Birth Plan

[Pixie]

Anyone can help :D
I want to write a birth plan and have found a few sites on the net that have given me ideas, although the sites are very American so options are different etc.

I am going to a birth centre and want to know when do I give it to them, how do you go about giving it to them, are they common here in Australia?

what things would you say are really important to consider when writing one.

Thanks in advance!

[tickle]

Hmmm big question, and I'm asking myself a lot of them at the moment.
Tracie (doula lady), gave me some links (which I haven't had time to look at yet), and I think there are some Aussie ones. I'll have a look and get back to you.

I think you can go through it with your middie at any of your appointments, I guess you'd have to ask them.

The most important thing for me would be requests in regards to contact with my bub straight after the birth. My wishes to feed immediately. And what I want in regards to any interventions and drugs.
I am going to try for a natural birth this time, but I also want to be flexible. E.g I want to feel at ease with any changes that might happen. I don't want to have my hopes on this natural birth and for them to say, you need an emergency c/s and then be devastated. Keeping an open mind about the whole thing. ;)
Hmmm rambling now, sorry!
I'll have a look for that info for you. :)

[Pixie]

OK thanks HL
Yep I am going in very open minded you have to really, I am like you baby on tum, baby on boob etc lol

[tickle]

I'm sure they'll be good at a birth centre. I'm at a hospy, which is why I'm glad I'll have Tracie. Should be good!! :D

[nemosmum]

I got one from my midwife at the hospital about 5 weeks before I was due. It was basically just a list of things that you may want to consider and write down for the middies to know etc

Then after I wrote it out I just handed it back into the midwife at my next appointment to keep in my file.

That said nothing I wrote on my plan actually happened LOL it was all very different to what I had pictured in my head :D

[Pixie]

I know O's mum but I know if I don't have it, everything will happen the way I hope eh...Better to be safe than sorry lol I am sooo glad I got into the birth centre!

I might ask gotta a middie appt this week :D

[tickle]

To be honest DM, I think the chances of you having the birth you want is more likely to happen at the birth centre.
Don't attack me anyone, just my opinion. ;)

[nemosmum]

Yes you still need to have one even if its just for your own peace of mind :)

It actually helped me think I was in semi control of the whole birth thingy LOL and it saved me some worrying too I would always say to friends "Oh no Im not scared I have my birth plan!"

Write your perfect birth plan and relax coz it will all be beautiful no matter how little Eliza is born :)

[cosmic]

DM, I think Happy Lady is right. In a birth centre, they are much more likely to automatically let you have skin-to-skin contact and will certainly do what they can to encourage you to go drug-free (that's the whole point of them after all!). Minimal intervention is their philosophy isn't it?

Some things to think about are:
- when to cut the cord (some prefer to wait until it stops pulsing. Some want to wait until after the placenta is delivered)
- whether you want Vitamin K by injection or orallly (or not at all :eek: )
- um... there's lots of others.. I'll come back when I remember them. I probably remember those two because I'm thinking about them at the moment!

[Pixie]

Well here's hoping HL that we get the birth we want, I have been at the centre twice now where people have actually been there with their week old babies and saying how fantastic it was and both had other kids these were 2nd children it sounded sooo good, was there when one baby was actually born didn't see it, but heard it cry and didn't hear the mum scream once! :eek:

Yes I am a worry wort so anything that calms my silly imagination down even if it never gets used at least I can say well I did have one lol

I keep having the same dream where I get to 9CM and then go in and they are freaking out as I didn't come earlier and say well do you feel like pushing and I am like well Yeah a little and like boom she's born... This is how you can tell it's a dream lol funny thing is I wake up with my hands on either side of my belly breathing out it's sooo weird lol

[tickle]

LOL that's so funny DM. At least it's a dream, must freak you DP out though!!
I am so scared to have a c/s and I hope it doesn't happen, but I think I figure whatever happens happens and I just want that healthy bub. ;)

[cosmic]

DM, I dream that I just put my hand between my legs and say 'Here comes her head' and out she slides. Easy as that. :rolleyes:
I have scary dreams about breastfeeding. Well... some scary. No milk. :( That's a horrible dream. Others lovely. Me feeding my baby and feeding lots of other babies too whose mummies can't feed them. Is that weird? :rolleyes:

[tickle]

I haven't had any dreams this time around.
Where are my lovely scenes of great births and happy breastfeeding?? :(

[nemosmum]

I had awful nightmares about the bub being born like in the Alien film coming out of my skin :eek:

They were horrible but the real thing was actually ok if a little surreal.

E isnt a c/section unlikely if you've already had a natural birth, oopps did you have natural or am I thinking of some one else?????

[tickle]

Yes, had a horrible natural birth. :eek:
Hoping it's all better this time around.
I don't think I have much chance of having a c/s (unless that darn placenta doesn't move) but I think it's always in the back of your mind. Well my strange mind anyway. :rolleyes:

[nemosmum]

Nope I have never thought about it, I just dont ever plan on having one LOL is that stupid or what!

