What is a Birth Plan?

I would recommend not making one 🤷. Ours completely went out the window when our daughter decided to come early. I would have an idea of what you would like but I wouldn't get too attached to it. I would think about pain management, emergency situation plans (who goes where), parking $$ hospital parking ain't cheap, and how you'd like to be treated. Overall I would just know your options on go with the flow.

I didn’t bother making one. I had an idea of what I wanted in my head but didn’t go as planned so I just went with the flow

When I was in active labor, it was the last thing on my mind......

I just asked my doctor about it and she said it's not worth making one...just have an idea of what you want. do you want pain meds, epidural, natural birth...just the basics.

Eventhough no birth goes exactly to plan, you should have something to indicate what your preferences are, like medicated/unmedicated, delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin, etc. I had a home birth and had gone over everything with my midwives, but had printed one up in case I had to go to hospital. Earth Mama has one with easy little icons you can download and customize. It doesnt hurt to have, but still having open mind that things might change in moment.

I didn’t have a birth plan, but birth preferences. Haha. Obviously it never goes as planned, but you can still have things that you would prefer. Like I knew that I would want a quiet room, and after the baby was born I knew I wanted her to get her shots. Those are just a few things that I added to my birth preferences. It just kind of tells the nurses what you’d like if things go that way.

Natural birth/ or epidural, cervix checks or no, and if you don’t want an episiotomy you should tell them before hand because some doctors still do these without consent! And then know for baby if you want delayed cord clamping or no, hep b vaccine or no, vitamin k or no.

I had a birth plan and literally every thing I had on there ended up not happening. It’s basically just what you would like to happen for the birth. For example: Mine was - natural birth - no pain meds - baby on chest right after birth (no cleaning first - straight to skin to skin) - just baby’s father in room with me What actually ended up happening - c-section after 30hrs of labor - LOTS of meds (both epidural before c-section was decided and for the c-section - my son couldn’t he placed on my chest because I was still in surgery when he was born Only thing that happened was my son’s father (also known as my fiancé haha) was the only family member to be in the room when my son was born.

This is a great idea! Go for it mama, I had one and it helps the staff and delivery room know what you’d like to do it case you’re busy birthing a baby( you will be) I made one and then when it was too late I was wanting anything they could give me! But pushed through and did it how I originally intended👍🏼 💕You got this we are meant to do this!

I made a birth plan and it was actually really helpful for me. Obviously the little details didn't all go as planned but I think it's very helpful to know what your goals/preferences are going in. Especially if you want to have a natural birth.

I never bothered making 1 really, I only jotted down who I wanted as my birth partner and an epidural, that's what I got when I was n labour but the rest u could never plan for lol so birth plans can b a waste, birth is so unpredictable, my contractions stopped and i ended up needed to be induced, any plans I would have made would have just gone straight out the window

Good for your own knowledge. Useless at the delivery day!

You can look up birth plan templates to see the kind of stuff that’s on it. I think it can help you know some of the things that could happen but there’s not a lot that you really have control over. What you do have control over is more like who’s in the room, what stuff you bring, and if you’re going to try to breastfeed or not so do research on those things.

https://pin.it/zfcqu6ebyb7wgg this is a template for a birth plan which its good to have one

If I didn't have mine the hospital would have pushed a c section even more (which I didn't have and didn't want) you'll have nurses come and go so it good for them if no one else. Try to get a doula or midwife I really wish I had one.

Hey love! A birth plan is essentially a plan of how you want labor and delivery to go. It’s good to have one and talk it over with your doctor so that you’re on the same page when the time comes, but I wouldn’t be 100% committed to anything other than actually giving birth. My birth plan became obsolete after the first 24 hours. But it helped make decisions go along smoother afterwards because the doctor and I had already discussed some of my expectations and she understood what I valued.