Birth Plan

[Bellsx]

Hi ladies I have made a few notes for my birth plan, so far I have included
Who I want as my birth partner
Positions
Pain relief
Cutting the umbilical cord
Skin to skin
Feeding
Is there anything else I should add/am missing please?

In the nicest possible way, once you've written it, rip it up and throw it away. No one will ask to see it and it'll be the furthest thing from your mind when your in and among it. Just live the experience and make sure your partner knows what are your absolute no's. Even then, you'll be surprised at what you're willing to do / put up with. Best of luck.

Have to agree - I spent ages writing mine and the midwife didn’t even ask to see it 🙈🙈

Respectfully, I disagree with @turnthebiglightoff

I wrote a plan to go with my notes - it was fairly brief, but included the important things to me:

• I’m using Hypnobirthing techniques
• i’d ideally Like a water birth
• I don’t plan to have an epidural
• I appreciate calm and quiet, I don’t want to chat much, my DH is birth partner and will support me and speak for me when I can’t.

I gave birth in a midwife led unit, and they helped me have exactly this labour. They wrote on my notes: ‘Birth plan read. Using hypnobirthing techniques, appreciates quiet’

Of course loads and loads of us will write a plan and the actual labour will be very different! And that’s fine! It’s life.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t START with a strong idea of your preferences. And the professionals need to know these.

It’s YOUR labour, nobody else’s. We should all educate ourselves and make choices where we can.

I strongly recommend hypnobirthing to help learn about feeling more calm and in control in your labour x

My birth plan had my consent to the injection for the placenta and the vit K jab.

The most important thing on mine was that DH had to be the one to tell me if baby was a boy or girl.

I focused on the things I could control about birth, which isn't much lol

Another one for no birth plan. Once in labour all you really want is healthy you, healthy baby. Any "plan" will just distract you.

It's excellent to know what you want, and be aware of everything you wish. It may well work. It may well not and in that case you won't be disappointed if the "plan" is more like a "guidance".

Yeah, don't do it to yourself. There is very, very little you have any real choice in unless your labour goes absolutely swimmingly, so just see what happens.

Out of my antenatal group (all first time mums), out of 9 of us only 1 got the birth they actually wanted.

I would focus on the things you can control - getting the house ready for baby, packing hospital bag etc.

The birth plan was the first thing my midwives looked at when I was in labour both times. They went through it with me too. I think it’s important to be realistic but also express your preferences.

Thank you all. I'm definitely not expecting to have it followed regimentaly and will be open to options and suggestions during labour as at the end of the day mine and baby's health is the most important thing and the midwives are the professionals. Can I ask what you need to decide on regarding the placenta and vit K injection please?

If you want to have the vitamin K for the baby as an injection or orally

If you want an injection to speed up delivery of your placenta or ‘naturally’ deliver it

My midwife read mine and definitely took it on board - I know she did as she checked with me I was happy to have the cord clamped as I'd written delayed cord clamping. I was lucky it was a really quiet day and I was in a MLU but it's not always true that plans are ignored! I did keep it brief though!

My midwife read mine and checked in with my husband during labour based on what my BP said so she didn't need to disturb me. Some people might find them a waste of time but I didn't

My midwife has specifically asked me to write up my birth preferences! She said they read them and find them really useful.

If it helps, try to think about it in terms of preferences rather than a plan as such - and think about what you would like in different scenarios. So for example, if you need continuous monitoring, you could request that this be wireless to allow you to move around more, if you end up having a CS you can still request delayed cord clamping if possible, etc.

@Bellsx

Thank you all. I'm definitely not expecting to have it followed regimentaly and will be open to options and suggestions during labour as at the end of the day mine and baby's health is the most important thing and the midwives are the professionals. Can I ask what you need to decide on regarding the placenta and vit K injection please?

Basically there is an injection they can give you to help you deliver the placenta. You don't need to have it done straight away. I had it with both mine but with my second I didn't actually need to have it. I delivered it as she was injecting.

Vitamin K is given to the baby. They can either have an injection or they can have an oral dose or not at all. The injection is one shot and all done. The oral needs a follow up dose.

Yeah birth plans are a thing first time mums seem obsessed with doing but now I've had my first baby seen totally pointless. This pregnancy I'm not even doing one.
in labour no one even looks at them or asks you about them and I can't even remember thinking of mine once labours kicked one 😂 I think the only thing to consider if do you want to injection for the placenta delivery as they'll need to know ASAP after the birth of the baby and whether your partner wants to cut the cord etc but as far as pain relief and positions go etc you won't know until your in the moment and then you'll probably be led by the midwives, good luck xx

I agree with @sarahc336, birth plans tend to be written up beautifully and thoughtfully by FTM but in subsequent pregnancies get far less focus.

