Planning the Birth of your Dreams

If you’re pregnant, you’ve likely heard about birth plans, but how does one even start? Pregnancy and childbirth information is abundant, but what should you believe and what is just another blog post to get views?
 
Birth is not an Emergency
The first thing I always remind my clients is that, you always have the right to ask for time before making a decision, even if you’re in labor or about to give birth. Unless you’re experiencing a true emergency, asking for 20-30 minutes to think about a suggested intervention before you agree to it is very reasonable.
 
Don’t wait until you’re in labor
While you are able to ask for time from your doctor or midwife before you make a decision, depending on how far progressed you labor is, it can be hard to focus on learning the latest research while moving through contractions.
 
Instead, take some time to look into common interventions before labor begins such as induction, birth augmentation, hep locks, c-section and cervical checks. Weather you’re looking for a drug free vaginal birth or a planned induction, it’s important to know what your options are, and what your preferences are before labor begins.
 
The Rabbit Hole
Researching your options seems simple enough. Pull up google, type in the birth option you’d like to learn about, choose a link and learn.

What’s wrong with this? Potentially nothing but be ready to spend most of your free time learning about pregnancy and birth. The internet is a big place, and while there are some excellent resources out there, there are more that give partial or inaccurate information. Sifting out the quality resources can take up a lot of time and cause a lot of undue stress.
 
The Solution
Find a childbirth educator, or a doula who is willing to personally sit down with you while putting together your birth plan. Birth Your Way offers such a service during their prenatal visits! You will get personalized feedback regarding your birth plan including items that can be left out, and important items to include.
 
When it comes down to it, drafting a birth plan, and having a backup plan for your backup plan, is all about the process of  of learning what you want and going into labor and birth armed and ready to advocate for yourself.

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