help with birth plan please

me_and_me_monkeys

hiI've just become a trainee Doula (A professional birth partner) if you would like any info (or moral support) please pm meAlso please dont worry too much

Crispy_Ambulance

A Birth Plan should be just that - a plan. It is not a prescription and you do need to be flexible but it can be very useful for both you and the person caring for you to have your wishes written down. You are unlikely to be in a fit state to have a rational discussion about the pros and cons of pain relief or interventions when you are in the middle of full on labour.

Informed decision making is the key. You need to know the pros and cons of any decision you may be asked to make. You need to be happy that you made the right decision for you at the time and feeling that the health professionals took your choices away is not the best start to parenthood. so if you have an idea about what you want and what is important to you beforehand, you can communicate this to your midwife with your birth plan.

And when you are making decisions about childbirth, or any other aspect of health care, remember your BRAIN -


B enefits

R isks

A lternatives

I nformation needed/ Instincts

N othing

Ask the health prof - what are the benefits of what you are suggesting, what are the risks, what are the alternatives, what information do I need or what are my instincts telling me and what happens if we do nothing?

Hope that helps

charis18uk

I did a search of te internet and there are loads of printable birth plans out there that can guide you to make your own, here is an example.

http://www.eparenting.co.uk/pandb/writingyourbirthplan.shtml

I personally felt a birth plan was important when I was expecting my first (and only) child. I never actually got round to putting paper, but I knew in my own mind (and I shared these thoughts with my birth partner) what I wanted.

My advice would be:

Educate yourself about the process/stages of labour and what a normal delivery is like. You'll find this in most good pregnancy books.

Look at your pain relief options, the effect they may have on you (positive/negative) and what your preferences are. Educate yourself about them all, because what you may dismiss now may not be what you dismiss later.

Think about what may help you psychologically to cope with the labour, what distracts you, what comforts you and what sort of surroundings make you feel comfortable.

Have it in your mind to be flexible. A birth plan is just that, a plan, not a strict set of must do/won't do instructions. View it like when you go on holiday and you have a rough plan of what you want to do, but when you get there you soemtimes change your mind, have different priorities.

Share your thoughts, fears, feelings with your birth partner, they will be your greatest support dring the labour, they can advocate for you and communicate your wishes when you may not feel able to.

My best piece of advice would be to get in contact with your local NCT group and if its not too late participate in their antenatal classes. I found the info/education they provided made me feel really empowered to make choices/question decisions and feel in control during labour.

I wish you the best of luck.

SusanCarter

My midwife came to the house at about 36 weeks to do the brith plan but I'd already written it well before then as I like to do things in advance so it was just a case of her going through it to make sure I knew what was what and that I hadn't put anything silly in it. I just searched on the internet for example birth plans and then made sure I covered all the points that they did. Anything I was unsure about I just searched for more information about it. I get the impression that most people have pretty similar preferences and that the default if they don't know what you want would probably be whatever most people prefer on that particular point.

Snaggles

I found my birth plan was useful in the run up to the birth, because having thought through things in advance helped keep me calm and gave me a feeling of being in control. When I was actually in labour it was neither use nor ornament though lol. The midwife read it as I was giving my new daughter her first breastfeed hahaha!

Having said that, if you have particularly strong feelings about any aspects of the birth, it's worth having one - just make sure your partner knows your wishes though in case there's no time to read it!

Congratulations and good luck for a nice, quick, easy delivery.

newbie71_2

Dear all

Thank you once again for all your messages and your experiences. It has really helped and everyone has been so kind and given me lots of ideas and support. Thank you all so much :-)