Birth in Pictures: Water

Hannah Bracher-Smith's first column

For centuries, women and birthing people have been giving birth in water. Evidence dates back to ancient times, with water births depicted in petroglyphs. The earliest water birth was officially recorded in 1803 in France, and in 1989, Sheila Kitzinger and Dr Ethel Burns raised money to install the very first specifically designed water birth pool at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.