Could someone please look over my birth plan for me?

[Cookethenook]

Hello! This is my second and Partner's first birth. My first birth lasted 6 hours and DS is now 7 years old. We?re having another boy.

People who I?d like with me

• That would be my partner and he?d like to stay with me for whichever kind of labour I have (although he?d prefer to stay at my ?head end? if I have a caesarean).
• If for any reason he can?t be there, it?ll probably my friend F, who attended my last birth.

Labour, Pain relief etc

• Please allow me to move around as much as possible during labour. I would be devastated if I had to give birth lying on my back again. It gave me awful backache last time, and I really believe it made my labour slower and more painful than was necessary.
• If I need to be put on a monitor, I?d prefer to be sitting ?backwards? on a chair and not lying on sitting on the bed.
• Please encourage me to only have Gas and Air. I don?t need anything else. If I?m demanding an epidural, please remind me that I coped last time around with only Gas and Air and have a word with DP to do the same. It makes me very giggly, so probably best to limit it if you?re giving me stitches!
• There is no need to put me in a room with a birthing pool- I hate baths! Save it for someone else.
• I?d prefer to have ventouse rather than forceps, but I?m told the person doing it usually has a preference, so I?m happy with whatever they?re most comfortable/experienced with.
• Episiotomy is fine; I?d prefer it to being left to tear.
• I?ll probably have music playing from an iPhone. If possible, I?d like it playing if I have a caesarean too.
• Please delay cord clamping for a few minutes or until it has stopped pulsating. As vegetarians, the extra iron may be beneficial to the baby.
• DP is talking about possibly wanting to catch the baby and cut the cord, so if it?s an option, please ensure that you ask him if he?d like to, as it?ll probably slip his mind.
• Please could I have the injection to speed up the 3rd stage of labour.

After the birth

• I?d like to have about an hour of skin-to-skin after the baby is born. Perhaps wrap him in a towel or dry him off first though. Beware- first baby pooed upon entry!
• Please give him the vitamin K injection.
• I intend to breastfeed until my milk comes in, after which I will express unless I get on very well with breastfeeding. I really didn?t like any part of breast-feeding last time and it made both myself and my baby very stressed, so we?ll just see how it goes. I have details of breastfeeding counsellors, so I know where to go if I need BFing advice when I return home.
• We would like to go home as soon as it?s possible, even if it?s getting late in the day. If this is able to happen, it?s unlikely that we?ll have visitors while in hospital.
• We?ll be using the Fertility Awareness Method for contraception, so no need to offer hormonal contraception to us (not sure if you still do that?).

Left anything out? Anything unnecessary? Is it polite enough? Do they still have bounty ladies come round to take pictures- if so, can i ask the midwives to keep her away? She was a bit of a pest last time.

I'd stick to stuff about the birth. Does it really matter if they mention contraception to you? Just say 'don't worry it's sorted' it looks like you're having a go at "hormonal contraception". Do you need to mention the bf-ing stuff?

Its quite long!
Maybe put in bold the important bits (ie not the explanations) so at a glance the mw can see what your preferences are.

Not sure the pool room bit is required - they will have assigned you a room after you call in, and won't have read your plan by then!

Good luck with your birth - 2 boys are lovely together.

Looks good! Good luck. Make sure your MW and DP are fully aware of every detail so they can ensure everything goes as you wish - you won't want to worry about anything except birthing your baby.
I'd have exactly the same ideas BTW.

I was HUGELY pressured into breast-feeding in hospital last time and the whole thing made me feel inadequate and miserable. It was on the NCT birth plan list, so thought i'd best to shove it in there.

Will take the contraception bit out if others deem it unnecessary, but again, i had to sit through a 10 minute speech from a mw last time, even though i'd already said it was sorted.

Trying to save their time as much as mine!

Agree that you need to make the most important bits stand out. Bold the most important points, things like your reasons for wanting to move around are far less important than the fact that you want to move if you see what I mean.

