In the happy haze of early pregnancy, you’re probably already thinking of baby names and planning to shop for baby clothes. The reality of labor and birth may seem extremely far off — which makes this the perfect time to start planning for the arrival of your baby by creating a birth plan that details your wishes.

What’s a Birth Plan?

The term birth plan can actually be misleading — it’s less an exact plan than a list of preferences. In fact, the goal of a birth plan isn’t for you and your partner to determine exactly how the birth of your child will occur — because labor involves so many variables, you can’t predict exactly what will happen. A birth plan does, however, help you to realize what’s most important to you in the birth of your baby.

While completing a birth plan, you’ll be learning about, exploring, and understanding your labor and birthing options well before the birth of your child. Not only will this improve your communication with the people who’ll be helping during your delivery, it also means you won’t have to explain your preferences right at the moment when you’re least in the mood for conversation — during labor itself.

A birth plan isn’t a binding agreement — it’s just a guideline. Your doctor or health care provider may know, from having seen you throughout the pregnancy, what you do and don’t want. Also, if you go into labor when there’s an on-call doctor who you don’t know well, a well thought-out birth plan can help you communicate your goals and wishes to the people helping you with the labor and delivery.

What Questions Does a Birth Plan Answer?

A birth plan typically covers three major areas:

1. What are your wishes during a normal labor and delivery?

These range from how you want to handle pain relief to enemas and fetal monitoring. Think about the environment in which you want to have your baby, who you want to have there, and what birthing positions you plan to use.

2. How are you hoping for your baby to be treated immediately after and for the first few days after birth?

Do you want the baby’s cord to be cut by your partner?  If possible, do you want your baby placed on your stomach immediately after birth?  Do you want to feed the baby immediately?  Will you breastfeed or bottle-feed? Where will the baby sleep — next to you or in the nursery?  Hospitals have widely varying policies for the care of newborns — if you choose to have your baby in a hospital, you’ll want to know what these are and how they match what you’re looking for.

3. What do you want to happen in the case of unexpected events?

No one wants to think about something going wrong, but if it does, it’s better to have thought about your options in advance. Since some women need cesarean sections (C-sections), your birth plan should probably cover your wishes in the event that your labor takes an unexpected turn. You might also want to think about other possible complications, such as premature birth.

Birth plans are relatively new inventions, and your doctor or nurse-midwife may not be completely comfortable with them. For this reason, make sure you communicate clearly that you intend to create a birth plan.

Give your health care provider your reasons for doing so — not because you don’t trust him or her, but to help ensure cooperation and to cover the possibilities if something should go wrong. If your caregiver seems offended or is resistant to the idea of a birth plan, you might want to reconsider whether this is the right caregiver for you.

Once you’ve made your birth plan, schedule a time to go over it with your doctor or nurse-midwife. Find out and discuss where you agree or disagree. During your pregnancy, review the birth plan with your partner periodically to make sure that it’s still in line with both of your wishes.

Strive to keep the plan as simple as possible — preferably less than two pages — and list them in order of importance. Focusing on your priorities will help ensure that the most important of your wishes are met.

You may also want to make several copies of the plan: one for you, one for your chart, one for your doctor or nurse-midwife, and one for your birthing coach or partner. And bringing a few extra copies in your labor bag is a good idea, especially if your doctor ends up not being on call when your baby is born.

Although you might not be able to control everything that happens to you during your baby’s birth, you can play a role in the decisions that are made about your body and your baby. A well thought-out birth plan can help you to do that.

Please feel free to use our birth plan form to fill out or for inspiration