Let’s look at making a birth plan. Congratulations on your pregnancy – we hope it is going smoothly! It can feel impossible to get a second to sit down and get all your ducks in a row between seeing family, maintaining your home and of course various doctor visits. Fret not, we have a potential solution.
Making a birth plan can be the perfect opportunity to organise yourself while taking a bit of a breather. However, if you aren’t sure where to start, we are here to help. Here are some tips and tricks for creating your birth plan.
What to Include
This is the crux of the matter with no specific answer. Your birth plan can contain anything you think is needed. But here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling.
Medical info
Obviously, you have a medical record at the hospital but should you want things right at your fingertips or perhaps you have chosen a home birth, it is good to have details ready. These can include things like allergies, especially if you have ones to medications, details about what pain relief you would prefer and anything you think those looking after you might want to know.
You can also include things about what you would like to do with the after birth. Are you wanting to keep the placenta? Are you privately storing it or having cord blood collected? Are you using placental encapsulation? Have it noted down and keep any paperwork attached too so that everything is clear.
People
Short and simple, you do have some control over the people involved in your birth. Obviously, in a hospital, there will be doctors and nurses but when it comes to the visitors and family etc, put a note for your birth partner on who you want and when you want them. If you want to be left alone with just you and baby for a few hours before celebrating with your nearest and dearest, have that in there.
Environment
There is more control with a home birth of course but once you know where you are going to deliver your baby, you can find what you can do to make your experience better. You can put some notes in for your nurses and birth partner that relate to how you want the room to feel.
Do you want music? Ask if you need headphones or if you can have a little speaker. Birth pool? Ask for one and then note that you want one. Yoga ball or matt? Note it down. See what you can do in terms of lighting and the like and then note it down. It’s a big day, you want to be as comfortable as possible.
It’s Your Plan
Now obviously with everything being somewhat unpredictable and there needs to be some flexibility in your plans, but the plan is yours. It can be as detailed or as simple as you want it to be. You don’t even need to make one if you would rather just take it all in your stride. Whatever you do, we hope your pregnancy is joyful and all goes well on the big day – make sure you also look at all of your options post-birth, such as looking at services such as sellformula.com
*Collaborative post
About Debz Louise
Debz Louise is a UK-based lifestyle expert and the founder of several lifestyle blogs, including Wannabe Princess and Under 5s. Specializing in everything from interior design and home renovation to body-positive fashion and early years development,