What is a Birth Plan?

What is a birth plan? A birth plan is a document that informs your health care team of your preferences, such as how to manage labor. Remember that you can’t control every aspect of labor and labor, and you may have to compromise a bit if a situation arises that requires your birth team to leave your birth plan. However, a written document has a great contribution to the expression of our wishes during and after birth.

A written birth plan also helps to refresh your health care provider’s memory when you give birth. It also informs members of your medical birth team, such as a maternity nurse, about your preferences during labor. In this article, we will answer questions such as what is a birth plan and how to prepare it.

What is a Birth Plan? How to Prepare a Birth Plan?

Many hospitals and birth centers provide a birth plan worksheet or brochure to explain their birth policies and birth philosophies and to let you know what your birth options may be. This information can help you about your preferences, when faced with options, and when meeting with your specialist. If you want to create a birth plan, this consultation with your doctor can form the basis of the birth plan.

Read on to find out what typically happens in the hospital and what alternatives you have. Especially if your pregnancy is high-risk, not all options will be available to you or suitable for your situation.

Birth Plan for Prenatal

When you arrive at the hospital, a nurse or doctor will evaluate you to see how far your labor has progressed. You can add wishes to your birth plan, such as walking around for a while before being admitted to the hospital, or even returning home for a while.
Once you have been admitted to the hospital, you can indicate in your birth plan that you want to invite family and friends to be with you and bring your comforting items (such as photos, flowers, or pillows) with you. If you plan to have your birth photographed or filmed, find out in advance what the hospital’s policy is. Unfortunately, not all hospitals allow this. If allowed, you can add this to your birth plan.
Most hospitals no longer have enema fluids and shaving before delivery. If you want them, you can specify them in the birth plan.
You can ask about the hospital’s fetal monitoring policy. Once you are accepted, you can add this to your birth plan if you wish. Your baby will probably be monitored externally for 20 to 30 minutes. If your baby’s heart rate is reassuring, then only intermittent monitoring is sufficient. Not connecting to the monitor allows you to move more easily. (And some hospitals have wireless monitors, so patients can walk around while they’re being monitored.)
If your labor contractions stop progressing, you can specify in your birth plan whether you want the medical team to use interventions such as rupturing your amniotic sac or increasing your labor with artificial labor.
The medical team can tell you what to do and when it’s time to push during labor. If you do not want to hear these commands during labor, you can specify this in your birth plan. Then you need to follow your body’s natural desires and push when and how you feel ready.
You can choose the location where you want to give birth and specify this in your birth plan.
Most hospitals don’t routinely perform episiotomy, so you’ll probably need to make this preference in your birth plan. However, keep in mind that your doctor may specifically recommend an episiotomy in important cases.
If an assisted birth is necessary, you may want to specify in your birth plan whether you want your doctor to use a vacuum device or forceps to help your baby exit the birth canal.
If you’re going to give birth by caesarean section, you’ll probably stay awake and someone who can support you can stay with you. If you want someone to be with you during the birth, you can specify this in the birth plan. Rarely, general anesthesia may be required and the person you bring with you may be asked to wait outside the operating room.

Birth Plan for Postpartum

After vaginal delivery, the baby is usually put on top of you and covered with a warm blanket. If you want to dry or bathe your baby, make it specific in your birth plan.
As long as your baby does not need special medical care, you can add all the procedures and tests to your birth plan that you want to be done while your baby is with you. A number of procedures (such as bathing and measuring) may be delayed by an hour to feed and bond your baby. If your baby needs to be taken away for special medical care, you can specify in your birth plan that your partner or caregiver should go with him.
In the birth plan, you can ask for the postponement of the cutting of the umbilical cord. Recent studies show that by waiting a few minutes, extra blood flow is provided through the placenta to the baby, reducing the risk of anemia and iron deficiency in the newborn child.
Think about whether you want a pacifier for your baby and let the hospital staff know what you think. If you want to, add this to the birth plan.
Most hospitals recommend that you be with your baby as much as possible while you stay there. They support you to stay in the same room to encourage bonding. If you have questions, ask about your hospital’s policy on this.

For more childbirth-related content, check out our Birth category.