Forum : Pregnancy

From my research and antenatal class the birth plan is something you do yourself/with your partner. I think if you wanted to show it and discuss any issues with your midwife that's fine but mostly it's about your desires and plans for the birth. Write it in your maternity notes or attach it to them and put it with your hospital bag. I am not sure about your hospital but we are allowed to request a water birth but we've been told whether we have one depends on whether the one birthing pool at our hospital is free when we are in labour! Great eh?

hi im 35wks and i also thought you did a birth plan with your midwife i had no idea that you were suppose to do them yourself if so how do you no exactly what to put? my sister did a birth plan with her midwife but that was 4yrs ago ive also read that at 36/38 wks your midwife should go threw this with you so sorry im as clueless as you are dont they realise that its bad enough when you are a first time mum with stressing about what to expect and the doubts you have about wether you are strong enough and capable of bringing a new life into the world without having any extra worries but thats our nhs system for you i guess..

Your birth plan is just a list of things that you would like to happen when you are in labour and give birth. You and your partner write down what you want ie: pain relief, positions, baby onto tummy straight away or cleaned first, husband to cut the cord etc etc. If there is anything you are not sure of, you ask your midwife at your antenatal appointments as soon as you like. But as its very rare that you have the midwife you have been seeing, deliver your baby then this is why you write it down in your notes and remember to take them with you to hospital so that the midwife on duty knows exactly what you want. My one piece of advice though about birth plans is dont be too rigid. Expect to have to adapt your plan to the situation you may be in. I hope i have helped a little and that your births go as you plan. x

hi im on baby 6 naw so a bit of advise birth plans r good at the time. but 2 b fair giving birth never goes 2 plan so if u do have birth plan try not 2 worry if u dont do any of it. just go with the flow. also try not 2 worry about anythink coz the more u worry the more likely somethink will happern.always rember why we go through all of this for a beutiful babys at the end life time of joy.ive never had any birth plans as it is such as life. all the best 2 u all.xx

when you go into labour the midwifes will ask you about pain relief and that. Tell them you would like to try a water birth xx good luck

hi ruth i want the same as u but i am only 27 weeks and 2 days and i dont no what a birth plan is as i have had 2 children and this 1 will be my 3rd a water birrth ment to help you relax more my midwife told me but not sure just scares me but dnt no y lol x

Im so confused about the whole birthing pan. If you have a waterbirth are you only allowed gas and air? not sure what to do. I have such a low pain threshold I can see me needing more then gas & air!!

dont put anything too definite in your birthplan. You might put no way under any circumstances do you want an epidural. Then during labour you struggle to cope and change your mind, because it is in your birthplan it will cause hassle. You dont know how you will cope during labour - no one does. Put things like you want daddy to cut the cord or not, you want baby placed onto you immediately or not. good luck, labour is not easy but it cant be that bad or I would not have done it 3 times (Im a huge wuss) with only gas and air

hi heydonandjon. you are limited on what pain relief you can have if you want a waterbirth as they need to monitor you more closely with some sorts of pain relief (ie an epidural, you wont be able to move so you'll need to be on a bed and hooked up to machines, you cant use tens in water (water and electricity clearly dont mix!) etc.
i too have a low pain threshold and am terrible with anything medical (i used to still take my mum with me to dental check ups at the age of 25!) but i managed my labour at home for 3 days (was already fully dilated when i got to hospital) with just a tens machine and breathing techniques. i am only saying this as a way of highlighting not to be too rigid with your thoughts as you dont know how you'll cope (or what'll happen) if you havent done it before - i surprised myself and managed absolutely fine!
my birth plan just said things like that my partner wanted to cut the cord, wanted baby put straight on to me, wanted to attempt to breastfeed. mine actually did say that i wasnt keen on having an epidural and wanted to try to manage as naturally as possible. however, none of these things happened as my baby got stuck and i ended up in theatre and had to have a forceps delivery so my partner couldnt cut the cord (he did cut a litle bit of the stump that was left, but he didnt actually get the separate the baby from me), that also meant that my baby was taken straight away with the nurses to the resuscitaire and the forceps delivery meant i did have to have a last minute epidural!
if you arent sure what to put, then just put something along the lines of, you're open to all kinds of pain relief as you feel are necessary.