“The pinnacle of water birth pool development.
An incomparable combination of design, materials and manufacturing”
Building Better Healthcare Awards
In the mid-80’s we worked closely with midwives, mothers, obstetricians,
infection control and manual handling experts to develop the world’s
first specially designed, hospital grade water birth pool.
Since then we’ve continued to evolve our designs, upgrade the materials we use
and improve our manufacturing and engineering capabilities to produce
water birth pools that are safer and better meet the needs of midwives and mothers.
The keyword that defines our approach is ‘Active’.
Active Birth is defined as, “Childbirth where mothers move freely and find comfort in positions natural to labour and birth”.
Our pools are designed with complex, sensuous forms that make them appealing both physically and psychologically.
This encourages mothers to move freely and instinctively helping them get maximum benefit from labouring in water.
Choice of material is fundamental to the success of a water birth pool.
We fabricate our pools in Ficore®, a composite resin with superior properties that is unique to Active Birth Pools.
If you compare Ficore® with acrylic or fibreglass you’ll see that it has many advantages:
Ficore is immensely strong and sturdy but not heavy. The American National Standards Institute tested Ficore to destruction and found it to last 4 x longer than the materials used for other birthing pools.
Since we began working with Ficore in 2014 we’ve virtually reinvented our water birth pools. Many of the unique qualities that our pools are famous for would be impossible to achieve without Ficore®.
Right from the start we realised that no matter how beneficial the use of water
was for labour and birth, that if safety standards were not met and maintained the
medical establishment would prohibit the use of water birth pools.
We’ve made health and safety the focus of our approach for 35 years. We’re confident in saying that when it comes to water safety, hygiene, infection control and manual handling our water birth pools are safest .
We’ve closely examined every risk and combined the latest knowledge, materials, manufacturing and design techniques to produce innovative water birth pools that make labour and birth in water safer.
Ficore’s exceptional qualities make our pools more resistant to bacteria and easier to maintain. The surface layer of isophthalic neo-pentyl-glycol is 50% harder (stronger) than the materials other birth pools are made from. It’s extra-hard surface means that it can easily be wiped clean of normal stains and will not be affected by corrosive disinfectants.
Seamless one-piece fabrication in Ficore® composite denies micro-organisms the environment they need to breed. The ultra-smooth, highly polished finish improves hygiene by facilitating more effective cleaning and eliminating “dirt traps”, which can promote bacterial growth resistant to infection control regimes.
Our stainless steel hand rails are made to the highest standards by renown brassware manufacturer Samuel Heath. Unlike other pools with surface mounted metal work (a proven hygiene risk) ours are bonded and fully sealed into fabric of the pool.
Compared to other materials Ficore has a much higher adhesion factor. This makes our pools much less slippery and makes mothers feel more grounded and secure. This gives our birthing pools a crucial advantage.
The potential for birth pools to be both a habitat and a delivery medium for harmful bacteria is well known. It’s important to understand this and know the birthing pool you’re getting is equipped accordingly.
Through intelligent design and specialised materials we have minimised the risk of water borne infection and guarantee that following our guidelines you are assured a safe and trouble free experience.
When we look at Manual Handling there are three issues that we are concerned with:
– Safeguarding midwives from risk of injury
– Mothers getting and and out of the pool
– Means to facilitate emergency evacuations
Midwives sit comfortably, arms resting on the wide rim with legs tucked underneath unlike other birthing pools where the outer panel forms a barrier that forces them to splay their legs and lean forward.
Multi-step units are commonly used but, they are cumbersome and present critical safety risks even if they have a handrail. Manual handling experts say that they don’t want mothers climbing up and stepping over narrow rims into pools as the risk of slipping or falling is too great.
The extra-wide rim makes it simple and safe for mothers to get in and out of our pools. Provision of a compact, single step gives the mother a height advantage. She can step up – sit on the rim and swivel into the water. There is no climbing – she is grounded at all times and safeguarded from risk.
Active Birth Pools give midwives safe, practical options for dealing with emergency evacuations. If required a portable hoist may be employed as all of our birthing pools are portable hoist compatible.
As midwives work with the pools on an ongoing basis we have always considered their comfort and safety paramount. Midwives simply tell us that they love our pools because they’re beautiful, practical and easy to work with.
We have carefully considered the dynamics at play when mothers
and midwives interact with each other and the pool, and employed evidence based,
user-centred ergonomic design principles to create water birth pools that are widely
regarded as the most comfortable, practical and user-friendly.
As Steve Jobs said, “It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.” We design for the mothers and midwives who use our pools. The form comes from how the pool needs to function to best meet their needs.
In the mid-90’s we collaborated with an ergonomic design specialist to explore ways our water birth pools could be improved. This lead to the ground-breaking innovations in design that have culminated in todays range of award winning, hospital grade water birth pools.
Our new pools are seamless one-piece fabrications in which every shape, curve and varying degree of rounded corner has a reason behind them.
Active Birth Pools optimise the beneficial effects of immersion in water to maximum effect giving mothers a greater possibility of physiological labour and natural birth.
Our award-winning hospital grade water birth pools have been top of the market for over 35 years!
They provide unparalleled levels of hygiene and safety,
unbeatable value, better results and superior performance.
They are made by hand to order in England, built to last for decades and guaranteed for life.
We guarantee that you will get 20-30 years of service from your Active Birth Pool. Pools we supplied 30 years ago are still in use today, and our build quality now is far superior to what it was then! Agents have told us that our pools last to long and that they would like to be able to sell replacements, but this is not how we work.
Other birthing pools have a life span of 7-10 years and aren’t guaranteed for life. Though competitors pools might cost less then ours, over time they’ll cost far more as you’ll end up replacing them 3 – 4 times before you need to think about replacing an Active Birth Pool. This yields significant savings – up to £25,000 over the life of the pool!
Our water birth pools add a ‘wow’ factor to the birthing room that makes it more appealing and attractive to prospective clientele. Hospitals save money, mothers have better experience of labour and birth and midwives better results and job satisfaction.
During the life time of an Active Birth Pool you will have to replace other pools several times. The financial and environmental impact that disposal and replacement of these pools is considerable and make it all the more sense to choose a Ficore composite birth pool.
Customers choose us for our outstanding reputation and for the clear functional superiority of our birthing pools. They value the quality and durability of our pools, and the confidence that comes from working with the most knowledgeable and genuinely helpful company in the industry.
Our water birth pools provide decades of trouble free service and are so well built that we guarantee them for life. If a problem arises our experience over the past 35 years has given us the expertise to provide highly efficient service and post sales support wherever you are in the world.
We know that we offer unbeatable service, safety, value and performance, and that mothers and midwives will love our beautiful birthing pools.
But, please don’t take our word for it:
See what our clients and associates have to say…
