Help - What do I need to include in my Birth Plan?

[mummyhill]

Should of thought about this weeks ago as I am now 37+4, can't remember what I put in my previous one (nearly 4 years ago). Was asked by my care team this morning wether I had one done yet or not and when I said do I really need one as it all went out the window last time they said it would be better to do one. So what do I need to include in it?

what kind of birth do you want? do you want to make sure you're kept mobile?
what kind of pain relief do you want?
how do you feel about episiotomy vs tearing
does your dp/dh/birth partner want to cut the cord?
how do you want to do the 3rd stage?

erm, can'tthink of any more right now, although i agree that for the most part they are pretty pointless!

Decide if you would like a student midwife there as well. I did as they are so enthusiastic had a really lovely girl.

It's ok to just labour in the birthing pool as well if you dont want to give birth there thats fine. Would highly highly recommend it if you didnt do it before. Good Luck x

Who you want with you.

What pain relief you would like, if any.

Do you want baby delivered straight on to you or would you prefer her to be cleaned up first?

How do want to deliver i.e. lying on bed, on all fours, stood up, water birth etc?

Do you want to be told the sex of the baby by the midwife, by your partner or do you want to see for yourself?

how do you feel about intervention in your labour.
do you want baby to have vitamin k
do you want an injection to help deliver the placenta.

Thanks have a better Idea what to put in now although it will probably be pointless if this one is anything like last time!!

When I had DS2 the midwives didn't have time to even look through my notes ( very quick!) but when his head and shoulders were out the mw told me to reach down and pull him out myself, this was a lovely experience imo and would recommend it, although I know this isn't everyones cup of tea

I laugh when i read mine now. Every minute detail, not much of it really happened on the day so it was a bit of a wasted effort.

I thought about what I wanted in an ideal situation (waterbirth, minimal/no pain relief, natural third stage, breastfeeding straight away), then what I wanted in an emergency situation (ie general anaesthetic emergency caesarean - DH to hold the baby till I came round, to be with me when I came round, etc).

The first scenario was pretty much how it went, but I was glad I'd thought about other eventualities - I didn't see it as a plan of how my birth would go, rather as some things I really wanted to happen, whatever situation they were happening in, iyswim?