"Keep an open mind". No shit!

[ChineapplePunk]

It just seems to be one of those phrases that I hear every time I discuss my birth preparations/plans/thoughts/hopes/expectations with friends/family who have had kids, and it's really beginning to annoy me.

My birth plan, inasmuch as you can have one, is to have a water birth. Will try to get as far as I can with Tens Machine, then G & A and pool. Then, if I need an epidural and have to abandon a water birth, so be it.

I am well aware that complications can arise and births can take a multitude of different turns. If things progress naturally, then great. However, if I have to consider things like sweeps, inductions, CS, etc., then I will, but I wont be railroaded into procedures that I regard as unnecessary (unless there is a genuine medical emergency). I am well aware that placenta function can be compromised and that fetal distress can occur, etc., and would never do anything that would put my baby at risk.

So how an earth could my mind be any more open?

I'm about to have my second, and my birth plan will be the same as my first. Not that my first went completely to plan, but my preferences are still my ideal that I'd prefer. And I'm damn glad that I had it all written down, and that the MW's didn't have to ask about who was going to cut the cord, whether I wanted an epidural etc. and maybe I was lucky, but my midwife read and respected my birth plan, and when I was begging for an epidural urged me on to give birth without one, because she respected my wishes and believed in me. My DH too I think benefitted from it , as he was able to advocate for me when I was unable, for instance, insisting on a fetal scalp monitor so I could continue to be mobile during labour when midwife initially wanted me lying down on continuous monitor. I did however need many things that were necessary medically that I'd have preferred not to have in an ideal situation ( ie synticin drip needed due to suspected infection after little dilation in 40 hours of back to back labour, tinjection to deliver placenta was needed to due PPH) but these things were explained to me ( when I was lucid) and a well informed DH. What I wanted to avoid was a cascade of protocol, hospital procedure and fear. Having thought out and researched what can happen and made plans for different scenarios I felt I influenced my chances of having a natrual birth with less intervention and a better recovery. Obviously there's still a huge amount that you cannot control and luck plays a major role. But there's no harm in being prepared. An open mind diesn't have to be an un informed and un opinionated one.

An open mind doesn't have to be an uninformed and unopinionated one.

Exactly, Dappply