“Birth Plans” or more aptly termed “Birth Preferences” were originally created to assist a pregnant woman to convey her personal preferences on all aspects of her birthing experience to the Midwives & Doctors. Some people believe it’s a complete waste of time, whilst there are others who feel it’s a very important aspect of giving birth.
Having written a “Birth Preference” when having our first child, I think I will definitely write one again for our second. It gave me the opportunity to express my wishes for many aspects of this awesome experience and to feel comfortable knowing that everyone including my husband was aware of how I would like certain things to be handled.
Though it’s virtually impossible to plan out how your birthing experience will progress, in my opinion it is a good idea to demonstrate your choices & reasons for, rather than being asked to make an “on the spot” decision during labour.
It’s important to remember when writing a “Birth Preferences” to keep it simple and relevant and try to keep to no more than two pages. If you put too much information or topics that are not relevant, it may be skimmed over rather than read & understood.
Some of the topics to cover in your “Birth Preferences” are Active Birthing – do you wish to be able to move around and find the most comfortable position to you for giving birth, Pain Relief, Inducing/Augmenting Labour, Episiotomy or Tearing, Fetal Monitoring, Caesarean, Directly After Birth & Breastfeeding. There are some really great websites out there that can assist you in writing your “Birth Preferences” if you are unsure where to start such as www.bellybelly.com.au and www.birthplan.org. Belly Belly is an Australian site so is more applicable to our hospital procedures though Birth Plan do still have some interesting topics to think about.
As always, we are interested in your thoughts and comments on “Birth
Plans” or “Birth Preferences”, so please feel free to drop
us a line click here and we may publish it in upcoming newsletters.