Barbara Harper

Barbara Harper RN, is the author of Gentle Birth Choices (book and video) and the founder and director of Waterbirth International Research, Resource and Referral Service, a project of Global Maternal/Child Health Association. She is a well-known international lecturer on waterbirth and midwifery. She is the mother of three, two of whom were born at home in water.

Photo by Krystal Black

Keeping Waterbirth Safe During Covid-19

by Barbara Harper May 8, 2020

All the research shows that water reduces the rate of infection in all three participants—mother, baby, and provider—and in some cases makes contaminants non-viable. This was the answer I gave to the first person, a hospital midwife from Italy, who asked about restrictions for using water for labor and birth during the Covid-19 outbreak. She sent a message on March 20 and I recommended that they continue with their established hospital waterbirth practice and, where and when necessary, use full personal protection equipment (PPE). Read more…. Keeping Waterbirth Safe During Covid-19

Seana Berglund—www.babymoonservices.com

Waterbirth Basics, From Newborn Breathing to Hospital Protocols

by Barbara Harper June 1, 2000

Waterbirth is simple. Within the simplicity of water labor and birth lies a complexity of questions, choices, opinions, research data, women’s experience and practitioner observations. One of the first and foremost questions in everyone’s mind when they hear of waterbirth stories is simple: How does the baby breathe during a waterbirth?