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Birth Plan - poll
Looking at the bump's birth plan is a bit overwhelming: https://images.thebump.com/tools/pdfs/birth_plan.pdf
Did you use this tool or something similar?
Did you just talk to your doc and go with his/her recommendations?
Did you have something set in stone or did you go with the flow during labor?
Where can I find more information/research on labor and delivery?
If you used Dr. Kellogg or any of the other docs in the practice, do you have any insights or useful information to share regarding the labor and delivery?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Birth Plan - poll
I never had a birth plan, it wasn't my thing. I trusted my dr and knew that he would do what was best for my daughter and I. I didn't claim to know more than he or the hospital and to dictate how I wanted things to happen. I just let them happen. In my experience, it's hard to plan things like this, they have a mind of their own. I had a perfect birth and my only expectation was to have a healthy baby at the end, and I did. When my blood pressure started going up and up and up towards the end of my pregnancy, I had a feeling that my dr would want to induce. So I was not surprised at 37.5 weeks when he scheduled me for an induction. When I went in the morning of the induction, I knew that it was possible that it wouldn't work and I would end up with a c/s. Luckily for me, I responded very well to the induction and had my daughter after only 5 hours of labor and pushing.
My Dr was amazing, he came in frequently and explained everything that was happening and what they would be doing. He answered all my questions. The nurses were wonderful, there was almost always someone in the room with me at all times. Alexis had some heart decels towards the end so they called a neonatologist (sp?) to be there for her birth so I didn't get to hold her right away, she needed to be checked out first to make sure she was ok. If I had a plan, I think I would have been let down that things didn't happen according to it. IMO, its just one more thing to stress about.
My blog
This reminded me of what my sister's doctor recently told her when she started talking to her about doing the Bradley Method, "I will work with whatever you like and respect your wishes...but just don't bring me a written birth plan. It just so happens that those who do seem to end up in c-section and we have gotten superstitious about it."
With my first pregnancy I was a "come what may" kind girl. I just wanted my baby born healthy and realized that a) I had never done this before and b) there are many different ways that she could be born. I trusted my doctor and saw no reason to write down a plan for myself when I knew that one little thing could change the way everything went....and as long as my baby was born healthy I was happy with that. I felt like writing down a specific plan was a way to set myself up for disappointment if it did not go the way I expected. IMHO.
I'm also very easygoing and very trusting in my doctors, so I just go with the flow with most things. It's just that when I saw this checklist I thought to myself, "Do I have to have this all figured out now?!"
I trust Dr. K to do w/e he has to do. However, I'd like to be a little more knowledgable and what goes on during labor and delivery - like all the medical terms, medication options, etc. I don't want to be asked or told something and have no clue what they're talking about (right now the only words I know are pitocin, epidural, and episiotomy, lol).
Where did you do your research on labor and delivery? Would most of that be covered in the childbirth preparation classes?
I did use a birth plan, based on the bradley method. It's far from telling your Dr how to be a Dr or nurses telling them how to be a nurse. And its not a PLAN. So don't be misguided by that. Labors are unpredictable...anything can happen. But there are things you can express yourself on, i.e. breastfeeding, shots at hospital, skin to sking, etc. These are things that I felt I needed to express myself on (& so did DH). Perfect example, I did not want the baby to get the hep B shot nor the vit K. DH wanted to be the one to give Isabella her 1st bath. These are things that when Isabella was born I wouldn't have thought to express myself on b/c I was soooo overwhelmed with emotions of my daughter coming into the world. Also, if I would have had a c/s I still wanted to breastfeed as much as possible. Or if the baby needed to be in the nicu I would have liked to be either in the same hospital or if she would be transferred be released ASAP.
I reviewed this with my mid-wife & her 2 ob's and they were fine with it. They did explain to me that if an emergency they might not be able to do what I requested and I was fine with that. But that they would try to do everything possible to accomodate my wants. I also took it to the hospital day of b/c seriously, the nurses have numerous of patients and won't remember every singal detail of each mom.
I think it was very important for me to have it, dh enjoyed it, and I did not hear a complaint from my nurses/mid-wife/Ob's.
Jeanine Balkin. She's awesome!
I did not have a birth plan. I trust my doctors. Everything was expalined to me. I never felt in the dark. I'm not happy with the way my delivery played out but I know that having a "birth plan" would not have changed that. If you want to have more control over your labor and delivery, I think it's best to go to a natural birthing center or a practice that uses doulas and midwives.
