Birth plan reviews please!!

Re: Birth plan reviews please!!

• aylafsu88 member

  June 2012

  Your birth plan looks pretty good!   These are my suggestions (so feel free to incorporate them or not)!

  I would delete this sentence- Only ourselves, hospital staff,  and our doula (Becky Wakeland) present. Most hospitals don't care who is in the room but do have a limit on numbers (ours is 5 people whether it is the doula, DH, MIL, they dont care).  The hospital staff can ask guest to leave if someone happens to show up that you do not want in the room so if the situation arises have your H or doula just let the staff know.  The best way to avoid people showing up is to not tell them you are in labor! Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

   

  I would also edit the sentence about avoiding tearing by not pushing to say something like - We would like warm compresses and the perineum supported during pushing to help avoid tears. 

  Also, if you don't want continuous vaginal exams during labor you might want to put a note about that in your plan to.  In mine I specifically say  exams upon admittance to hospital and once I feel the urge to push only.
  

  On a side note- Our Bradley instructor told us to highlight really important things in red so that they jump out to the nurses.  So if there are things to feel strongly about like refrain from offering pain medication, then you might want to highlight that so it stands out more!!
  

   

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• chris&kendra1 member

  June 2012

  Thank so you much for your help! I will be taking this to my midwife today to discuss it with her, but those are some great tips! There are so many things to remember!

  

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• hratclif member

  June 2012

  I'm just going to tell you that most hospitals and doctors will require you to have a saline lock (what everyone calls a hep lock) which is just an IV that they place *just in case* with no IV fluids running in. An emergency is not the time you want them sticking a needle in your arm. If you need medicine, you'll need it right away and it will be much better to have the IV already there. It won't restrict your movement at all. I'm an RN but I'm also planning a natural birth and want the IV there for my own safety.

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• wannabigfam member

  June 2012

  hratclif:

  I'm just going to tell you that most hospitals and doctors will require you to have a saline lock (what everyone calls a hep lock) which is just an IV that they place *just in case* with no IV fluids running in. An emergency is not the time you want them sticking a needle in your arm. If you need medicine, you'll need it right away and it will be much better to have the IV already there. It won't restrict your movement at all. I'm an RN but I'm also planning a natural birth and want the IV there for my own safety.

   

  Not all hospitals or drs. require this though.  Find out what the policy is at your hospital and then include it on your birth plan if appropriate.  I know our hospital doesn't require ANYTHING. 

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• sschwege member

  June 2012

  It looks good!  Polite, but direct, nice bullet points!  

  I would ask about your MW's views on episitomis and forcep deliveries.  I think the chances are very good that it is only used in urgent situations.  If that is the case just eliminate those two bullets.  

  I agree with pp about perhaps adding something about limiting number of internal exams, if that's important to you. 

  
  
  
  
  
  My Ovulation Chart

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• sschwege member

  June 2012

  wannabigfam:

  hratclif:

  I'm just going to tell you that most hospitals and doctors will require you to have a saline lock (what everyone calls a hep lock) which is just an IV that they place *just in case* with no IV fluids running in. An emergency is not the time you want them sticking a needle in your arm. If you need medicine, you'll need it right away and it will be much better to have the IV already there. It won't restrict your movement at all. I'm an RN but I'm also planning a natural birth and want the IV there for my own safety.

   

  Not all hospitals or drs. require this though.  Find out what the policy is at your hospital and then include it on your birth plan if appropriate.  I know our hospital doesn't require ANYTHING. 

  She did say 'most' not all.  But I agree that she should check on this one.  My hospital didn't even mention a saline lock to me, much less a running IV.  I knew that ahead of time though, that my MWs did them on a case by case basis.   

  
  
  
  
  
  My Ovulation Chart

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• cwm11985 member

  June 2012

  Personally, I'd change "we" to "I."  Yeah, your husband is going to be there, but he's not giving birth.  "We would like to push on instinct..... we would like to avoid tearing, etc" aren't things your husband is going to be doing.  I think it sounds plain weird to use "we."  These are things that YOU want as YOU will be experiencing them, not your husband (of course you could keep "we" for things like cutting the cord and skin to skin because those are things your husband will be actively doing).

  
  

  

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