Birth plans
Here are some suggestions for an elective caesarean birth plan. Our
antenatal adviser and NCT trained teacher, Grania
Foster, uses this plan to guide the parents she teaches in her antenatal
classes.
Pick and choose what suits you:
- We would like my partner to stay throughout
- I would like my privacy and dignity to be respected at all times
- I would like to carry out the shaving myself at home / I would like
shaving to be kept to a minimum / I would like a wet rather than a dry
shave
- I would like information about any medication before receiving it,
including the purpose, potential side effects on me / the baby and options
on timing e.g. before or after the baby is born. I wish in particular
to avoid any drugs which will make me drowsy during the operation.
- I would prefer the use of spinal/epidural/general anaesthetic
- I am happy for up to x number of students to be present at the birth
/ I prefer not to have any students present at the birth / I would like
the number of people present in theatre to be the minimum required for
the operation.
- We would like to have a commentary of what is happening up to and
including the birth / for the whole time spent in theatre
- I would like the curtain present throughout/I would like to have
the curtain dropped for the moment of birth / I do not want to have
a curtain blocking my way at all
- I would like photographs / video to be taken of the birth
- We would like the theatre to be as quiet as possible at the moment
of birth
- We would like to play music during the birth
- We would like the lights to be turned down for a few minutes at the
moment of birth, if possible
- We would like to discover the sex of our baby ourselves
- We would like to hold our baby immediately / we would like the baby
to be washed first
- We would like our baby to stay with one of us at all times
- We would like to be consulted if our baby needs to go to special care
- If the baby needs to go to special care we would like to be taken
to him/her as soon as possible after the operation
- I would like to be offered regular pain relief which does not conflict
with my desire to breastfeed. This includes not being given a drug that
will make me too drowsy
- We do not want our baby to be given any artificial milk/we are happy
for our baby to be given artificial milk
- I intend to breastfeed on demand
- I would like our baby with me at all times unless I request otherwise
- I would like to be present when our baby has a nappy change or bath
Where to next?
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