hi sheryl
one of my many favourite birthing books is Ocean Born...i forget the author's name. check it out! 

my first babe was born in a birthing pool at home....& our new babe was born hovering over the water in a tub in our loungeroom....for various reasons!  i couldn't imagine giving birth without warm water to immerse myself in....though i didn't use it so much the second time around.  i'd LOVE to birth in hot springs next time....last pregnancy i swam in them a lot.

there's also some great articles i have somewhere about a scientist in russia who was training women in pregnancy to give birth under/in water in the black sea, & dolphins would come & help. 

in darwin this year i spoke with a few mums who'd thrown their babies in the water to swim....i had always intended to do it with mine but sa's sea in wintertime seemed a bit harsh....

Hi,

my last two babies (both homebirths) were born in the bath.  I had an affiliation with being in water during those pregnancies and a daily bath was the best way to meet this in our cold Melbourne weather.

Giving birth in water not only reduced the pain intensity when pushing, but also helped relax everything so when my babies were born they too were much calmer.  Another nice thing was staying in the bath together with little bubs to enjoy each other in the lovely serene water environment.  I can only image how amazing it would be to give birth in a larger body of water more closer to nature like natural springs etc.

Peace

I birthed my son in water 4 years ago and was a beautiful experience.

I planned on birthing my daughter in water 17 months ago, but she decided she didn't want to wait for my husband to finish filling the birthing pool.  I was trying to communicate to my husband and my mum that the baby was about to arrive as they are trying to hoist me into the pool.  So I birthed dd on my yoga mat NEXT to water.

Next time I will be better prepared hopefully to once again enjoy the calming and beautiful qualities of water during birth.