I'm 35 weeks with my second and won't be doing one this time. I'm the anomaly in my NCT group (1/10) as I did get the birth I wanted (except not getting gas & air until right at the end due to some kind of mix up). My MWs read the birth plan and generally it was all taken on board but I gave birth at home so had the same 2 MWs all the way from start to finish. Communication was great and and I could ask for things as labour progressed.

I didn't really feel how I thought I would and my husband wasn't particularly present in the room as he found it hard to deal with (I think he was worried something would go wrong/he's squeamish over blood etc). He was busy blowing and filling up the birthing pool and was great afterwards - but this wasn't really how I imagined his role as birthing partner to be fulfilled! 🤣

I actually think going through and writing out your birth plan is a great idea but it should be done with your birthing partner present so that they know exactly what you wanted pre-labour. They can then help to advocate for you should it be required.

I think as long as you go into it understanding that many birth plans are deviated from due to the unpredictability of labour and level your expectations, you'll be fine.

Good luck x

I wrote a birth plan for my second baby and all went to plan!

Had 4 different MWs and they all read it and acted upon it.

I had a very brief birth plan but it has my absolute no on it. The midwives read it and were very helpful and respected my wishes.
Even if it doesn’t go to plan, the plan is nice for the early stages and gives you chance to research various things.

Don't count on it going to plan!
I planned a water birth
And if the water birth didn't work out I wanted to give birth in all fours.
Wanted no pain relief.

Went into labour early and wasn't allowed any of that 🥺. Had pain relief to try slow labour dwn for steroids injections to work.

On your way into labour ward give it to your midwife to read through, you don't have to wait to be asked for them to see if because lots of people don't have one!

I also had my preferences down for if I needed an assisted delivery, if I ended up having a c section, if I ended up being induced etc i had down that I would like baby to have vitamin K and how I would like the placenta delivered. I also have a vomit phobia so I put in there I didn't want anyone mentioning anything about being sick, or telling me it is a good sign and very normal and that if I did feel sick that I would like anti sickness drugs.

I also wrote on my notes that I didn't want a vaginal exam upon arrival which is totally your choice to decline. I eventually asked to have one when I was pretty far along and baby was born 58 mins later.

I had my preferences listed as to how I wanted to feed my baby and that I would like help doing so.

My midwife loved reading my birth plan she said it was really helpful and I had a great labour, I felt in control and totally respected.

Good luck

I’m FTM and kind of think it will go how it goes, and it will be one of them things. There are certain things I can’t have due to be high risk pregnancy and medication, so my MW is spending quite a bit of time doing my plan with me. But I understand it might go out the window, but this is just about my initial preferences.

This is what she gave me as a guide to fill in and think about. assets.nhs.uk/prod/documents/My-birth-plan-nhs.docx

They never looked at mine.

I did a birth plan based on the template on the NCT website.

DD's birth was nothing like the plan, but I'm still really glad I did it.

Writing the plan made me think about what was important and what I wanted to avoid.

So when I was given 2 mins to make a choice between immediate C section; or induction and a very medicalised birth with a high chance of that being followed by an EMCS, I knew that I wanted the planned section.

I think that putting all the choices down on paper also helped DH get his head around what was likely to happen.

Do you want baby cleaned before being passed to you. Do you want a nappy put on baby at some point (yes, that one should be obvious - apparently not).
Are you open to students being present?
Preference for tear of episotomy (not generally a matter of choice)?
Who announces sex if you don't already know.

Unlike most people I didn't have a plan for dc1 but did for dc2, full of things I thought should be obvious to any midwife.

As others have said the vit K and delivery of placenta are good things to include. Also, it might be good to include a comment about how you're happy for your birth partner to make decisions on your behalf if you are unable to. Obvs this shouldn't need to happen, but just in case. If your birth partner isn't your next of kin this could be useful x

I think write birth preferences but not a plan, and more for yourself than midwives

I knew I didn’t want any other pain relief other than G&A or an epidural, as pethidine etc pass onto baby

I also knew I wanted either a ‘natural’ birth or a c-section, not forceps/vontouse

Because of these informed decisions, I felt really calm during what was actually a hectic/chaotic labour.

Make decisions, but know why you’re making them.