Birth plans, should I really bother?

[misscreosote]

I'm 37 weeks and planning a home VBAC with a lovely independent midwife, so I feel like I will be well supported whatever the outcome (and I've been through all the potential scenarious in my head and am pretty OK with, e.g. ending up with another C/S etc).

I'm struggling to get the energy to pack a hospital bag let alone write a birth plan though. Did anyone else not bother, and wish they had done? I don't think I'll need one if everything goes to plan at home, just I suppose if I end up in hospital. All I can think to write on it though is 'fuck off and leave me alone unless there is a real medical reason why you have to stick something in me/up me or my baby, and even then, talk to me/DP/IM about it first' . Which I'm thinking might not go down so well.

Any thoughts appreciated, or just a kick up the arse to do it!

I did one, it never saw outside the hospital bag.
I wont bother for this one

imo bith plans are to make YOU work through the options rather than for medical / midwifery staff. You have already done that so you don't need a written plan, esp if your DP and IM know your wishes.

Erm you don't necessarily need to write anything down but I think it helps to have it very clear in your mind what you want and make sure your DH knows your wishes. I'm not sure anyone will take any notice of your IM if you are in hospital so make sure your DH is able to speak for you.

Ah, good point Libras - not sure DH really knows the ins and outs of the standard hospital procedures for VBACs. Mmm, very good point...

I spent a lot of time researching and deciding on my birth plan and in the end it was followed to a tee!

Well apart from one thing....I ended up having the injection to hurry on the afterbirth after 40 mins as I wanted to get cleaned up and get me jammies on!

But for everything else the midwives did exactly as my birth plan stated (home birth, only gas and air, lots of moving around for me, me and DP to find out sex for ourselves, rather tear naturally than be cut etc etc).

I would definitely recommend writing one!

Good luck with it all whatever happens!

With my DD (hospital birth) I didn't have a birth plan and regret it a lot. DH and I had not really discussed what might happen, how I felt about things and I had a lot of intervention. I am only 16 weeks and am already writing an opus for my second birth.

In your shoes I probably would not bother though, although perhaps writing something down in case you need to transfer or end up with an emcs might be an idea? For example, if I have another section I don't want the baby to be taken where I can't see him/her and I want a commentary on what is going on until the baby is handed to me/my DH.

I did one and my midwife took time to go through it and made sure I had a very active labour, water pool, gas and air, no cutting, dh did not cut umbilical cord and neither did I and no pressure, injection to hurry up placenta ...
so I am glad I did it (although I was so overtired that I managed to spell my name wrong on it!!)

Good luck with the birth and I hope it all goes well with you

i've had 3 and not written a birth plan yet lol.

cs, then vbac (back to back labour and any intervention i could get), then vbac2 - uncomplicated until it became apparent she would need resus and then they got the large scissors out... nobody was much interested in me after that lol.

i tend to just go with the flow. which is very odd as i'm a total control freak in all other areas... (ah, not so odd - mw remembers floyd-davis on technology... lightbulb moment...)

don't mind me - whatever you find useful! (i think the technical term for your current plan is 'minimal intervention, and only with permission' lol) although 'f*ck off' would probably do it in an emergency

The hospital I first registered with was really insistent that you needed a birth plan. I was going to write "silent labour, please." I moved halfway through pregnancy so never wrote one. Four children later, I still haven't got one.

in the scenario you are describing of a homebirth with an Indie MW, i would think a birth plan is less important as she will be totally up to speed with your plans. you might wnat to do one for in case you are transferred in ,but your IM will be with you as your birth partner in taht situation so still not a massive issue.

you can just write something like

'no intervention unless it is absolutely required. if possible we would like time to discuss possible intervention privately before it is done.' etc etc

unless it is a proper emergency situation

birth plan / preferences does not have to be reams of stuff, but you might want to do one for a c.s or transfer in. just in case!

fingers crossed for your home VBAC though x

Thanks everyone - I saw my midwife yesterday and mentioned it to her, and she agreed just to note a couple of points for 'what ifs' if we end up in hospital. I think I can manage to do a few bullet points - it was just the idea of writing out a fully fledged essay like last time I really couldn't be arsed with (like so much at the moment!). Cheers

I found the midwives were pretty good at following my birth plans for both ds1 and ds2.

Second time round, one of the midwives said that mine was good as it was short had key headings and bullet points so they could very quickly find the relevant bit - I think it meant there was a better chance they would look at it and follow it.

