Birth plan for C-section

[Boris100]

I'm just wondering how others have written their birth plans for an elective section? And do you just write it in the pregnancy book?

I'm booked in 7th May and haven't written anything down yet

I didn’t write down anything at all. When the team came down onto the ward a few hours before the section I just told them then what I’d like, lowered screen/delayed clamping/skin to skin ASAP and they noted it then. It was a lovely experience!

I've had four c sections, one emergency and 3 elective. I've never written anything down in the book. I just told them to keep me awake if possible and that my partner wanted to cut the cord.

My consultant wrote what she wanted me to have all over my notes because I wanted a General Anesthetic and whilst she had to agree, she thought it was possibly the worst idea ever. Although she was planning on delivering dd herself, she still thought it was a good idea to have stuff written down in advance just in case. As it happens, I went into labour early and ended up with exactly what she wrote down, quite possibly because the on-call doctor read her notes before meeting me (and was very persuasive).

Plan was:

Husband holding me for spinal, drape positioned as low as possible, drape dropped for delivery, delayed cord clamping, skin to skin asap, all measurements/Vit K to be given in recovery. Baby not to leave my sight once born unless medical emergency for me/them.

Thanks everyone, I'll just tell them at my pre-op and prior...haven't got any big requests, all the things you have mentioned - skin on skin, drape lowered - nothing too diva-ish haha.

C section twins was my birth plan. Not much more to say! Never wrote anything down. No way would I want the screen lowered!

Had about a dozen people in theatre. Doctor, student doctor, anaesthetic, nurse, midwife per baby, paediatricuan per baby, consultant paediatricuan and a couple others. Lots of people!
I went into early labour so it ended up being an emergency section. It's worth thinking about what the plan is if you go into labour before your planned c section date. I started labour at 1am, emergency section was at 11am so quite a long time after, had to be transferred to a different hospital mid labour etc that was because I needed more nicu beds than they had available but other friends have had to wait for their section whilst they deal with emergencies etc. So if baby comes before planned date you could be in labour a while whilst they sort theatre etc. You could also find on your planned c section date that emergencies mean you go down the list.
Good luck!

I had 2 CSs. The team just cracked on, it was a business matter, they were professional and polite but there was no special treatment. They were/are too busy for the details, they had endless planned CSs to perform and emergency ones to factor in (major city hospital).

My birth plan (as such, not written down) was get the baby out healthily. Don't mess up the anaesthetic. Sew me up properly. Concentrate hard on the real task in hand. That's it.

Boris100 I'm booked in for 7th May too and haven't written anything down. Apparently here you just have a chat with the team before they do the cs. I had a proper written birthplan when I had DD but it wasn't possible to follow any of it so I'm a lot more open minded this time

Mine was "have c section. Get baby out safely. Thank you".

I’d put immediate skin to skin if possible and put whether you want the drapes lowered as baby comes out.
Also do you have the option to have baby’s cord cut long so that your DP can cut it neared the belly button?

Do you have a partner?

My dh would no way want to cut the cord. Very strange notion. Leave it to the pros.

Yes partner will be with me and he wants to cut the cord. I'm a bit worried about my blood pressure as it dropped last time, but will chat with them about that at the pre-op etc

Oh that's good have you had a c section before?

Yes but 13 years ago so it's probably changed a bit since then haha.

Aww how exciting!!
Thank God all the midwives etc were amazing for us, as we were both blubbering messes!!

We forgot to take the camera down to theatre with DS1, a nurse ran back to get it..so remember that!

He didn't get offered to cut the cord with DS1, but did with DS2..

Once DS1 and DS2 were born, they were put on my chest for a few minutes, then while I was being stitched up, my DH took our babies into a different room with the midwives, on both occasions. They made him take his top off and he had skin to skin with them. He said it was absolutely amazing, to have those precious twenty minutes or so just the two of them. The midwives took the most beautiful photos of them ❤️
DH said it was the most magical, cherished moment he has of both our boys..
I think it made the bond instant for him also, which to me was really important!

@TheSunIsShining19 that's so beautiful! Awwww, from what I've been told so far it seems it's made much more personal now, less like an operation and more like a birth

I didn't have any option of a natural birth, for medical reasons..but it didn't matter at all to us.
It was very very special..the midwives cried just as much as us!

The focus was not just all about me and our babies, they made sure dad was included as much as possible..

Like I have to bottle feed because of morphine I take daily, so dad got to give both our boys their first ever little bottles ❤️ which is another moment he holds so close to his heart..

How very exciting for you! Makes me broody again 😮

congratulations and let us all know, when your special precious baby arrives ☺️

Sarah Ockwell-Smith has a great one in her second baby book. I might need one and it has all sorts I hadn’t considered (drape down low, baby placed part out so can ‘crawl’ out rather than be lifted out, delayed cord clamping, skin to skin immediately (with dad if mum not possible) etc. If you google ‘natural caesarean’ it brings up some stuff.

Good luck!