Birth plan?

[Qasidy]

I'm 38 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes and due on the 17/07. I'm just conscious that no one has spoken to me about a birth plan or discussed my options in terms of treatment or anything, I feel like I will be going in blindly, is this normal or should they have discussed all this with me by now? I don't want to be ill prepared by the time I give birth, please can you tell me your experiences or if there is anything I should be doing now to prepare?

There might be a section in your notes about what to write down as a birth plan.

Assuming you're not having a planned c section, you probably should think about what pain relief you think you might want or not want. Are you going to be doing hypnobirthing or something similar? Do you have any preferences for positions when in labour, do you want to see the sex of the baby yourself/ your partner, do you want him to cut the cord, things like that.

Are you under consultant care or under midwife only care?

Tbh I think it's rare that any HCPs even look at your birth plan so I wouldn't worry about this. Mine was looked at when I first arrived at MLU at 3cm dilated struggling with pain and exhaustion but they didn't do anything differently due to my plan and it wasn't looked at again by the three different midwives + two different doctors that then saw me through the course of my labour and needless to say things didn't go to plan at all hah.

The trouble is with birth plans, is that they raise your expectations for a perfect birth, which doesn't alway happen!
Then, when things don't go to plan you'll be disappointed, rather than just going with the flow and letting it happen organically.

I thought it was the norm for GD to be induced? I haven't had it though so don't take my word for it. But I'd definitely get on the phone to your midwife office and ask about where and when you will be 'allowed' to give birth, I seem to remember a discussion at about 34 weeks where we went over my bloods and risks and stuff like that, and decided if I was a candidate for the MLU, which I was at the time but that did change.

First time I researched my pain options & made a rough plan of what I wanted, including what I wanted if things didn’t go to plan (it was very important to me that baby wasn’t on his own if we had to be separated and I put down that DH would go with him - he did have to go to special care so I’m glad we’d thought it all through in advance).

I’ve had consultant appointments for my other 3 pregnancies to discuss what was recommended - e.g. with DD they induced me on my due date and I have put on my birth plan my management plan, based on research, for avoiding a repeat of the retained placenta I had first time (no injection to speed delivery of the placenta, uninterrupted skin to skin until placenta delivered, etc).

I think unless you have specific things in writing, they go on autopilot with what they normally do so it is best to think through in advance what is right for your circumstances. I’d make a rough plan before your next midwife appointment & discuss it with her then.

It's very poor practice for midwives and other HCPs not to look at a birth plan. It's dismissive and patronising of them.

Your birthing partner is the best person to advocate for you and to remind midwives if necessary what's on your plan.

Of course things hardly ever go exactly as you hope. That's why I had various points for different situations written down, and why it's called a plan and not a set of instructions.