By: Courtney Ferguson
When it comes to childbirth, many people wonder if having a birth plan is truly necessary. After all, no birth experience can be perfectly scripted—there are too many unknowns! But creating a birth plan isn’t about controlling every moment. Instead, it’s a powerful tool for clarifying your preferences, communicating with your care team, and preparing for this significant journey.
A well-thought-out birth plan provides a chance to explore options, consider preferences, and think about the environment, pain management, and support
you might want during labor. It helps you feel informed and empowered, knowing you’ve voiced what matters to you. However, just as important as planning is staying flexible. Birth rarely follows a straight line, and unexpected situations can arise. By balancing a sense of clarity with a willingness to adapt, you’re better prepared for birth with your support people, able to adjust if needed, and stay connected to your experience.
In this post, we’ll look at the key elements to include in a birth plan and practical tips on keeping an open mind so you feel empowered, prepared, and ready—no matter what comes your way.
It can be really hard to figure out where to start when creating a birth plan. More often then not, the first step is figuring out what you want for your birth. What is the most important to you? What are must haves during your labor experience. What are non negotiables. Extra tip from me to you, you are allowed to want more than just the safety of you and your baby.
Once you get your most important wants and needs in their, start adding things that can help support that need. This could be in the form of different comfort techniques, who will be there for your birth, or what interventions you're okay or not okay with. Make sure you give yourself options to choose from. Example would be; If I am wanting an unmedicated birth, I might want to add limited monitoring and anything that helps encourage movement. Another Example could be; I want pain relief in the form of medicine so I'll verify if I am okay with IV pain medication, Nitrous Gas, Epidural or the combination of some of these.
Now we have our rough draft. It is time to discuss with your support people. Having everyone on the same page ahead of time helps relieve some stresses that can get amplified in labor and allow your support people the confidence to advocate for you. This also allows for some changes that may occur depending on your situation, provider, or place you are delivering. Your pregnancy and baby may change some of your options. Some providers are more comfortable with certain practices then others. Different birthing places have different policies, procedures, or equipment that changes your options as well. Getting these details ironed out during pregnancy gives you time to either a) change your provider or place you are delivering or b) helps readjust expectations of how your birth will go based on the options available.
Now, what to do if things are not going according to plan? You do not have to throw away your whole plan! We may have taken a detour but there are still things that can apply even if you don't realize it. Using my birth as an example, I wanted to go unmedicated but ended up getting an epidural towards the end of my labor. I still wanted to move so instead of uright movements due to the epidural we moved me a lot with a peanut ball, side to side, in different positions. I also need more help with pushing because I couldn't feel much so my doctor offered me a mirror to see so I could push the way I wanted to. Even though it did not go exactly the way I wanted I still got to make choices for myself that aligned with the plan I created.
Another tip is to make multiple plans depending on what you are trying to achieve. You may have Plan A: Unmedicated, Plan B: epidural, Plan C: C-section delivery. This way no matter how you deliver you know that you have different choices in each oof these types of deliveries (and yes, you have options in a c-section).
The last thing I will leave you with is this. If your birth doesn't go according to plan, it is okay to be disapointed. I had a beautiful birth experience and I was still disappointed I didn't go unmedicated as I had intended. It does not take away from the joy that I had giving birth to my son. It does not make me less than as a parent. The same applies to you. Give yourself the time to grieve what you thought your birth was going to be (Partners and support people, you too). If anyone tries to down play your feelings around your birth by saying "Healthy mom, Healthy baby" or "You got the same trophy in the end" (babies aren't trophies, but sure) I give you permission to tell them to shove it. Allowing yourself to feel and process this monumentous moment can help create a sturdy foundation to stand on going through parenthood.
Birth planning can be an important part of creating an empowered birth that you feel a part of versus having birth happen to you. It can give you a sense of preparedness, it can help stack the cards in your favor for the type of birth you would like to have, and it is a great communicate tool that helps you adovcate for your needs.
Love,
Courtney
If you want more support in creating your birth plan, want to know more about your options, or just want to feel prepared about your pregnancy and birth, sign up for a Birth Consultation Today!
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