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

What To Consider for Natural Home Births

Why do you need a birth plan?

There are many options available to support your home birth experience ranging from a water birth to hypnotherapy in birthing. 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 also be able to ensure there is a midwife available to support a homebirth and adequately trained if you need assistance with a water birth.

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 home birth.

How to put your birth plan together - try this template

The sections below are the common areas to consider when planning your home 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.

People present

You may only want your midwife and your birth partner present, or you may 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.

Also consider any other children that you have and whether you would like them present and if they would like to witness the birth. Make a contingency plan if you think that it may not be a good idea for them to attend the birth.

You may consider it helpful to have a friend or your mother present to help out, especially if you have a birth pool that needs to be filled.

A doula, acupuncturist or a hypnotist are also popular for home births.

Have the names and numbers of anyone that you would like at the birth available in case someone else needs to call them for you.

Pain relief

If you have a home birth you can only use natural pain relief methods. Options to help you with your home birth may involve, the use of movement, massage, relaxation, acupuncture, hypnosis, aromatherapy, a TENS machine, or a birth pool. Your midwife may also make gas and air available for you, but remember that she may not arrive until the end of the first stage of labour or the start of the second stage of labour.

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

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?

Midwife Does Not Arrive on Time

In the vast majority of cases the midwife will arrive on time. If you feel that she will not make it then call 999. Ambulances can get through traffic a lot faster than a normal car and the paramedics are trained to assist childbirth.

What If There Are Complications

The midwife will only support your home birth if there have been no complications with your pregnancy and your baby is in the expected position and expected size for his age, so the risk of having complications in childbirth are minimised. The midwife will continually monitor your progress, and if concerned she will transfer you to hospital before any issues arise. This is something you will discuss with her when going through your birth plan. Many planned home births result in a transfer to hospital as the midwife will always err on the side of caution to ensure the safety of you and your baby.