What is a birth plan?
June 14, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
At first glance, the term “birth plan” brings to mind something for someone who is super organized and trying to control what happens and when. In reality, a birth plan is really just an outlined wish of how you would like your birthing process to go.
If you take a prenatal class, your instructor or facilitator may introduce the idea of a birth plan. It involves putting on paper and discussing your wishes with your partner and your doctor. Issues to be covered in a birth plan are:
- the type of setting you want to deliver in (hospital, home, birth center)
- who you want with you when you deliver
- where your older children, if you have, will go while you deliver
- if and when you think you will want pain medications and what type
- what you want to do after the birth
Of course, you may run into some issues of your doctor or the facility you want to use doesn’t allow for some of the things you want. This is why it’s important to do this ahead of time, to allow for discussion, negotiation, and even changing healthcare professionals if you need.
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Sometimes, the best laid plans don’t pan out. Here is a great article from MayoClinic.com: Even the best birth plans don’t always work out.
Technorati Tags: pregnancy blog,birth plan
my first child was a planned c-section so my birth plan was just to show up at the hospital. next time, i’ll have to find someone to care for my daughter, and since i plan on doing a vbac, i’ll have all sorts of details to work out. enough to make me panic!
Hi Mary – I’d forgotten about that. Once you already have a child, you need to be more organized about what will happen when you do go into labor. Thanks for that reminder.
also, your comment made me realize that I should cover VBACs in the blog. Thanks!