Do You Have a Birth Plan?

on February 5, 2009 at 4:32 PM

birth plans

I didn't have a birth plan. I did deliver with a midwife, though, and initially wanted to try to give birth in the birthing center at the hospital where I knew I'd be. Of course then the baby was two weeks late and I had to be induced, so that idea went out the window.

But many mamas want a more formal, written plan for labor and delivery.

What about you?

Comments (12)

PinkSodaPop

on Feb 5, 2009 at 5:09 PM

I had a birthplan with all three of my children.

It's a way to communicate wants and needs during your labor with Dr's as well as staff.
Creating a birthplan also allows you to prepare yourself with education towards the things you'd like or not like to happen during your most life changing event.

I recommend all moms to create one.

It also helps you to mentally checklist everything that you might encounter during your birthing process, as well as plan for changes when the time is appropriate. (This is more a guide than concrete is what I mean to say!)

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NovemberLove

on Feb 5, 2009 at 5:39 PM

There should have been an option for "yes and it went out the window once the contractions really started to kick in and my 9lb 6.3 oz, face-up presenting baby appeared to be stuck." lol. My birthplan wasn't really needed. The people caring for me knew I was a health care professional, knew I knew what was going on and respected what I asked for as we went along.

Pauline3283

on Feb 5, 2009 at 5:59 PM

I would if I were having a hospital birth. I've never been respected in a hospital so I would go in with a very clear plan that I'd brought in ahead of time as well as during labor. At home, no worries. No one to argue with about what I do and don't want.

MintChocoltChip

on Feb 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM

Drugs!

Amanda_Jeanne

on Feb 5, 2009 at 6:47 PM

I want to make one, but at the same time I want to leave my options open too, I'm pretty open minded on this whole giving birth thing since I've never done it before. I'll give different things a try and figure out what works best (not like I have all the time in the world to choose!) They do seem like a great idea if someone wants very specific things for their birth experience, but I'm not that organized and definitive of how I want my baby's birthday to go down.

Freela

on Feb 5, 2009 at 7:24 PM

I had a birth plan for my three kids... I do think it helped to let the staff know what kind of birth I was hoping for. When I was in transition with my first I started to falter and wanted the epidural... since I had expressed my desire for a drug free birth the nurse gave me a pep talk instead of saying just paging the anasthesiologist. She didn't say I couldn't have the epidural- she did say "I will respect your wishes but I want you to be sure- you have done ten hours of labour without meds and you are almost there and I know you wanted to go natural. I don't want you to get the epidural and then be disappointed." She was absolutely right... I would have been disappointed. She got me through the next hour or so of transition without the meds and then it was smooth sailing. I'm very thankful for her because she helped me to stick to what I really wanted when it got tough because she knew what I hoped to have happen.

Lanasmom

on Feb 5, 2009 at 8:17 PM

I did one for dd and never used it--it wasn't needed i discussed everythign with my dr ahead of time, so she knew my concerns and desires and everything was fine.

RanaAurora

on Feb 5, 2009 at 8:35 PM

Hell yes I do. I'm not letting doctors walk all over me.

NorahSethsMommy

on Feb 5, 2009 at 9:04 PM

I had a very detailed one with my first child. I should have just folded into a paper airplane and flew it out the window of the delivery room. Things did not go as planned and as I hear it, they often do not.

ShaunnaMichelle

on Feb 5, 2009 at 9:39 PM

Honestly, I think if you have a good relationship with your doctor, they will know your preferences just from talking to you over that 9 months. A birth plan just makes them nervous in my experience and it sets you up for possible disappointments since things very rarely follow a script in child birth.