Birth plan ... when to start?

I’m planning the same (if all goes well!) I emailed my local midwife home birth team at the hospital and they fed back the same, approx. 34 weeks is when they will come to do a home visit/assessment and go over any questions etc. we may have. In the mean time finding some Instagram accounts of doulas and birth coaches etc. might help you as they often talk about birth plans or offer templates for you to go off of so you can get an idea for yourself! My midwife actually said they now advocate/recommend a home birth (and is even possible for high risk mothers too) before I even mentioned that I wanted a home birth. This reassured me massively 💛

It’s good to be organised but believe me plans never work. I had a plan and when I went to give birth NOBODY even looked at it… 😂 so don’t beat yourself up. It’s good to know for yourself, for example I don’t want forceps and there is a special form you can fill in regarding this. That’s the only thing I’m refusing to have. The rest I am ok with. So I even told my partner don’t let them come anywhere near me with these metal things😭😭😭

Im. Currently pregnant with my 2nd and not doing a birth plan as nothing was read so to me it was a complete waste of time as long as you have in your head what you do and don’t want to happen then that’s fine, but birth sometimes won’t go the way you planned (emergencies etc.) xx

The only thing I put on my birth plan is that I didn’t want an epidural, I was in the hospital 2 minutes before I begged for one 😂 I won’t be planning anything this time around, just go with the flow. I guess all you need to know is where you want to give birth, home/hospital etc x

@Dessy hey, I’m intrigued to know why forceps is the only thing you would refuse? X

@Dessy I 2nd this, maybe make a simple plan but tbh 9 times out of 10 birth doesn’t go to our expected plan. You can vocalise if you want skin to skin, etc at the time xx

@charlotte have you seen the damn things?

@Dessy haha I have yeah, I actually had a forceps delivery with my first, I didn’t really know much about them at the time but they helped get my son out safely without me needing a c-section. I just wondered if there was a reason other than how scary they look 😅 going into this birth learning a lot more than I did my first! X

@charlotte I don’t want to scare anyone, everyone is entitled to have their own choice and everyone knows what is best for your own baby. I’ve heard so many horror stories about the forceps delivery, that I wouldn’t let them come anywhere near me. We are 21st century, I’m sure these things should be updated based to on failed births alone.

If you want a home birth kor at least considering it) I'd ask your midwife at your next appointment so you can get booked in in advance. They'll want to come out to your house beforehand and make sure everything is okay. If it's a hospital birth then there's no hurry, they have all the options available so it's not like you need to organise/book it in advance. I think writing a birth plan is really helpful for you to learn and understand all of the options, particularly things like pain relief, but ultimately you also have to accept that there's a reasonable chance things won't go to plan. I'd have a look at antenatal classes (you can book in-person or online ones, but there are plenty of free resources too) to help you plan/prepare

At my 8wk appointment my midwife asked me where I wanted to have the baby and we put that into action straight away x

You don’t really discuss a birth plan till you’re close to giving birth. Home birth you need speak up about it sooner so ASAP as I think there’s specific home birth teams so you’d need to be under them from now. I’d make contact and say it’s what you want and go from there.

My birth plan was actually read if it makes you feel better! Not by the midwife but I ended up being brought to theatre as things weren't progressing and the doctor read it then, at that point though I was just like do whatever you can to get this thing out of me 😂

@Dianne it’s the same process. The home birth team usually take over care from your usual midwife at around 28 weeks (just checked my email from my nhs home birth team). Which is when they come for a home visit/assessment. So it isn’t too much earlier I would say. I emailed them when I was 13 weeks (now 16 weeks) and they won’t see me before then xx

For me I use my birth plan as a preference sheet. But of course things might not go to plan. So mind has that I want tog be say up right as much as possible. For delayed cord clamping and skin to skin (although these things trend to happen anyway). My birth was long and needed forceps to avoid c section which I’m grateful for! The best thing is to not put too much pressure on yourself as babies will change and do what they want!

Second time mum here! Firstly it’s not too early for you to be thinking about home birth, but it’s often too early for the NHS - they need to check your house nearer the time and go through options with you but otherwise there’s not much to be done right now. I think prep is always good. I agree with everyone else that a lot of them don’t go plan, but also my midwives definitely read mine. I wanted to skip forceps/ventouse and go straight to c-section if necessary. The consultant was about to opt for a ventouse before a C-section and the midwives told her they could get my son out with an episiotomy. If it didn’t work we’d go straight to C-section. It worked. So it was worth it for me. So be doing your research and working out your preferences now so you know exactly what you want to discuss with your midwife later!

If you use the badger app at any time you can go in to conversations and update your preferences on the birth plan - I’ve had two hospital inductions, the second had the app it wasn’t ever read or discussed but it was good for information and I was more informed when the midwife’s were asking about vitamin k shots and things like that.

Currently pregnant with our 2nd baby and whilst its great to be organised and start thinking about what you want I wouldn't create a solid plan. With my 1st i had a very loose plan and also said what would be worst case for me and my exact worst case happened (emergency c-section whilst unconscious with baby in nicu overnight before I could really properly meet him). Not trying to put worry into you with that as I always loved the idea of a natural pool birth as calm as possible so its a great idea to start researching and advocating for what you want but just also be prepared that your plan is more up to baby than you. Its a good idea to plan for things you'd be set on like golden hour skin to skin, delayed cord clamping if that's what you want, communicate with any birth partners what you want from them and make sure they're all up to date on your wishes so they can advocate for you during labour and birth if you're unable to for any reason😊

If you want a home birth you should tell them as early as possible. But birth plans are usually discussed later with the midwife however I don’t think it’s ever too early to have your own. Just making sure you have the right information and preparation is key. Even if you don’t stick to it on the day, at least you have your wishes written down and make sure your birth partner knows them too

Birth plans are discussed between 30 and 32 weeks. I'm sure others have said but think of it as birth preferences. Always read up on everything that could happen or you want to happen. You definitely need to do your research. If you want a home birth, ask now, basically, and do your reading. Spend the next few months making sure you have your preferences in your mind. My birth went to plan, but i didn't get to birth in the water as I'd hoped as the midwives were too cautious, but i advocated for myself and got to labour in the water until the continuous monitoring machine fell off and made everyone panic so I had to get out. Moving me at this point made baby get stuck in the canal which meant I nearly had to have forceps. Thankfully , I didn't in the end. This very quickly could have turned into me being pressured into having a birth i didn't want if I hadn't prepared for months. From the moment I arrived, the midwives didn't want me to have a waterbirth but I'd been sneaky and spoken to a consultant

Already who had signed it off no issues. If I'd not spent any time prepping, I don't know what we would have come to. My hospital midwife was a bit of a wet blanket who missed all the signs of transitioning and told me I couldn't be fully dilated after an hour as FTMs don't work like that. Anyway, start doing your research now and learn to advocate. It's not that the hospital staff don't know what they're doing, it's that they don't know you and they have all these studies whirling round in their head so they are overly cautious a lot of the time.