I did not have a written birth plan, but I don't see anything wrong with having one. I did go in both times trying to have a natural birth and trying to avoid a c section unless really necessary. Although no one I know who has had a c section believes that it was unnecessary, the statistics show that some of them had to be. There is no way that 40%+ of births need to be by surgery. It's just not possible. I trusted my doctor the second time (the first one was way to quick to propose "a quick c"), and that is important, too. I also stayed home as long as possible (until I felt a lot of pressure -- as if the baby was going to fall out) because a lot of c sections happen when women go to the hospital too early and don't "progress" fast enough for the hospital. I did have a doula both times and had done prenatal yoga with my doula throughout both pregnancies, which helped a lot. She is a certified Hypnobirthing instructor as well, and I read that book and worked it a bit during both labors.
I did, however, want to be in a hospital just in case there was a true emergency and in case I needed a c section. I believe that they are useful when necessary. I just don't believe that they are as necessary as they seem to be if you look at the numbers.
Tania
I think birth plans are more helpful if you plan to try to go natural. If you are going into a conventional hospital for a conventional labor and delivery, including pain meds, I don't think it's necessary.
I loved the theory of trying to go unmedicated but I knew in reality I probably wouldn't make it through an entire labor without drugs. Needless to say, I didn't even make it a few hours! When those contractions started, I was ready for my epidural immediately. I couldn't wait. Maybe if I had been more committed to doing natural, and if I had written out a birth plan that would have guided me in my attempt to go drug free, I would have lasted a little longer before begging for the epidural. In hindsight, I wish I had been stronger and would have held out more, and having a detailed birth plan could have helped with that. Who knows? Maybe the epidural is partially to blame for why my labor stalled out and why I had to end up in a c-section. But in that moment, I was just so scared, so nervous, and in so much pain that I kind of just let the nurses and doctors take over and I just went with the flow of whatever I was told to do by them or whatever was recommended. I don't regret it. Even if I had done things differently, because of the baby's position and because my water broke so early in labor and the fact that I was already running a fever, I may very well have still ended up needing the c-section, even WITH a birth plan and WITHOUT an epidural. I would have been pissed if I had gone through all the pain of laboring without drugs only to end up in surgery anyway, so I'm kind of glad things happened the way they did, because at least I was semi-comfortable throughout the whole ordeal.
This is what happened to me. All along my pregnancy, I told myself that I would stay home and labor at home as much as possible. I didn't want to be one of those women who showed up at the hospital only 1-2 cm dilated and had to spend hours upon hours in a hospital bed waiting to be ready to push. But then when I really went into labor, panic set in and all my good intentions went out the window (again, this might have been avoided if I had actually written out a birth plan). I was really nervous and wanted to get to the hospital ASAP. My water broke at the very beginning of labor, too, which I wasn't expecting, and that also spurred my decision to run to the hospital because my doctors told me to go to the hospital right away if my water broke. Well, I showed up in the hospital at the middle of the night with a broken water and ZERO centimeters of dilation. By 6 pm the next day, I was stalled out at five centimeters, the baby was sunny side up and experiencing swelling from being stuck in my pelvis, and I was running a fever...hence my c-section.
I don't know that I would say my c-section was 100% necessary. I'm sure that under the care of a doula or a midwife, they may have been able to help me through my complications and helped me to deliver vaginally. But as much as I'm not happy that I had a c-section, I felt very safe and taken care of under my doctor's care, and I never felt pushed or pressured to resort to the c-section until they were fairly certain that vaginal delivery was going to be too dangerous for me and the baby.
This is part of tonight's class, LOL. Ditto Cynthia. A birth plan should never be a script.
I never asked my doctor to look at my birth plan despite Bradley. And I actually don't remember giving one to my L&D nurse. I had my DH and doula to help though.
It's good to use as talking points with your doctor but I wouldn't necessarily shove a long birth plan in his/her face. I made sure that my preferences in a normal labor and birth were something that he allowed. I asked him about mobiltiy, monitoring, episiotomies, and getting the baby skin to skin immediately.
A birth plan is a good tool to make sure Mom and Dad are on the same page and have the same goals. If mom is unable to speak for herself, does Dad know her preferences etc? If mom has a c/s, does Dad stay with mom in the OR or go with baby? This is something that is good to talk about before it happens instead of in the heat of the moment.
For instance some women do not want anyone in the room while pushing but her DH. Sometimes other family members show up a the hospital and think it's okay to stay. Mom might be so focused on birthing her baby that she doesn't pay attention to the others in the room. Many moms lose their modesty in labor. Afterwards, she may be uncomfortable and wish that those extra people hadn't been there. A birth plan can be something that opens up a dialogue between mom and dad to help prevent things like that.
Thank you for sharing all your stories with me and for your frank responses.
I'll see how things go for us at the childbirth preparation classes (thanks for the rec!) and then maybe DH and I can come up with a birth plan just for us to be on the same page with all the details (i.e., we both know we don't want anyone else in the delivery room - only the two of us). But, it won't be something I'd give the doc or nurses. Just a guide for us to help us make decisions and prepare ourselves for the different things that can come up during birth.
