Three things to include in your birth plan
If you’re pregnant, even if you’re nowhere close to your due date, you’ve probably been asked if you have a birth plan. Writing a birth plan, or at least having discussed your wishes with your birth partner and your caregiver, is important for helping you to set realistic expectations for your birth experience, help you set your goals and take steps towards making them happen, and improving your communication with your team, all things that can help you to have a more satisfying birth! So, what should you make sure to include in a birth plan?
Anything that you feel strongly about having, or not having. Are you passionate about skin to skin immediately after birth? Write it into your birth plan, even if it’s standard procedure for your midwife or doctor. Are you adamantly against anyone mentioning the “e” word in your presence (epidural)? Write it down! More than writing it down, discuss why you feel strongly about it with your team before you go into labor so everyone understands your priorities. Then, when you meet your nurses for the first time on birth day, a written birth plan helps you communicate your highest priorities quickly and efficiently, without you needing to explain yourself between contractions.
Anything that is out of the ordinary for your caregiver, your birthing location, or both. If you want a clear drape in the event of a Cesarean, but your birthing hospital does not stock them, discuss your options early with your doctor and with the hospital labor and delivery staff (call and ask for the L&D floor manager, nurse manager, or the charge nurse). If you want 5 minutes of delayed cord clamping, but your doctor’s standard is 1 minute, put it in your birth plan, and plan who will remind the team of your wishes at your birth (hint, your Birth Plus birth doula can do this!). Doctors, midwives, and nurses are humans, and like all people, we get into our routines and habits. If you want something different than what they do every day, it’s a good idea to discuss it in advance and remind them.
How you want to proceed if your plan needs to change. One in three babies in the US is born by Cesarean surgery; make sure you know your options and think about what you want if you end up in the operating room too. Are you planning an unmedicated birth? Consider when you would change your plans to using medications. If you’re planning to get an epidural, make a plan for if the epidural isn’t working well, or if your baby is coming too quickly to get it.
Writing a birth plan should be a tool to help you and your birth partner learn about the likely ways your birth could proceed, discuss your options and your preferences together and with your provider, and quickly communicate those decisions and preferences to the rest of your team during childbirth.
Remember that even if you didn’t have it in your birth plan, you have the right to receive complete and accurate information about your health status and condition, your treatment option’s benefits, risks, alternatives (and their benefits and risks), and what to expect if you refuse treatment or decide to wait. You are taking on those potential benefits and risks of medical intervention and/or waiting, so you also get full decision-making power to say yes or no. Happy birthing!