When to write a birth plan?

[carolondon]

I am 33 weeks and thinking about my birth plan. However no-one has mentioned it yet at my ante-natal mw appointments. I have an ante-natal day in a couple of weeks and was thinking of taking along a draft. What have other people done?

I was never asked for one ever!

so long as you know what all your options are before you go into labour and make your mw aware of any express wishes at the start- then you can just go with what your body is telling you at the time

good luck

I didn't really have a plan as they tend to go out of the window as soon as things start to happen.

I just said when I arrived at the maternity unit that I didn't want a birthing pool, I wasn't keen on an epidural, and DP was authorised to overrule anything if I was so out of it that I couldn't make a decision for myself. In the end it took 40 hours and I was unconscious for the last four of them so it was down to the mid-wives in the end. But I didn't have an epidural so that bit worked.

You might have a neat and tidy two hour labour and be able to plan everything in detail. Just be prepared to be flexible if necessary.

I have a friend who planned it so much, she had a labour nightie and a post-labour nightie for the photos!

I never got round to writing one, which was ok, as the whalesong painkillerfree waterbirth scenario I imagined was miles away from the emergency caesarean I ended up with.

I just went in with an open mind and let myself be guided by the professionals, and have no regrets.

Thanks for the advice people. I don't expect labour to go exactly as planned as i know that every birth is different. I just have a few rules i.e. no forceps, DH to authorise every decision made about my care in case i am out of it (he is very well briefed already!) I thought it might be good to have the few absolutes down on paper so no-one can try to persuade me otherwise.
Maybe all i need then is a few bullet points.

I'm 33 weeks and just did a draft (posted it in the childbirth bit actually for advice on if it's OK or too long!). No one has mentioned it to me so far either. I found just writing one made me think about what I did and didn't want, and made me research things I'd never have thought or known about till I read some other on here so it's been useful for that, even if no one else ever ends up reading it! I tried to keep it as short as possible, but it's still a whole side of A4, oh dear!

I'm 35 weeks today and haven't done one yet - I don't know if I really want to do one. On the list of appointments I've been given one of the things it says that happen at the 36 week appointment is discussion of birth plan, so I feel like I should do one - but mainly I want to keep an open mind! I feel like writing a birth plan might be a bit like tempting fate for things to go completely differently.