Birthing plan in pandemic

[miusRus]

Hi,

I'm sure all these questions have already been answered on here but the forum is so vast and I'm finding it difficult to find what I am looking for.

My other half is pregnant due very early April. We are both finding it difficult to get all the information we need from the appointments she's had so far. I also don't want to rely on information posted online outside of forums as it's mainly pre pandemic information when things were 'normal'.

The questions I have are:

1. If she has a natural birth will she have her own room with it being during the pandemic or can we pay to have a private room? (I know that may sound a little snobby of us).
2. If we can pay and opt for a private room who do we need to notify and when?
3. If she puts a birth plan together, who does she need to tell and when?
4. Does she need to visit or can she visit the maternity unit before hand? Is that something people would normally do?

Many Thanks for any help 

Generally you get a private room for labouring and delivering, but postnatal will be a shared ward, unless you have multiples or a traumatic birth, in which case you are sometimes assigned a single room on the NHS. It depends totally on the hospital whether they offer private postnatal rooms and how much this will be. Look at the hospital's website to find out. If you needed admitted to antenatal for some reason that is also generally a shared ward.

If you have the money for a private postnatal room you can generally just tell them during/post delivery. Women delivering vaginally don't actually know when they are going to give birth after all. There is always a risk that there will be no rooms available. Ask your actual hospital for more information.

The midwife generally covers the birth plan at 30+ weeks appointment. Check your maternity notes. You don't actually have to make one at all, but if you do the important thing is really that it's in your notes when you go in to deliver.

Most units are not doing any in person tours right now. Some offer virtual tour videos.

@Respectabitch thank you so very much for that, it is all really helpful. We'll follow what you said and hopefully it will put our minds at a bit more ease. Again, thank you very much! ☺️