What is/was in your birth plan?

[ElizabethLemon]

I didn’t bother writing one last time but discussed certain things with my H so that if I wasn’t able to express them he could on my behalf. It wasn’t anything big, I didn’t want an epidural and I wanted the baby to have skin to skin with his dad if I couldn’t do it etc..

My due date is fast approaching and I’m thinking maybe I should jot some things down but not sure what really? It’s noted in my mat notes that if I give birth in hospital I want the cord blood to be donated, I can’t really think of anything else!

At the top of mine I put in large writing “my husband is needle phobic. Please sensitively inform him before any procedures!”. I really didn’t want him fainting and distracting my midwife (and he does have a legitimate illness from his teenage years to account for the phobia). And actually they were brilliant about it. When we ended up in surgery, they talked him through what to expect, got him a chair etc. I only managed to make a birth plan for ds1, as it was still on the ‘to do’ list for ds2 who decided to arrive a little earlier at 37 weeks though!

@Twickerhun

That's a great plan! Mine is exactly the same! Get baby out, preferably with epidural and then be very pleased to not be pregnant any more and have a (hopefully) healthy baby!!!

ps, same approach to DH too!

Sometimes you are lucky to have a hcp. Hope your birth is quick easy and painless. You know nightclubs (naff ones) that's what rli was like on mat ward. Some odd ladies... some nice...some v old. some underage

Water birth, no intervention, hypnobirthing etc, didn't want an epidural.

After 5 days in labour, received epidural swiftly followed by emergency c section.

I don't think I'll even bother doing one for my second.

spiders
“No CTG monitoring unless absolutely necessary. I will decide what is necessary as and when it comes up. This might mean going against hospital policy. If I do decide it’s important, I would rather have telemetry and if that isn’t working well, an FSE to optimise my ability to move around.”

This is where my birth went wrong. It’s my biggest regret that I didn’t know enough about the options for monitoring and wasn’t confident enough to insist about what I did and didn't want. I was basically forced to lie on my back on the bed so they could keep the monitor attached

Oh and they did attach an FSE eventually but no one bothered telling me I could move

@Didntcomeheretofuckspiders
Thanks for writing up our summary. I have 2.5 months to go but will be taking notes of yours to investigate what I want to ask for.. so thank you

Epidural as soon as possible. That’s it.