True Blue: Our Birthing Pools

• The rental period is for four (4) weeks.
  
• We deliver to and set up tubs in your home two weeks prior to your due date.
  
• You keep the tub for two weeks after your due date or as long as you need it with no additional charge. One additional week is usually sufficient.
• The cost of all needed supply, delivery, set up and pick up in City of Toronto is 259.00 plus HST, (add 22.50 one way or 45.00 both ways for deliveries outside of the City).
  
• You are not expected to purchase any of the parts such as hoses, adapters, pumps, or disposable liners. Our kits contain them all. 
  
• By visiting your home we ensure that your dwelling and its water supply will meet the demands of the installation while also giving the opportunity for us to walk you through the process first hand. We have first hand experience since our daughter is a water birth baby too. 
  
• The unfilled pool weighs 47 pounds, and when it is filled to the maximum capacity (18 inches high or 197 gallons of water) it weighs of about 1623 pounds. However, it is an evenly distributed weight, safe to be placed on any floor even in a very old house.
  
• The pool is 60 inches in diameter (24 inches high).
  
• It takes an experienced person about 15-20 minutes to install.
  
• It takes about 55 minutes to fill the pool, depending on your water pressure and supply of hot water. If the supply is not sufficient, start with hot water first, add cold water while the hot water is warming up, and then change again to the hot.
  
• Women and birth attendants can get into the tub before it is completely filled, and let the warm water pour on them.
  
• The pool comes with one or two (depending on the type) a three- prong plug (grounded) waterbed- type heater, and it has its own thermostat that switches on and off when needed. You should feel comfortable, but not too warm.
  
• During the labour, the water is usually around 37-38 degrees Celsius. Constant monitoring of the temperature is very important.
  
• Your midwife will let you know the appropriate time is to get into the tub (ideally you should be at least 5cm dilated). If you are dilated less than five centimeters you may relax too much too soon, and unnecessarily prolong the labour.
  
• As always, your inner feelings, your instincts and your midwife's experience will be your best guides.
  
• But more than anything else, let your body speak for you. There is no right or wrong --it is only a process that requires a trust and has its own logic.
  
• More about waterbirth here .

WHY OUR POOLS PROVIDE A FRIENDLIER SOLUTION?
 
1. Customer Service
We have been growing with True Blue Natural Family Resources for past 12 years, and we can say with certainty that we were blessed by witnessing a variety of birthing experiences. We visit each expectant family. We examine your house and help you to visualize or organzie your birthing place. We might solve some of the little problems by answering questions such as “How the size of my water heater will affect the supply of hot water” or “Should I use my bath tub tap or the sink one?". We can help to make you and your partner more comfortable with the idea of birthing in water. We feel it is important for families to get a clear sense that they are not isolated, and there have been others walking the same path. We do not rush our visits. When we leave it all should feel as a straightforward “plug and play”. If there are any unanswered questions or further concerns, we are always available by either phone or email.

2. Heated Pools
Commercial kiddy pools have no heaters.
Without heaters to maintain the warmth, even in summer times, water will cool down quickly and further management of the tub might become difficult. It would be dangerous to use a water heater in inflatable pools and there are not many pools on the market with built in heaters. Our pools are designed using a different, sturdy and heat resistant type of vinyl enhanced by thick sheets of insulation, solid lids an externally placed heating pocket where the water heaters are placed in safely and securely. The heaters will help to maintain the hear for 10-12 hours.

3. Issues of Size and Depth of the Pool
Desirable depth for every birthing pool is at least 24”.
Diameter of 60 inches makes pool comfortable enough to hold two people, birthing mother and her partner. Smaller pools and more shallow ones do not serve the purpose. To benefit from the so-called “natural epidurals” warm water provides the body (especially tummy) should be fully emerged. That is not always possible in the inflatable tubs or in a bathtub.

4. Ecologically speaking, we do provide a “sustainable” solution
The word sustainable sums up ideas about reusing, recycling and curbing unnecessary consumption. Sustainability is something we have been deeply believing in and following up since the beginning of our enterprise in 1999. 
Often, when you buy a commercial kiddy pools and you do not have disposable liner to fit over to share the tub with friends and family, thus, most likely, the pool will end up in the landfill. When you rent the pool, the only landfill-destined item is your disposable liner.
Further, we try to reuse all of the parts - let us repeat once more, all that we use in TBT kits will be used repeatedly over the time:
heaters (when they stop working we do not throw them away but send them back to manufacturers for repair),
sturdy vinyl liners,
insulation and sturdy sheets,
hoses, adapters and pumps.
By renting our products (and services), you leave almost nothing behind; you abstein from piling up of the objects that will not be used more then once (maybe twice?) in your lifetime. As a curiosity, the first tub we bought for ourselves in 1999 is still in use and it has been providing support to mothers and babies since.   

Note:
TBT disposable liners contain no latex and our TBT hoses are lead free.

Cleaning policies we implement are based on green guidelines provided by both Renée Loux and Labour Environmental Alliance Society of Canada (please make sure you support highly recommended Cancer Smart Guide 3.0)

Finally, we have a rent three-get one free policy. Yes, you can get a tub for free but there is a work to be done. The truth is we are still waiting on the first family who will benefit from this policy although we do have a few forerunners.
Well, you get the picture...

• One permanent liner (heavy duty, latex free vinyl)
• One individual disposable liner (3.5 mm thick)
• Insulation layers (2 sheets of highly resistant foam)
• Dual heater (UL approved) with thermometer that maintains the temperature of the water
• Submersible drain pump
• Floor support (floor padding)
• Fishing net for debris and a floating thermometer
• Universal faucet adapter  (a high quality brass fitting --we install it if needed)
• Antibacterial cleaning liquid
• Heavy- duty tub cover that will keep the temperature of the water stabilized for up to 8 hours.

A quick thank you once again for your tub. Both you and your kind husband were joys to work with. 
You will be highly recommended. Love and light...