Andre: funny thing. I never gave it to my nurses, it was in my birthing folder that we took w/all my info. DH kept going back to it to read it when they asked him a question. LOL....I'm telling you it really helped us remember what we wanted. I reviewed it with my Dr b/c I also wanted to be realistic about what can happened.
I put together a birth plan as a way of keeping track of my preferences and discussed a few things on it with my OB during the prenatal checks (what was allowed in the hospital as far as mobility during labor, etc.) but never actually gave it to the doctor or nurses at the hospital. As pp have said, it was more a way for DH and I to have a record of what we preferred in certain situations and to learn what some options might be before we were faced with making a decision in a stressful situation. I was incredibly lucky that my labor went exactly as I would have hoped in a best case scenario.
I would recommend making sure that you have someone with you at all times through labor and delivery to be your advocate - DH, doula, family member, etc. After the delivery DH went outside to get cell signal to call relatives and I was left alone with a nurse who ignored my requests to hold my baby. I understood when she took him for a bath, but I wanted to try to get started nursing and have him skin to skin as soon as possible and she had a list of tasks to perform and decided that they all had to be done before she would give him to me (souvenir footprints! 10 minutes just for that - arghhh - it still irks me). I felt completely powerless and was wishing that anyone, even another nurse, would come in and confirm what was actually necessary and delay what was not.
Leanna makes a great point -- communication is key!!!!
I think it's a good idea to research and make your preferences known but sometimes those "birth plans" per se tend to go way overboard. As many have stated, most births are unpredictable so it is so important to be able to roll with the punches. I was induced with Quinn at 41 weeks and went into the hospital with the decision to avoid all drugs. I told the nurse that and she said that she would honor my wishes but that I should try to keep an open mind throughout the entire labor just in case. Well, my first major Pitocin contraction and I was begging for an epidural which was totally not in my original plan ;-) DH and I were always on the same page so that helped with everything. We also made the rest of our decisions known (no pacifiers, no formula, no HepB, etc) to the staff and made a little sign for the bassinet just in case. As most have stated, communication with your dr and the L&D team is most important.
Like, Cynthia, we used the Bradley Method birthing approach and we did write a birth "outline". It was very rough, very nice, not demanding, very open-minded. We used phrases like "If possible, we would prefer...."
We went over the birth plan with our doula, midwife and then our midwife sent it over to the hospital nurses. We put a lot of thought into our birth plan....but our hearts weren't set on any one scenario. We understood that not all births are textbook and that anything could happen.
Luckily....our birth was pretty textbook AND our labor/delivery followed our birth plan to the T. We were very lucky, blessed, actually. We requested to not have an IV....and the nurses obliged. We asked if I could move around the hospital room, get off the bed....the nurses were fine with it. Wanted to have immediate skin-to-skin contact with baby and to delay eye ointment and bath so that we could breastfeed......the hospital said no problem.
Will our next birth be the same? Probably not. But it made me feel more prepared to think of all the things that could come up during labor/delivery. Good for you - you're already thinking about your birthing experience!
This is exactly how I felt!
BFP #3: 01/28/12, EDD: 09/23/12, MMC (BO), D&C 2/16/12 at 6.5 wks
BFP #4: 05/23/12, EDD: 01/31/12, Early MC at 5 wks
RPL Workup: + LPD (7DPO Prog = 7.8, Endometrial Bx = out of phase)
Elevated Alpha 2-glycoprotein IgA and antiphosphatidylserine IgM -->
Hematologist said not to worry and no need for treatment!
Dx: LPD
Cycle #1(08/2012): Clomid 50 mg CD3-7, Ovidrel CD13 + Progesterone = It worked!
BFP #5 on 09/10/12 (11 DPO). HCG #1 @ 14DPO = 131.6 HCG #2 @ 16DPO = 509
EDD: 05/23/2013
This is exactly how I felt!
BFP #3: 01/28/12, EDD: 09/23/12, MMC (BO), D&C 2/16/12 at 6.5 wks
BFP #4: 05/23/12, EDD: 01/31/12, Early MC at 5 wks
RPL Workup: + LPD (7DPO Prog = 7.8, Endometrial Bx = out of phase)
Elevated Alpha 2-glycoprotein IgA and antiphosphatidylserine IgM -->
Hematologist said not to worry and no need for treatment!
Dx: LPD
Cycle #1(08/2012): Clomid 50 mg CD3-7, Ovidrel CD13 + Progesterone = It worked!
BFP #5 on 09/10/12 (11 DPO). HCG #1 @ 14DPO = 131.6 HCG #2 @ 16DPO = 509
EDD: 05/23/2013