Short on time, but still hoping to write a birth plan? Make it easy on yourself by following along with these easy-to-follow guidelines for how to write a birth plan fast.
- Talk to your spouse about your birth preferences, feelings, and anxieties. Determine as a couple what your best-practice birth plan might look like. Pray together.
- Decide what you want. Are you planning to go au-natural or will an epidural be in the game plan?
- Choose one of the handy birth plan creators below and fill in the blanks.
- Print a few copies for hospital staff and for yourself.
– Birth Plan Generator from Just the Facts, Baby
– Birth Plan Worksheet Checklist from BabyCenter
– Free Birth Plan from Earth Mama Angel Baby
– Customizable Birth Plan from Just Mommies
Did you write a birth plan for your birth of your last child? Did having a written birth plan help give you peace of mind on the “big day?” Fill me in, moms!
Follow on G+ | Like on Facebook | Tweet with me
Linking here: Mom’s Library, The Mommy Club, Works for Me Weds., Live. Laugh. Linky, I’m Lovin’ It, On Your Heart, Fellowship Fri., Strut Your Stuff Sat., Sundae Scoop, Better Mom Mon., Inspiration Mon.,
I have a great birth plan that I pass onto my clients. It’s super easy to use and is in a check box format which most providers seem to respon well to. Working on a birth plan is a great tool for expecting couples even if you don’t even bring it to your delivery.
I totally agree. Even just seeing the options on paper, like on the check list types we’re both talking about, really open the eyes of many new parents about the various options they have and the power they hold to decide upon many of the specifics of the birth. I think it’s great that you have one that you use with your clients. Neither my midwife nor doula ever mentioned birth plans to me with my first child.
I didn’t have a written birth plan for either of my kids. I had thought through things and knew how I wanted things to go if possible. I felt comfortable with the staff and that we were on the same page, so that helped. My 2 month old came so quickly I wasn’t able to get the hospital of my choice so things went a little differently and I had to fight for what I wanted a bit more.
Thanks for the great resources!
I had 3 homebirths. For my first, I wrote out the birth plan and packed the hospital bags. For my second two, I forgot entirely. Maybe not the best, but what can you do.
With the last one, I did fill out a worksheet – to save the placenta for encapsulation, where I want to go in an emergency, etc – but that’s it.
I was fine. My son was breech up to the bitter end, so I was ready and excited to have a breech at home. Alas, the little booger turned.
What are you going to do?
If you have a moment, link this post up to our Mommy Monday blog hop. Would love to see you there. Maybe the other Mothers there have something to say about their birth plans.
http://www.squishablebaby.com/mommy-monday-blog-hop-week-4/
My birth plan sets up for the most natural birth possible. I’ll spare you the details since it’s pretty long, but I’m hoping to have a calm, natural hospital birth. It’s great to hear that even your breech baby was born at home. That’s pretty exciting. I don’t know if my midwife with Summer would’ve even let me stay home to try to have the baby if she’d been breech. Thank you so much for visiting again, Lisa.
I made my way over here via Fellowship Fridays. Birth plans are wonderful and so vital to the birth process. I had a home birth with my last two babies and while I had birth plans for what I wanted if we transferred during labor, I did not create one for what would happen if we transferred after the birth. I really wish that I had thought of that because my youngest ended up staying in the NICU for four days. She had trouble breathing after the birth but then started screaming in the ambulance. By then, it was too late to turn around and go home, so we got stuck at the hospital with a staff that was mad that we were homebirth transfers and didn’t want to let us leave. They threatened calling child protective services every single time we refused a procedure. I really wish I had thought to make up a birth plan for that possible scenario. I know that I will the next time! Even if I still would have had to fight to a certain extent, it wouldn’t have shocked the staff so much if all the info had been in one place.
Gosh, that sounds like quite a rough hospital interaction. I never even considered making a birth plan with my daughter’s home birth either. The best we had was knowing where our plan B hospital was located, just in case. Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Anne, and reminding all of us how important it is to be prepared for anything! Welcome to JBJ!
Thanks for the links to those customizable birth plans. They are really helpful. Even when you’ve done it before, it’s hard to remember what you might need to include.
You’re super welcome, Rachelle! I know I’d forgotten a lot since the birth of my 1st child, even though it still hasn’t even been 2 years. Thank you for stopping by.
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the posts I realized it’s new to me.
Regardless, I’m definitely pleased I stumbled upon it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back often!
Feel free to visit my website – best muscle building foods (Rosalyn)
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Hi Iona, it’s great to meet you. I do use Twitter. You can find me here. Thanks for stopping by!
I had a birth plan with my firstborn. But she was overdue so I ended up being induced – which definitely hadn’t been in *my* plans. Then, after 18 hours of labour, an epidural, and only 4cm dilation, I had an emergency C-section.
Goodness, sounds like your first child definitely foiled even the best laid birth plan. Best part is that after the whole thing, you got to hold that sweet baby in your arms.
Wow. Way way WAY past this stage. Interesting read to pass along.
My birth plan for baby number 1 was see if I could do it with natural and then jump on the epidural wagon if needed. And I did. The second was get the epidural first. Oddly enough it failed halfway through the labor part so I ended up doing it on my own.
Isn’t it funny how birth plans can be absolutely the furthest thing from what happens? Congrats on making it without the epidural second time around. It’s hard work pushing babies out!
well when i get married and have a baby – i’ll know where to look 😀
During our birthing classes my husband and I were able to establish what we thought we wanted and did not want. It is important to be prepared!
How nice that you and your husband were able to attend birthing classes together. We’ve never done that, mostly because of budget, but I’m sure it would be a beautiful bonding experience and set you up for all kinds of birth scenarios. So glad you were prepared!
I had a perfect birth plan in place, did all the right things, created all the check lists….and then I had 3 c-sections! 🙂 Life is sometimes funny that way!
Cathy
You’re certainly not alone, Cathy. So many times God changes our best laid plans. It’s always good to be prepared anyway, right?
We had lots of time to think of our birth plan. It was difficult to have a c-section after going through all the classes and coming up with a plan. That said, these are all great tips. I would also account for what if kind of scenarios.
Every time I went to the hospital, I had a birth plan, and every time God had different plans. But it did help my husband and I to be on the same page for our wishes.
Thanks for sharing!
Marissa
You’re right, Marissa. Having a birth plan that you share with your husband is a great way to be sure it’s actually followed through. The public hospitals here kind of smirked when we showed them our plan (and never glanced at it) but I knew my husband was on board to make sure they didn’t add in any procedures we didn’t want to happen.