What's in Your Birth Plan? - Planning Your Hospital Birth

What To Consider for Hospital Births

Why do you need a birth plan?

There are many options available to support your hospital birth experience ranging from a water birth to a C-section. The idea of a birth plan is to choose your preferred method of giving birth, and also to specify your views on interventions that will be offered to you. While many women do not have the birth that they planned, preparing a birth plan gives you and your partner a starting point when labour kicks in. Also creating a birth plan enables you to discuss all the options with your partner and midwife and confirm what your preferences are. This is important, as your partner may need to speak for you while you are focussed on your labour. Also if your midwife is aware of your birth plan she will be better placed to support your wishes.

What to put in your birth plan?

This will be different for every person, and you will gain ideas about your ideal birth from antenatal classes and talking to mothers who have been through the process, or even your own experience if this is not your first child. Below is a template for a birth plan that covers the main areas to consider when planning your hospital birth.

How to put your birth plan together - try this template

The sections below are the common areas to consider when planning your hospital birth; you may come up with more requirements or may have no preferences on some of the sections below. You can use this as a guide to start your birth plan.

1. People present

You may be happy for trainee midwives or doctors to be present, or adamant that you only want the minimum required people present. Likewise you may only want your birth partner present, or be happy for close relatives and friends to support you. If you specify this then your partner or midwife can tactfully ask people to give you some privacy if required during the birth.

2. Pain relief

Specify what pain relief you would like if any, and the order in which you like them, i.e. gas and air first, pethidine, epidural. You may want to try a birthing pool first if your hospital has the facilities, you will need to check with your midwife to avoid disappointment.

3. Assisted Delivery

• Only have an episiotomy as a last resort

• Only use ventouse as a last resort

• Only use forceps as a last resort

• Only have a C-section as a last resort

4. Immediately after birth

• You want to keep your baby with you / Can take the baby away for examination

• You want to keep the umbilical chord attached until it stops pulsating / Can cut the umbilical chord straight away

• Partner wants to cut the umbilical chord

• You want to breastfeed straight away

5. Third Stage - Placenta Delivery

You would like to deliver the placenta naturally / you would like an injection to help speed up the delivery of the placenta.

What if your birth does not go according to your birth plan?

If the midwife or doctor feels that the birth is not going according to your birth plan, there is a useful acronym for you or your partner to use to assess your options. Remember the doctors and midwives are there to support you and will support your wishes as long as they are not detrimental to the health of you or your baby. So when they offer you any intervention in childbirth, first consider BRAIN, which is where:

• B stands for Benefits

• R stands for Risks

• A stands for Alternatives

• I stands for your Instincts

• N is for what happens if you do Nothing for a bit

This should help you make an informed decision on whether you would like to try the doctors suggestion, or wait to see how the birth progresses before making a decision.