What can you include in a birth plan?

Don’t feel your birth plan has to include everything or go on for page after page. You can just put a few ‘headlines’ down on paper to give your midwife an idea of what you are interested in. For example: ‘I would like to use self-help techniques like massage, water, breathing and relaxation as much as possible.’ Or: ‘I’m really worried about pain and think I will need a lot of help to cope with it.’

It might be worth thinking about some of the following topics, discussing them with your partner and then deciding if they are areas you want to cover in your birth plan. Some might not be important to you.

• Who are you planning to have as birth partner, or partners?
• Who do you hope to have caring for you: midwives, doctor, alternative therapists? Is there a particular midwife, for instance, whom you feel comfortable with, and would prefer, if she is available?
• What are you planning to use in the way of pain relief? Think about the medical forms available, and self-help techniques such as relaxation and massage
• Do you want to be upright and mobile? Do you want to use any particular positions for labour and birth?
• Do you need any special facilities: water, bean bags, music?
• Have you got strong feelings on any medical interventions, such as artificial rupture of membranes, electronic fetal monitoring or episiotomy?
• If the labour does not go smoothly and you need medical help, such as an assisted delivery or Caesarean birth, do you have any views on how these are done ?
• Is there anything you are especially worried about?
• Do you have any special wishes for your baby’s first moments?
• How are you planning to feed your baby?
• Do you want your baby to have a vitamin K injection?
• Are you happy to have a syntometrine injection to speed up the third stage of labour?

It will help your carers, and you, if your birth plan is clear and concise. It also needs to be carefully worded. It should not just be a list of demands: it is your chance to explain briefly and clearly what matters to you, but should acknowledge the skills and experience of your midwife or doctor too. It should also recognise that labour may not turn out exactly as you expect or hope.

It's a difficult combination to achieve but it will be easier if you:

• Jot down notes for your plan over several weeks
• Talk to your midwife, antenatal teacher, other women and new mothers about labour
• Discuss it all in depth with your partner
• Write a few drafts
• Get a friend or your antenatal teacher to read the drafts and comment on them
• Ideally write your final birth plan with your midwife