might help you relax and help you feel more in control. Floating in water helps you move around more easily than in bed, too. Some science suggests that t