Birth plan

[purplebiro]

OK, do I really need a birth plan? I have GD that means I have to be induced and I have to be in hospital (neither of which I am particularly upset about) but in terms of decisions made beyond that I'm much more interested in taking things as they come and doing what seems best for me or the baby at any given moment - is that fool hardy and am I really that unlikely to be able to articulate my wishes? DP knows how I feel in general but do we really need to cover every possible scenario in advance? Am I being massively naive in just assuming that the NHS is just as invested in providing a healthy outcome for me and my baby as I am? We have a birthing workshop at the hospital on Saturday so hoping your responses will prompt some questions for that too...

First time, in case it wasn't obvious.

I'm ftm as well and my plan is to wing it.

Seriously, I could write the most beautiful plan in the world but it could all go to hell in a handcart.

In first instance, I want to stay as "natural" as possible(gas &air natural ). And as mobile as possible.

Ideally with no interventions. but if baby gets stuck/distressed so needs to proceed to emcs, so be it. I will do what I'm telt.

I spoke to my mw the other day and basically told her that I won't prepare my self for a certain birth as no one can guarantee me that. For example, using a birthing pool - there's only 2! So what if they both in use or out of order?!!!

Nah, this ftm is going to wing it, hopefully with style!! Ha ha ha

Hope your induction proceeds quickly and your baby makes an appearance in a reasonably quick time

Hth?

I didn't make a birth plan with my first, I told dp the basics, ie. I have my eye on the birthing pool and not keen on an epidural but otherwise anything goes. I am glad I didn't make one, as labour didn't go 'to plan'. I think having no expectations and not putting pressure on myself or the situation allowed me to labour well without constantly thinking about what should be happening. I was confident dp knew me well enough to help me out if I felt unable to answer questions and he was fabulous. I am 38 weeks with number two and haven't made one, admittedly this because I am booked for an elcs! Still, there will be no 'plan' post delivery as who knows what will happen. Plus, again, I am confident I and dp can speak up when we need to. Hope all goes well for you, just go with the flow! X

Thanks - it does - I mean, worst case scenario and you're so out of it with pain/whatever that you can't say that and make decisions, so long as you have a birth partner who can remember the words "natural and mobile as possible, ideally no interventions but if baby gets stuck/distressed do what's best" why would you need to write an essay? Or am I missing something?!

I dunno - I spend all day at work doing plans and strategies - maybe I am just getting into the spirit of being a bit more governed by letting things unfold as they happen now my mat leave is glinting tantalisingly on the horizon!

I made no birth plan either , when the midwife asked I was a bit how can I plan this ? And given it ended up a combination of things out of my control culminating in a emergency section I'm glad I didn't

I literally said my plan is to get all the drugs

Check your hospital's normal procedures regarding any special wishes you have. For example, I wanted delayed cord clamping, and that was not a standard, so put this in the birth plan.

there's some stuff you simply want to discuss with your DH, so he knows what you want - for example, if you and baby need to be separated, should DH go with baby or you?

Most stuff people usually put there is not necessary though, like that they want to avoid intervention - it's quite rare that people actually look forward to all kinds of unneccessary interventions, after all. Or the water birth, as said - at this stage you can simply ask for one, if available.

I probably won't make one for DC2.

I wrote a basic birth plan for my second which basically stated I wanted to be involved in the delivery process (lift baby up out of water, cut cord etc) - if intervention required do as you must for me & baby.

I ended up having a labour complication, transferred from birth suite to hospital, crash section under GA (so def no involvement from me!) and despite the best efforts of all the wonderful NHS workers I encountered, we had a sad ending- despite my wonderful birth plan!

So I'd draft one up as there's certainly no harm in it,- you sound relatively open minded which is good.. But rest assured that should there come a point where things get a bit hairy, your birth plan rightly becomes a distant memory & medical needs take priority (which is all any parent wants really).

Best of luck with your induction and impending arrival :)

Thanks all - hazlenutt - hadn't thought about who I would want DP to stay with if there was a problem with me/the baby so that's a helpful one to think about.

WinterBabyof89 sorry to hear about your sad ending.

Most MW and doctors don't read birth plans. Their policy states that they should ask you to write one, but it will probably stay in your hospital bag- unread. Don't waste your time! Good luck.

Psycobabble Exactly what I've put on my 'birth plan'!
Three words. "ALL. THE. DRUGS."

My hospital definitely read my plan. Didn't go to plan due to DS heart rate dropping and EMCS. However some things that were important to us still happened. We wanted to find sex ourselves and DH did this and told me. I wanted DH to pass baby to me and this still happened. I was also very firm about no high forces delivery unless highly experienced. This was a possibility when I was only 9cm dilated! Would have wrecked my insides. So had a section. Does give you come back in case of damage and getting fixed.

I don't understand why it's being called birth "plan" - as if you can plan it. It should be called "birth preferences" IMO.

Don't write the obvious like "If there is an emergency do whatever you think is best" - they will do that anyway.

There will be things where you (might) have a choice and you can write those down - your partner telling the sex of the baby, delayed clamping if you want one, physiological or active 3rd stage, Vitamin K injection for baby, do you want skin on skin immediately or do you want baby cleaned up, who will cut the cord, etc.

Most likely you will be able to make those decisions there and then - I didn't have anything written and just told what my choices were. But in case you/baby need to be whisked away, it might be a good idea to have those written down.

Good luck!

Thanks all - really helpful stuff!

I'm with CarrotPuff, they are preferences rather than a plan. I have written it down and did with my first and my midwife did take on board the things we have preferred. I also had it with me in case other half wasn't there - couldn't get home from work etc and I ended up with a friend who may not feel comfortable making the same decisions.
Even though you are being induced there are still things that you can prefer to do which in advance means the midwife can let you get on with things without asking for clarification at every stage.

Do you have any preference for positions for pushing, I know that I wanted to be on all fours.
If we require instrumental birth we would prefer ventouse to forceps.
I wanted to be informed when the baby was crowning, as I know that this would spur me on!
My OH wants to tell me if we have a boy or a girl.
I want to hold my baby straight away for skin to skin and if this was not possible (C Seciion) then my husband wants immediate skin to skin.
Cord to be left until it stops pulsating with a managed 3rd stage following this.
OH does not want to cut the cord.
We do consent to the Vitimin K Injection.
We'd like to be left alone as soon as is possible for as long as possible.

I know some of these things seem obvious, but I feel that with my first it allowed things to flow well. We would always follow medical advice but it meant that our midwife wasn't always asking questions etc.
I ended up with a ventouse and quite a traumatic birth, but I hold no negativity as as far as possible the medical professionals really tried to follow our wishes.

Didn't have one for DC1 other than what you propose, and I think it's a sensible way to approach a first birth.

I had DC2 a couple of weeks ago and I did have a bit more in it. This time I had -

a) Water birth as a preference
b) LOTS of gas and air
c) No 'coached' pushing unless absolutely necessary as I found it annoying and unhelpful with DC1

a & b went completely out of the window as I completely failed to notice the 3 hours of established labour I had at home (I'm clearly hardier with pain than I realised), so I turned up at the hospital in transition and my DS launched himself out 20 mins later! However they did abide by c, although whether that's because they read it, or just because I was like 'I'm having this baby NOW' and started pushing, who knows?!