[Guaranteeing fetal well-being in water childbirth: is it possible?].

The criteria, which a modern obstetric department is based on, are to deliver serenely and naturally according to the mother's personal exigencies and preserving the child's right to his/her own safety. The attempt to offer the woman a natural place with respect for these principles has improved the knowledge about the physiologic changes of the female organism during labour and water birth. Our experience about water birth began on 1st of July 2000, the day of the inauguration of the new birth room of the maternal-infantile department of the hospital of Lavagna.