Hope it all goes well

I did one and I'm glad as it helped me think things through. In the event my midwife took it really seriously, even more then I did.

Hope you have a lovely delivery.

Btw, for those who are too lazy to write screeds (like me), there are birth plan generators online which let you pick from a variety of options, so it only takes about 5mins to do.

I am so glad I wrote one - I went 2 weeks overdue and was induced. Before they induced me there was an issue with the heartbeat ... which turned out to be me being dehydrated and was fixed with a large glass of water. Anyway I was induced and labour progressed VERY quickly - I was transferred to the delivery suite and the mw asked me if I had a birth plan ... I said I did but I thought it had gone out of the window what with the heartbeat problems and the fact that I was induced - so she asked me where it was and she rooted through my bag to find it. On reading it she asked if I still wanted to use the pool - I hadn't even mentioned using the pool as I thought with the induction I wouldn't be allowed - she filled it whilst I thought about it, and then I hopped in and was so glad I did as it was lovely - thank goodness for the birth plan and the fabulous mw!

I didn't write one for my second birth, but I did make sure that:

a) my consultant stated and signed off on my hospital notes some of the key issues for me e.g. no CFM, allowed to be active as far as possible, wants skin-to-skin immediately etc

b) my DH knew all of my wishes in any given scenario, so that if I lost the plot, he could be my advocate.

Maybe there are some lovely midwives/consultants out there who consult birth plans, but during my first experience of birth, nobody gave my birthplan a second glance - the notes were the 'bible' that was consulted, so second time round I thought I'd get the most crucial things written up in those.

I wrote one which didn't even see the light of day. I asked one of the midwifes during an antenatal when were we going to discuss my birth plan, and looking back, I'm sure she stifled a giggle. I would just make sure that your birth partner, hubby, doula know what you want or don't want and ask them to be your voicebox.

I couldn't see the point so I asked the midwife whether it would be better to just go with the flow on the day. I was pretty clued up on everything that can happen and realised that when mother nature is in charge then plans are not always followed!

She said best to go with the flow otherwise you may be very disappointed if things don't go to 'plan'

However she said most first time mums like to fill it all out and take it to hosp - and then it stays in their bag till they get home!

I believe my birth plan went something like:

JUST GET IT OUT!!!

Went nicely to plan.

I have sort of the same thoughts as Flibbertyjibbet. Just happened to be stuck in a two hour wait for the glucose tolerance test with a pregnant midwife, and she was lovely and didn't mind me asking her questions (I can't stand my own midwife).

She said the main problem with birth plans was when women wanted to stick rigidly to them and took it extremely badly when everything didn't happen exactly as written on their laminated sheet of paper.

I probably will still write a few things down, but am going to try my hardest to go in with very few expectations.

For my first I didn't write one because they had their ideas and I had mine and I felt it pointless as theyw ere insistant I would need lots and lots of intervention

as it happened 2 weeks early I had a HB which was fine and great paramedics did everything on instinct

second baby I wrote one because I was stopping at home again and there are a lot of MW's round these parts that will just transfer you so I made it very plain that unless one of us were dying I was stopping.

I wrote it all down and the MW looked at it and said it was very well written for anyone walking in the room.

I think it's important for your own mind
and for your birth partner especially if it's your first they can feel a bit overwhelmed so if they know that you want to hang upside down like a bat then they can voice that.
We also had a code word in our case I want pork chops meant I'll be transferred ( we chose that because I won't eat pork so it'd never ever ever be confused with a genuine request!!)

If anyone wants to see a copy - yell I'll email it to you.

I had a two page birth plan - with a shortened version for easy reference! Now, i admit that this was a bit OTT and to be honest it was more for me and DP to feel like we were clear on what we wanted to happen.

In the event things went fairly to plan and the midwife who delivered me - who was excellent i have to say - said that she found them very useful as it is often hard to get to grips with what a person's hopes and fears for their labour are when they're in the middle of it!

I spent a long time writing one and it was completely ignored by the bastards friendly labour room staff.
When I was having a c-section, DP saw the consulting surgeon casually glancing at it while he watched the op.

I knew what I wanted but did not have the confidence to shout.

It helped me to focus on what I did want prior to the birth though.

In summary, it all depends on the HCPs attitude and motivation to their profession IMO. A good HCP will at least look at it and talk to you about it.
In my case, it wasn't worth a jot.

If there is a next time, I shall not write one but punch anyone in the face who tries to persuade me to do something that I don't feel is right (within reason, of course, don't all jump down my throat!)