Birth Plan/Preferences

babymama1212 · October 2012

Have you started yours?

We're enrolled in a Bradley class and a our desires for our labor was the focus of the last class. She asked that we start working on ours over this week, and make any changes we feel necessary over the next few weeks.

I am amazed at how great it feels to get it all down on paper. I understand that situations arise that would cause deviation from our plan... but my hyper organized-self loved checking this off my list of things to think about!

Up next: make lists for packing our hospital bag.

I cannot believe how real things are getting!

Amaryllis619 · October 2012

i'm not writing one up this time around. I had a one page birth plan written up for DD1, and I was really upset when almost everything wasn't able to happen the way i had imagined it, and i really struggled with that the first 6 or so months of her life. I don't want to focus on that again. I've discussed my preferences with my doctor, so we are both on the same page (& DH knows as well) but i'm not going to bring in a written plan this time. i'm hoping that whatever happens happens, and we are all happy and healthy no matter how she makes her appearance.

nanabanana06 · October 2012

I have a simple one page birthing plan that my Doula has helped us write. Most of it is fairly basic with the birth portion, a small blurb about my placenta, and preferances in the case of a section. The bulk of it is baby stuff. I know things can change with birth. I know what I want birth wise. So I put down things that would help accomplish that. Plus some of the things I don't want to happen can't happen with me having a VBAC. So I'm cool there. My doc already approved it.

jp03 · October 2012

Amaryllis619:
i'm hoping that whatever happens happens, and we are all happy and healthy no matter how she makes her appearance.

I completely agree (and with the other poster as well). I didn't have a birth plan for DD, and because things went south so quickly, we wouldn't have had time for it anyways. The most important thing at the end of the day is that Mama and Baby(ies) are happy and healthy.

This time round (and because I'm in down in New Zealand), I have been forced to have a midwife (lonnnngggggg story ther)e, who is forcing me to do a birth plan - of which I really don't want to.

The best thing of all is to just go with the flow, because you never know how labour and delivery can suddenly change on a dime. Listen to your body as to what's feeling right, what's feeling wrong and remember that there is no such thing as a perfect delivery, as every single woman is different.

ShellShockedMama · October 2012

Birth plan: get it the f?ck out. My last birth plan went to sh?t, now? GET. IT. OUT.

NoeliaV · October 2012

We have ours almost finished. I started an outline as we were learning about the process and our practice's standards vs the hospital's usual procedures. Last visit, we shared a draft with our lead dr... I'll clean up some things, and hopefully add the final version to our chart at our 34 week appt.

peacelove&mama · October 2012

My birth plan is to not have one, and take things as they come. I'd like to go natural, but if I decide I want an epi, that's fine. I might want one of my SIL's in the room, but I might change my mind. I say I want to labor in the tub, but I might not when I'm in the moment. I didn't have one with DS, and I was overall very happy with his birth.

StefandTodd · October 2012

I loved writing out my plans and preferences for birth with my first. This is the format that my doctor/insurance/hospital uses, so I was able to use a lot of the same wording and then add some things that I also preferred (first bath at home, delay hep B vaccine, wait on postpartum pitocin, for example). https://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/52087.pdf My son's birth was beautiful and just as I imagined and hoped. There's absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about your preferences, writing them down, and talking about them with your healthcare provider...and it's no indication that your top priority isn't healthy mom & baby (that is obviously not a goal unique to someone not writing a birth plan). And also, many women have the births they hope and plan for...lots of evidence for me of that on the natural birth board. I won't be writing a formal plan this time b/c I'm planning a home birth and my MW knows me very well and is right in line with and understanding of what I want.

robyn2201 · October 2012

StefandTodd:
I loved writing out my plans and preferences for birth with my first. This is the format that my doctor/insurance/hospital uses, so I was able to use a lot of the same wording and then add some things that I also preferred (first bath at home, delay hep B vaccine, wait on postpartum pitocin, for example). https://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/52087.pdf My son's birth was beautiful and just as I imagined and hoped. There's absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about your preferences, writing them down, and talking about them with your healthcare provider...and it's no indication that your top priority isn't healthy mom & baby (that is obviously not a goal unique to someone not writing a birth plan). And also, many women have the births they hope and plan for...lots of evidence for me of that on the natural birth board. I won't be writing a formal plan this time b/c I'm planning a home birth and my MW knows me very well and is right in line with and understanding of what I want.

I have to agree!

I wrote one for DD's birth and I need to go back and edit it a little bit. I am considering delaying the first bath till we get home. That's not something typically done at my hospital, so if we decide on that, I need to add it.

sschwege · October 2012

I am going to use the same one as last time, it was probably about 7-8 bullets. Brief and to the point. I think this time I will do a separate page in case of a c-section.

If you are looking for suggestions on your birth plan you could always post it on the Natural Birth board. The girls over there are happy to look it over and offer advice.

perfectlove09 · October 2012

I don't like that so many people, I mean the general population not just people on this board, automatically jump to the assumption that those who want a birth plan don't want a healthy and safe labor/delivery/mom/baby.
Even if its something as simple as "don't give my baby a pacifier", they don't know that unless you tell them. A birth plan is a great place to put that. It will be in your chart and you won't have to repeat yourself 10 times to different drs and nurses.
I think preparing a birth plan also helps us not to be ignorant to certain hospital procedures. A lot may say "I don't care what happens, just get the baby here safely" but do they really not care? I'm also not a fan of that phrase either. YOU are getting the baby here, not your dr. Assuming things are going normally of course. But until I started researching birth plans and common practices I had no idea that its coming pretty normal for hospitals to give you pitocin to deliver the placenta faster. One might say "who cares" but is that truely how we feel? Would you ever expect to go to a dr for a routine exam and just let them give you a shot without expecting them to explain what they are giving you and why, and what are possible side effects? Of course not! I had to look into it further and found out that even if you have a natural drug free birth, meaning no pitocin or ANY drug, they might still give you pitocin for the placenta. The issue with that is here you've had this drug free birth or maybe you even got the epi but didn't need pitocin you went through the normal contractions, delivered your baby, and are trying to bond and all of a sudden they inject you with a drug that causes completely different and unatural contractions that feel VERY different from what you just went through. Unless you are hemmoraging there isn't any reason to force the placenta to be delivered sooner than it normally would on its own. So why do they do it? It's convienient for the dr and the last 50 woman giving birth didn't even know they did it so why not just keep up with it? Too many people just say "whatever" and don't take the time to find out what is actually necessary for them to have that healthy and safe experience they wanted.

The example I'm giving is just ONE of the many things that happen in hospitals that are not needed. And I'm not saying that by not having a birth plan you are being ignorant. I just personally think that we should all give a little more consideration to what we want done to our bodies or our babies.

Wow I just wrote a book. I'll step off my soap box now...lol

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