Writing your Birth Plan - Ideas to help with your Birth Plan
Putting together a plan for the birth of your baby can seem daunting but knowing and understanding your options, relating them to you and your baby’s specific needs and discussing your preferences with your caregivers and birth partner puts you at the centre of your birth experience and gives you agency.
Writing your birth plan starts with informing yourself about your options and choices for labour and birth. A good place to explore these could be by taking a prenatal course. Your midwife, gynaecologist and birth partner should also be part of the process so that your plan reflects what is best for you and your baby’s own specific needs. Knowing that everyone caring for and supporting you understands your wishes allows you to concentrate on relaxing, breathing and focusing on the birth of your baby.
Here Kate Ellwood, a KG Hypnobirthing Teacher, has put together a number of options for you to discuss with your midwife and add to your birth plan if you wish.
Your Environment
A quiet and calm environment where you feel safe and confident will help keep you relaxed and let your labour develop quickly and smoothly. It is easier to create this environment in your own home (or in a Birthing Centre) but points to consider include:
Peace and quiet
Subdued lighting
Your own choice of relaxing music
Hypnobirthing
If you plan on using hypnobirthing it is a good idea to let your caregiver know this so they can be fully supportive. Whilst hypnobirthing is becoming more widespread there are still a number of health professionals who have not had any experience of the process, although they are generally interested and supportive. Simply put hypnobirthing empowers you to have a calm and gentle, natural and drug free birth, and uses self hypnosis, breathing, deep relaxation and visualisation techniques. Although, these techniques provide support whichever path your labour and birth may take.
It is best if you request patience and understanding to refrain (in the absence of medical emergency) from any intervention, or any procedure that could unnecessarily stand in the way of you having the most natural birth possible. It is good to state this clearly on your birth plan.
Staying Active In Labour
Although gentle movement can be beneficial in the early stages of labour, you do need to conserve your energy for actual birth of your baby. Labour is a marathon not necessarily a sprint. Being able to move freely and adopt positions that feel right for you can help your baby turn and descend into the birth canal. Remember the muscles of the uterus are some of the strongest muscles in the human body and they are working to capacity. Being able to listen to your body and move freely gives your uterus the space it needs to work optimally. Labour can be entirely comfortable and, at the same time, the muscular effort is powerful. Plus, eating whatever snacks appeal to you in the early stages of labour helps to maintain your energy.
Vaginal Examinations
If you prefer to be undisturbed, you can decline an internal examination with no risk to yourself or your baby in normal circumstances.
Monitoring Your Baby’s Heart
Your baby’s heart can be monitored by intermittently by Doppler ultrasound or with a stethoscope if you prefer not to expose your baby to the risks of sonar.
Positions to Give Birth in
There are a variety of positions you can give birth in but ultimately you’ll do what you feel like at the time. Many women find that a vertical, slightly forward position is the most comfortable, so that the weight of the baby is not pressing on your circulatory and nervous systems, gravity is on your side, and the capacity of the pelvis is at its maximum.
Popular positions include:
Squatting
Leaning forward (the kitchen work surface is a good height if you’re at home)
Standing – perhaps supported with your arms round your husband’s / partner’s neck
In a birthing pool
Birthing Pool
Birth pools were pioneered by Michel Odent in the 1970s on the grounds that a baby had been in ‘water’ for the last nine months and so would find it a more gentle introduction to the world. Many mothers also find this a comfortable way of giving birth. Birthing your baby into water is not available in all hospitals in Belgium but labouring in a birth pool as a means of pain relief usually is.
Skin to Skin Contact With Your Baby
Woman breastfeeding her newborn baby
Immediately after you birth your baby (s)he can be placed on your tummy giving skin to skin contact. This is very beneficial for your baby as they adjust to life outside the womb and because the only things in your baby’s new world it recognises from it’s old world are your skin, heartbeat, breathing and your voice. Skin to skin helps to build the bond between you and your baby, and to establish breast feeding. You should allow the vernix* to be absorbed into baby’s skin so there is no need for any cleaning or rubbing. It can be done later if needed with a soft cloth.
Delivery Of Your Placenta
In hospital directly after the birth you will often be offered an injection of artificial oxytocin. The purpose of this is to cause uterine contractions and to prevent or stop postpartum haemorrhaging and help with a fast delivery of the placenta. However, there is evidence showing this may be an unnecessary procedure in many women and may inhibit the production of natural oxytocin. The choice is yours, and it is wise to do some research beforehand.
A drug free and natural way for your body to achieve the same process as above is to immediately breast feed your baby which will assist with the natural delivery of your placenta, as well as give your baby the sustenance and comfort it needs at the beginning of life.
** Birthing the Placenta
Special Requests
A few other ideas you might like to consider:
you would like your partner to tell you if it is a boy of a girl
birth partner to remain with you during and after the birth
You would / would not like trainee doctors, nurses to observe your labour
Allow baby and birth partner to remain with you after birth
Vitamin K for your baby
Vitamin K is offered for all babies and again the choice is yours. It can be given by injection after they are born which helps prevent a rare disease called Vitamin K deficiency bleeding, or it can be given orally (usual in Belgium) in several doses after the baby is born which saves the baby from an injection within the first few hours of arriving in this world. If the oral course is chosen instead it is essential that it is completed in full. To understand more about Vitamin K and Vitamin K deficiency bleeding check out Dr Sara Wickham’s webpage on Vitamin K
Cutting the Cord
Delaying the cutting of the cord until the pulsating has stopped will enable the full supply of oxygenated blood to reach your baby and provides a dual support system while your baby learns to take its first breaths. For more information: Wait for White
Breast Feeding
Free access to your breast in the immediate hours after your baby is born sets is a positive start to your breastfeeding journey and a wonderful way of establishing your bond with your baby.
Medical Intervention
Interventions can be life-savers in an emergency situation, and unnecessary interventions can themselves create unnecessary problems; something to be considered carefully and researched in advance. The AIMS website is a good source of information on Interventions www.aims.org.uk
Pain Relief
There are a number of different pain relief options (medical and non medical) and many women use a combination of them. Explore the medical pain relief available in your place of birth and understand their risks and benefits. To enjoy a natural and comfortable birth, hypnobirthing can go a long way to helping you have a calm and gentle birth. Thank goodness pain relief is available if you need, but many hypnobirthing mothers find it is not needed as birth can be comfortable and calm.
Induction of Labour
Induction is now often offered as standard, and often presented as if you have no choice. Remember you are entitled to a full discussion and explanation of the pros and cons before you decide on any intervention. Always listen carefully to medical advice; your midwives and doctor are knowledgeable and experienced, but remember that it is ultimately your decision. For more information: Induction of Labour
* Vernix, the white sticky substance that covers your baby's skin while in the womb, should always be left on the skin. It's a natural moisturiser that also protects against infection in the first few days.
Written by Kate Ellwood (Simply Hypnobirth) accredited KG Hypnobirthing Teacher and First Aid Instructor