But seriously its like my brain cant even fathom it or something

[Pixie]

Is it normal for men to feel so involved or am I just really blessed? He is so into it yet some days he says "I am sorry I am not a new age guy, I am worried about the blood and seeing you in pain" but mostly he is very into everything I suggest I have to say thank god as I really haven't got friends around me or family!!

Yes dreams are weird!

[WeThree]

hi everyone :) i was just talking to my mum about birth plans the other day, and i was saying how i didnt really go in with any big plans as i preferred to go with the flow, so as not to end up feleing disappointed in the birth of my child. i always made sure dh knew of any strong wishes i had, and relied on him to be my voice in any really hairy situations, anyway, dont want to be a downer, but mum, who is an experienced midwife, said she dreads mums (usually first timers) who turn up with these detailed, specific birth plans, as they are nearly always the ones that end up needing every intervention under the sun! its definetly better to go in confident of how you want to do things, but to not have anything set in stone, so that even if it doesnt go according to plan, you still look back on the birth of your child as a wonderful, positive event :)

ps i dont know of any hospitals that dont allow immediate contact with your baby, unless the baby, or mother is in need of urgent medical intervention, cooper was put immediately onto my chest, and as soon as matilda came out, i reached down between my legs (i was kneeling with her) and scooped her up :)

[tickle]

My DH was exactly the same. It's sweet hey. :o
He was certain that he wouldn't look or cut the cord because of all the blood and yucky stuff. He ended up being the one down there saying, you should look at this!!! LOL ;)

[nemosmum]

Mike was very into it too, very doting and interested but at the same time he just kept saying "you'll be fine, its no big deal" about the birth etc

Then when he saw me in full blown labour I have never seen a black man turn white before LOL talk about freaked out!!!
But he calmed down and got through it great..........its wonderful watching them become Daddy's :D

[cosmic]

I think we all give it some thought, E. Friends of ours had a baby 2 weeks ago and she did yoga all through and was very fit and booked into the birth centre... I was fully expecting to hear of her dream 4 hour labour and easy birth but no go. Emergency C-section. Hearing those stories is a reality check.. but like you said - we have a plan, we get prepared (really prepared... having a doula is great!) and then we surrender and trust that whatever happens will be fine as long as the baby is healthy.

[Pixie]

Ohh I can't wait to see him, better not faint lol
Today he was talking to her as in mouth on tummy lol saying don't give ya mummy a hard time and he can't wait to meet her...eghh I cried big gulps lol although doesn't take much to make me cry lol he came home during the week with a beautiful Anne Geddes book and that made me cry!! he went after his work party to the bookshop so was all drunk but still romantic lol sorry lol I have a lump in my throat now lol

I have told him I don't care which end you are just be there :D

[cosmic]

Nat, have your pregnancy hormones just started to kick in? I find myself crying at everything lately!!! I'm 20 weeks so maybe you're a bit further along with the crying than me! :o

[Pixie]

I am actually very level, I have always been very soft so I would of been like it anyway lol early on I was crying and crying for no reason but that all stopped by the time I was 8 weeks!

[reAllytee]

Im like coopsntilly i kept an open mind about everything & im really glad i did considering all that happened. I was hoping to only need the gas but ended up having an epidural quite happily saying can i after they asked if i wanted one this was early monday morning & i had started contractions early friday morning so i was tired & needed some sleep ! But i did make sure my partner knew that if i wasnt happy he was to control the situation. I was lucky i had my mum & aunty there also & they were great encouragement.
My partner kept doing the "oh you will be fine routine " also but i knew he was freaked out etc he went white watching the birth videos at our class hehe glad he wasnt as bad as the others who nearly fell off chairs or screamed HAH ! He didnt want to cut the cord either but by golly when bubs was out he was over to him in a flash watching the doctors with him & cutting the cord. He had stayed near my head the whole time as he was getting freaked out with things going so badly he started crying & everything i didnt even see him but my mum told me later. Bubs couldnt come straight to me as he wasnt well but my partner stayed with him the whole time & as i kept passing out he held bubs for most of the time.
It was the most amazing experience its basically one of the only things i remember afterwards is just watching the sheer joy on his face & not even the photos have captured it properly.
Sorry dont mind me will shut up now :o

[pickles]

I delivered both my babies at a birth centre. I still chose to have a birth plan - actually i had three. The first one was the way i wanted labour to go if all was well ( eg ambulation , aromatherapy, water etc ). the second was what i wanted if i had to get transfered to the hospital for induction / monitoring etc. The third was if i needed a c/s ( my most important issue here being that the drap was lowered as the baby was born so that i could still see my child being delivered) . Luckily all went according to plan 1 both times. But it was nice to know that if i was in labour and required some intervention at least i had let the staff know of little things that would make the experience more personal.
pickles
DD 02/03
DS 03/05

[Oscar's mum]

When I was pg in the health record chart thing the hospital gives you that you are to take to all the appointments, in that was a rough guide to a birth plan, it had options like would you like bub to have vitamin K etc if so how? What type of thing would you like to do for the pain etc, stay active etc etc.

Is that no longer in that pamphlet anymore?