Baby Born: Birth Plans

When having a baby the birth of the child is at the fore front of a mother's mind for all nine months. In an effort to have a labor which is beneficial and enjoyable for the mother, mother's often put together Birth Plans. A Birth Plan is simply an outline of how a mother would like labor to go. Birth Plans can be beneficial to helping the mother through labor but are they really necessary?

When putting together a Birth Plan it is important to keep it clear and concise. Birth Plans that are pages long often will be ignored or have parts forgotten. A short concise list of the major aspects of labor should be listed. Things like your medication plans, labor positions, and any thing involving medical procedures for the mother or the child should be included on a Birth Plan.

What shouldn't be included on a Birth Plan are items like what you'd like to wear while laboring or what you want to listen to. These are unnecessary for the nurses and doctor to know and just clutter up a Birth Plan. For items such as what you want to wear and listen to, have your doula/coach/spouse memorize your wants and take action while in labor. Make sure your doula/coach/spouse also have your Birth Plan for the nurses memorized so that they can be your advocate.

Birth Plans that are too long can be ignored or misread due to the large amount of information written on them. Some nurses find Birth Plans helpful while others find them annoying. Ask the nurses at the hospital what they prefer. They'll let you know how they feel about them and you can plan your own plan around their feelings.

An important part of a Birth Plan is being open to the unknown. Realize that although you have a dream for the perfect labor, it may not happen as you think. Having an open mind to what will happen will allow labor to be enjoyed by yourself and those with you. It's important to be prepared to throw your Birth Plan out the window if needed.

While putting together a Birth Plan it's important to take the hospital tour and ask as many questions from your Birth Plan as you can. This will allow you to take items off a Birth Plan that aren't able to do or items that don't make sense anymore for the setting. Hospital's have adopted more of the newer laboring techniques so you may find that your Birth Plan to be worthless.

Birth Plans can be very important to labor, both productive and a hinderance. If the mother enters a hospital with an open mind though labor can be enjoyable and rewarding, Birth Plan followed or not.