Vitamin K would be part of my during birth plan rather than after the birth plan. I'd probably make 2 separate documents, the list for after the birth won't be important while in labour but if it makes you feel better about having it there I'd take it to use when in the postnatal ward.

Re breast feeding, if you plan to BF until your milk comes in then you are likely to be home already by that time unless something goes wrong, even with a CS it's only usually 2 or 3 days until they let you out.

I asked about contraception after having DS and they just told me to ask at my 6 week check, but not sure if that's just in my local area or if other hospitals are the same now.

It is a bit long winded. It should be more concise, they need to know what you want, not a long explanation for everything. If you want to BF until your milk comes in, why mention anything else? If you want to go home ASAP, it's irrelevant, surely?

I didn't even have a birth plan for my last two birth, I was well able to say what I wanted and my DH knew too. I'll probably jot a few things down this time, but purely to make life easier for midwives. I've never lost the ability to advocate for myself in labour.

It's the sort of birth plan that makes me a bit sad tbh. Have we treated women so badly and lost their trust so much that they need to put it in writing that they feel they need to ask permission to move about or to have their partner with them? As a (nearly qualified - August!) midwife, there's nothing in there that I wouldn't either do automatically or would discuss with you naturally over the course of your labour. I understand you had a bad experience last time particularly with being on your back, can I ask if there's any particular reason they wanted you to be continuously monitored and will that apply this time? I usually find that unless women are very overweight (which can make it harder to get a decent trace) it's quite possible to move around even if on the ctg - just requires a bit of imagination and commitment from the midwife. Oh and definitely tell the bounty lady to piss off - cant bloody stand them and as your midwife would take great delight in keeping her away!

Agree with others it's too many words. You could put it in more distinct sections e.g. Pain relief, monitoring etc

For example in my plan which was a form included in my notes as standard under monitoring I wrote,

If monitoring is required I would like help to remain as active as possible and if possible please consider intermittent monitoring. I do not want to labour on my back.

Just remember that they don't need the back story and you don't need to justify your choices just state your preferences this time round.

As an aside I have had both an episiotomy and a 3rd degree tear which required surgery and I'd take the tear any day, not sure if you've had both but I think it's unusual to have an episiotomy unless forceps or ventouse is required.

Wow way too much back history there. Most of that stuff can just be told to you OH?

I'd simply go with:

Birth partners:

• partner or if unable to attend F

Labour, Pain relief etc
-Please allow me to move around as much as possible during labour.

-If I need to be put on a monitor, I?d prefer to be sitting ?backwards? on a chair and not lying on sitting on the bed.

-Please encourage me to only have Gas and Air. I don?t need anything else. If I?m demanding an epidural, please remind me that I coped last time around with only Gas and Air and have a word with DP to do the same. It makes me very giggly, so probably best to limit it if you?re giving me stitches!

-There is no need to put me in a room with a birthing pool.

-I?d prefer to have ventouse rather than forceps, but I?m told the person doing it usually has a preference, so I?m happy with whatever they?re most comfortable/experienced with

-Episiotomy is fine; I?d prefer it to being left to tear.

-Please delay cord clamping for a few minutes or until it has stopped pulsating.

• please ask DP if he would like to catch the baby and cut the cord if possible

-Please could I have the injection to speed up the 3rd stage of labour.

-Please give him the vitamin K injection.

I?d like to have about an hour of skin-to-skin after the baby is born. Perhaps wrap him in a towel or dry him off first though

And I would personally leave this whole after birth section out and just stand my group if and when it comes to it

Agreed with what others have said. Cut out any little thing which doesn;t need to be there. Our hypnobirthing teacher mentioned that you may end up with several care providers as people change shifts and the more there is to read, the less likely people are to read it and take any notice. The suggestions lady made about look great.

It depends how much notice you think anyone will take of it. Nobody read mine and did all of the things I said I didn't want during the birth of my first DC so I didn't bother writing one for the second. If you think they'll actually read it, then I'm sure it's fine if a little long winded.

Good luck! Hope it goes well.