Hellobee Boards

Didn't have one (unless you count "epidural please!" And "do whatever you have to do to get baby here safely" as a birth plan) and things went fine! I plan on doing the same thing with baby #2, when the time comes. I really liked my doctors and midwives and totally trusted their judgment.

Nope. I just went in with an open mind and that whatever happened, happened!

I had the exact same birthplan as @pinkcupcake:, give me an epidural, and have a healthy mama and baby when everything is over. I honestly had a perfect labor and delivery experience and was really happy with the way things went. The only real request I had was that I asked the doctor to let my husband tell me if it was a boy or a girl, but I didn't write it down or anything, I just mentioned it to her while I was pushing.

I think it's good to think ahead about how you want things to go, but I also think it's extremely important to keep an open mind. I think that often when people write down super specific birth plans that they are setting themselves up for disappointment. Labor and delivery usually comes with at least one or two surprises along the way!

No, i feel like so much can change throughout l&d that I trusted the doctors and nurses. I went with my gut and kept a very open mind. Dont need to stress over a plan when you go through something like that!

Yes and I highly recommend it. Every single person read it and it was a good jumping off point for communication.

I have one. No LO yet so I don't know if it will be useful during delivery but I feel like just writing the plan was helpful to me in really thinking through what is important to me and what isn't. And also a nice summary of things to remember to talk about with my husband. Not that we don't talk about it all anyways, but it was good for him to see my top list of concise preferences that are important to me.

I had basic plans for my second and third after my first went so off course ... It was more for my husband and doula and focused on post birth handling of baby - delayed cord clamping, catching baby, no vit. k shot or eye goop, that kind of thing. My midwife knew me well enough from my prenatal visits to be hands off and let me do my thing during labour and she stated nicely in the background both times.
I think a plan is good but that could be the control freak in me talking

Haven't had my baby yet, but I think it is worth going over birth preferences with your SO and doula, if only to make sure everyone is on the same page. Going over my preferences with DH helped him to understand certain aspects of the birth so that when the time comes, he won't be in the dark about what is happening or why a certain decision is made.

ETA: My doula recommends going over certain preferences with the doctor/midwife ahead of time so tat you can come to an agreement and put that information in your chart. The attending doctor will be more likely to go along with certain preferences if they have been "cleared" ahead of time.

I did. My midwife required me to write one - and I'm glad I did because I ended up with an emergency transfer to the hospital. the nurses were SO great and went over it with me and were totally on board. It was very helpful, I feel. But I know not all hospitals/nurses think so.

I didn't really have one either. Add me to the list of women that just wanted an epi and a healthy baby.

The nurses asked me what my birth plan was and I said "Drugs and a healthy baby." I think that it was 100% easier for me and the staff that way.

I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. My DH knew that I was going in with an open mind and would feel everything out. I also wasn't gung-ho about a natural birth either though. I thought, if I could handle the pain and do it...fine, but by the time I got to the hospital, I definitely knew I needed an epidural. It ended up being a good thing since DS got stuck, I needed an emergency C-section and he ended up in the NICU for 2 days since I gave him my fever. All worked out fine in the end, but birth definitely didn't go as planned no matter what way you look at it!

Mine never made it out of the bag but I still expressed all my wishes to my medical team. It was definitely helpful because it made me research and make choices and I was prepared for everything that came my way during labor and delivery!

I wrote a "birth preferences,", and it was really helpful. We'll ignore the fact that I deviated from it almost from step 1; I really appreciated the fact that everyone who came in the room had some idea of what I hoped my experience would look like. I also used it to bring up some of my specific concerns (my hips, my anxiety, my carpal tunnel) and it saved me from explaining things to each new person who walked in the room. That information was in my chart, but I felt better knowing that something was less likely to be forgotten or overlooked on a one page bulleted list in the front of my chart.

@spaniellove: FWIW, I gave mine to my doctor at a prenatal visit and also expected to have to give it to them at L+D. When I got there, though, I realized that my doctor had faxed it over to the hospital already, so the nurse who was admitting me had already read it by the time she got to my room.

@spaniellove: that was honestly the most helpful part. Everyone came in and asked about my hips, as opposed to me explaining it for the first time. It made a huge difference.

@spaniellove: My prenatal yoga instructor encouraged us all to write them, even just for the simple fact that it will weed out the old fashioned rigid nurses because they won't want to work with someone with their "own ideas" of how this should go.

Our doula gave us a sort of checklist of things to consider. So while it wasn't a written birth plan, it was a list of things that we would like in a birth.
So, for example, I checked off that I wanted music in my birthing room, I wanted to try and use the tub, and I wanted only my husband in the room (no other family members). It was helpful to have talked about those things ahead of time.

I did, and I don't think it helped much but it was a good exercise so I don't regret having it. In the end most of my preferences were hospital policy so I didn't need to voice them & the ones that weren't were not respected even though I wrote them out.