our birth plan

I finished packing my hospital bag today, so other than some last-minute things I'm ready to leave whenever labor happens! I don't expect to go into labor for a while yet, but I'll be full term on Monday and one can dream. All this preparation and just wait, I'll still be pregnant at Thanksgiving...


I thought I'd share our birth plan, which is almost exactly the same as what we did with Celia. We have done a lot of research, completely over-educated ourselves about childbirth, and I take time to practice Hypnobirthing meditation. But when it comes to the actual birth, things are very simple. The birth plan could essentially be summed up as: Just leave us be. No drugs, no IV, no monitoring necessary. I'm just gonna have my baby. (Mind you, if any of those things became medically necessary we'd accept. But, most of the time they are not necessary, and interventions snowball into each other leading to unbelievably high cesarean rates.) Anyway, this is our birth plan:

We prefer a non-medicated childbirth with as little medical intervention as possible. Please discuss any necessary medical interventions with us before they take place. We will use Hypnobirthing and other natural techniques throughout labor.  

During Labor and Delivery, we would like:

• Access to a labor tub.
• A quiet, calm environment.
• Not to be offered pain medication or to be questioned on pain level. We are aware of pain medication options, and will request medication if we wish.
• Not to have an IV unless it becomes medically necessary.
• For mom’s water to break naturally.
• To have as few internal exams as possible.
• Uncoached pushing.
• To be free of time limits on pushing, as long as baby is healthy and progress is being made.
• To avoid episiotomy.
• For perineal support/compresses to be used as needed.
• For baby to be placed on mom’s chest immediately after birth.
• For baby to be given to dad if mom is unable to take her.

For the Baby, we would like:

• To delay cutting the umbilical cord until it has stopped pulsing.
• For the baby to remain with mom and dad and begin breastfeeding after birth.
• For Chris to cut the umbilical cord.
• To decline erythromycin eye ointment.
• Breast feeding only- no formula please.

With Celia's birth, this is pretty much how it happened. I never got to use the labor tub because I was ready to push when we arrived at the hospital. If we're there earlier this time, I really want to try the tub. I had no IV, no drugs, felt great and recovered fast after delivery. Chris helped deliver Celia, and the room was calm and quiet (silent much of the time) while I pushed. The only thing that had to happen that we didn't want was that Celia had to have a bottle of formula soon after birth. She was hypoglycemic, which can quickly become very dangerous and cause brain damage in newborns. So, obviously we allowed for that.


There's no way of knowing what the new guy's birth day will bring. For now this is our plan, and we hope it will work out well as it did for Celia!