Healthy Woman - Blog

Woman With a Plan: Birth Plan 101

Just as babies don’t come with instruction booklets, births don’t unfold in an orderly, by-the-book fashion—not unless you’re really lucky, that is. But that doesn’t mean you should just wing it. Heading toward your due date, it’s smart to come up with a birth plan that lays  out your preferences so that everyone present at your labor understands what you do and don’t want. You’ll have to be flexible, of course—some things might have to change depending on circumstance—but by having a plan in writing, you’ll avoid miscommunication and reduce stressful, on-the-fly decision making.

What should your birth plan include?

Here are questions to consider:

• Who do you want present in the delivery room?
• What kind of pain relief do you want?
• How often do you want fetal monitoring?
• In what situations would a C-section be okay?
• Who should cut the umbilical cord?
• Do you plan to bank cord blood?
• Do you want to be coached when to push?
• What positions do you want to try to push in?
• Do you want the lights dimmed? Music playing? Total quiet?
• Do you want photos or video taken during birth?
• When do you first want to hold your baby?
• When do you first want to breastfeed, if you’re planning to?

For a look at what else you might want to include, you can find a sample birth plan template here.

The great news is that as a Healthy Woman patient, you don’t have to create your birth plan alone. As a part of our OB VIP program, you will have a special prenatal visit at 24 weeks of pregnancy with Dr. Rebecca Cipriano or Dr. Joseph Cipriano, the Healthy Woman co-founders, to go through your birth expectations and ensure that your experience is just as you want it to be. The doctor will talk to you about how you want things to go, give you the options and empower you with the information you need to make the best decisions for yourself.

Perhaps the most helpful aspect of creating a birth plan is that it gets you thinking about important questions that may not have crossed your mind, particularly if this is your first child. Keep your plan as concise as you can; you might want to highlight the things that are most important to you so that they’re not missed.

You may not be able to plan for everything—but you can sure try.