That giving birth in a pool has various benefits for the pregnant woman and her birth process is probably nothing new to you as a midwife. Yet many colleagues still see plenty of obstacles before renting out birth pools themselves. This is a missed opportunity! Because the easier it is for clients to access a pool, the more often they'll choose one. That's why I'd like to explain how we approach this at at our practice (Zuiver Verloskundigen).
Birth pool lead
First things first: appoint a birth pool lead. She keeps an overview, knows the answer to all questions from colleagues and clients, and stays in touch with Birthpools whenever needed. Twice a year she checks the pools we rent out for any damage.
How does the process work?
In short: contact form on the website > email to the birth pool lead > note in the Onatal calendar (our client care system) > pick up the birth pool > give birth > cleaning (by the client) > return the pool.
Requesting a pool
When clients want to rent the birth pool, we refer them to the "renting a birth pool" page on our website. There they'll find information about giving birth in water and can fill in the contact form. A completed contact form goes straight to our birth pool lead. She then communicates with the client and, once the rental is confirmed, sends an email with clear instructions on use and the cleaning requirement. She also lets the client know when she can pick up the pool and by when it needs to be returned at the latest.
No website or handy contact form? Setting up a separate email address works just as well (for example birthpool@midwiferypracticexxx.com).
Calendar in Onatal
In Onatal (our client care system) we created an extra calendar called "birth pools". In this calendar we can easily see whether a pool is available, and if so, which one. When a client reserves a pool, we schedule an appointment for her in that calendar from 37+0 weeks pregnant, repeating through 42+6. This way we know for certain that a pool is never rented out again too soon. Does the client return the pool? Then we cross out the appointment and all its repeats, so we can see the pool has been returned.
Excel file
In an Excel file, the assistants keep track of which pool belongs to which person. It's important that this file is kept up to date, so that at a glance you can see which pool is rented out until when. From there, the birth pool lead can make commitments for rental periods further ahead in time.
Payment
Renting a pool costs 75 euros with us. If clients can't afford this, or find it difficult, we work together to find a solution. For clients, the package plus the birth pool rental ends up around ten to forty euros cheaper than renting through national rental companies.
