Did you make a birth plan?

Question

If yes, do you have any tips for important things that I could include in my birth plan?

Answer

I made more of a "birth preferences" list since I knew things might not go the way I wanted. Luckily it pretty much did.
I listed that I wanted to give birth naturally and didn't want to be offered/pushed pain meds, I wanted to labour and push in the position of my choosing, not be confined to the bed during labour, keep the lights dimmed, my husband would be with me constantly, he would cut the cord, delayed cord clamping, wanted to try the tub (amazing!) and birthing ball, eat and drink when I felt like it, no interventions (episiotomy, forceps, c-section) unless medically necessary, didn't want them to manually break my water, skin to skin immediately for at least 1 hour as long as there were no complications, planned on breastfeeding. I think that was it. 
My OB said she always appreciated when people gave her a list of preferences so she could help them have the best experience. 
Just sit down and figure out what kind of birth you'd like. But fully understand that you might make a different choice in the moment or something might be needed to keep you and the baby safe and healthy. That's the end goal anyway. Best of luck!

Answer

Honestly I didn't because things can change then you are disappointed when it doesn't happen the way you wanted.

Answer

I found some great templates online. One thing that was super important to me was that I could be mobile as much as possible to manage pain and shower if I needed to. Neither of these things were honored by the nursing staff, because the mobile fetal monitor they had was terrible. Put things in writing but realize your wishes may not be honored. It will be good to have them when you don’t remember anything and need to self advocate or have your partner advocate for you.

Answer

I don’t see the point. My birth plan is getting the baby out as safely as possible for her. And let the staff do whatever they are more comfortable/trained to do, as long as it doesn’t endanger my baby’s wellbeing.

Answer

I did. I had it all planned out and it was gonna be perfect lol it went completely different and almost exactly opposite. It was my first baby though. I think just go with the flow of your body.

Answer

One thing that stood out the most for me that I didn’t follow in my plan was no interns or resident doctors. They somehow talked me into one of each even though I said I didn’t want them in my birth plan. I totally regretted it. 
First off, you don’t need any more people sticking hands up in you. With having those two in the room that’s two extra sets of hands that want to go in there and feel what’s going on. No fun when you’re contracting. At one point I yelled at everyone to give me a friggin break. 
 
Secondly, my resident doctor was always playing ok her personal cell phone. And she kept wanting to go to other rooms and my nurses had to keep reminding her she was assigned to me. 
Finally, when I finally opted for a low dose epidural 11hr into labor, my resident nurse called the anesthesiologist to the wrong room!  It took her 45min to show up as a result. I wasn’t allowed to push during that time and my baby’s heart rate dropped to 50 beats per minute and I had to have an emergency crash c-section 5min after I got the epidural in. So it was a waste of time and put me and my baby in stranger. 
I know my last point is extreme, please don’t let it scare you. I am sure there are fantastic resident doctors out there, but I can’t help but feel like she f’ed up majorly and wasn’t really present the entire time. Next time I am sticking to my plan. No interns, no residents. Only the experienced team. 
My two cents. Good luck to you!

Did you make a birth plan?

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