Pregnancy, Parenthood & Playtime

When a woman learns she is expecting, she will often have a lot of expectations for her pregnancy and birth experience. Which is completely natural.
Finding a provider is always the first step in your birth plan. Making sure that your desires for your experience are going to be respected is like laying the ground work for not only your birth, but also for your pre natal care during your pregnancy. If you do not have someone who is friendly to patients “calling the shots” then you may run into some issues along your journey.

There are a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to birth plans. They are not a final blue print of the birth you will have because in some cases there are situations or emergencies that come up that we could never imagine planning for, but there are some things Moms can do to help avoid those emergencies arising as some of the commonly seen emergencies can and are caused by frequent intervention in the birth process.

But to get started on writing what you want, you should sit down with your partner, or by yourself, or maybe even with your doula to see what you have in mind for your birth experience. A couple questions you can start with to help lay your ground work are…

• Where do you want to give birth?
  • Hospital
  • Home
  • Birth Center
• During labor do you want to be mobile or remain in bed?
• Do you want an IV in place during birth, or an alternative such as a heparin/saline lock or nothing at all.
  • Be sure to find out what your hospitals policy is about IV’s being in place during labor and birth. Many today require mom’s to have a line of access at all times. This also makes it easier for labor drugs such as pitocin to be used.
• Do you want to wear your own clothes?
• Would you like to use the shower, or even a bath tub while you are in labor?
  • Finding out what kind of luxuries your hospital labor and delivery rooms have available is also key. Many hospitals do NOT offer birthing tubs for laboring mothers.
• Would you like to listen to music?

Then there are the more “medical” questions that you need to take into consideration.

• How do you feel about labor induction?
• What methods of pain relief are you comfortable with?
  • Epidural Anesthesia
  • IV Pain relief such as a narcotic
  • Acupressure
  • Massage
• How do you feel about episiotomies?
• Would you rather tear naturally than receive an episiotomy?
• Are you planning on breastfeeding?
  • If you are planning to breast feed, it is a smart idea to put a sign or something small in the bassinet of the baby telling hospital staff the baby is breast fed only, and you do not wish for the baby to have any bottles or pacifiers.
  • Also, if you are planning on breastfeeding, you should look into the lactation consultant services at the specific hospital to help make your experience easier for you and your baby!
• If you expect hospital staff, including your provider to discuss all procedures with you before doing them, make sure you include this in your plan.
• If you would like to be able to eat, and drink during labor, be sure to discuss this with your provider prior to labor also.

Some mothers may need special attention due to conditions such as gestational diabetes or group B strep. If you are one of these mothers, be sure to include this in your birth plan so that hospital staff knows these things and provides you care accordingly.

Be sure to go over your wishes before entering the hospital for your birth. If your provider is already aware of your wishes, and has a copy of your birth plan in your medical chart it will make the experience easier on you, as well as the hospital staff.

In the case that your provider does not or will not go by what you would like for your birth plan, it may be a wise idea to look into switching providers. It is never too late to change during your pregnancy, and if you cannot agree with simple requests that may be important to you, it may only cause more harm than good in the long run.

Remember, this is your birth experience, you are the boss and you make the calls!