Birth Plan

[Tiffiepooh]

Ok ladies here is my birth plan so far. If any of you have delivered before and made your own birth plan I would appreciate any advice you have. I think that I covered everything but I'm not sure. Anything I missed please let me know so I can add it! Thanks in advance ladies.

Birth Plan
 The people I want in the room while I am giving birth are my husband Brandan Smith, my mother Lori Russell, and/or my friend Stepheny Dent, Beth Wilson, or my father in law Clyde Smith.
 I want to be able to take pictures while in the delivery room.
 Only want my doctor, nurse, and guest present while delivering. No residents or medical students.
 Want to be able to drink and move around as long as it is safe. I would also like a heparin or saline lock to make administering medication easier.
 I want to progress without time constraints as long as there are no problems with my baby.
 I would like an epidural to help with pain and would like for this to be offered when the doctor thinks I need it. Also I would like to take a shower if I think it will help with the pain.
 When its time to push I want to be coached.
 I want to lie on my back in a semi reclined position and be able to push as long as there are not any problems with the baby.
 As long as I deliver vaginally I want to be able to touch the babies head as it crowns and have a episiotomy rather than tear.
 After birth I want my husband to cut the umbilical cord, hold the baby skin to skin as soon as she is born, and breastfeed as soon as possible.
 If I have to have a c-section I want my husband with me at all times and the baby to be given to him as soon as she is dried. Also I want to have the screen lowered so I can see her coming out.
 After I want all the procedures to take place in my room or my partner to be with the baby.
 I want to both breast and bottle feed my baby but I do not want a bottle or pacifier offered to her so that she will not get confused.
 I want to feed my baby on demand and not on a schedule.
 I want to room in with my baby the entire time I am at the hospital unless I ask for the baby to be taken to the nursery for a brake.

[Tiffiepooh]

Thanks for the info and the advice. I guess we will see what happens with the contractions and go from there.

[cocacolapanda]

Tiffiepooh - you might want to see how your contractions progress too.  I was 10 min apart at 5 pm, but by 4am they were FINALLY at 5 min apart.  I didn't deliver my baby until 6:44 pm the day after I went into labor.  You might want to play that part by ear, if your contractions come on fast and seem to be progressing fast then going at 10 min might be good, otherwise you might want to wait a little while.  This time I'm about 10-15 min from the hospital with my second and I plan to wait until I'm either 3 min apart or if my watter breaks I might head over early.  Keep in mind that if you go to the hospital too early the Dr's are much more willing to "push you along".  My dr broke my watter because he didn't like how slow my labor was going and I'm not letting that happen again unless the baby is in danger.

And I agree 100% with the episiotomy, let it tear naturally.

Things to add:
-Don't allow them to break your watter unless it's 100% necessary.  If it is necessary you might want to look into pain management because in my case (and just about everyone else I talk to) your contractions go insane and you will most likely diolate super fast.  VERY painful!

-If you want to breastfeed on demand then the nursery is not the place to put your baby.  If your baby is in there they will wake the baby up if it's been 3 hours or longer from the last feeding, and often times the baby will sleep really well the first night because both mom and baby are exhausted.

-Ask for a lactation consultant to visit you when there's a chance, they can see how the baby's latching and help you succeed early on with latching.

-Will you have the option of having music playing?  You might want to look into having several CD's ready to switch out to help relax you, since you'll have multiple guests in the room you can always put one of them in charge of changing them.  Or have your computer play the songs.

-Are there any "tools" you want in the room?  Like a birthing ball?  Some women love them and use them a lot to help with pain, I had one in the room but didn't use it a lot, I mostly went for lots of walks.

-If you need a c-section you don't mention how you want them to cut you, you might want to look into the two ways and mention that you would like to be cut so you can have a VBAC if you decide to have another child.  It doesn't mean you'll have a VBAC but it leaves the option open.

Your birth plan sounds very well rounded, It's good your open minded about it all.

[Tiffiepooh]

Thanks for the info they told me at the hospital they would keep me in triage up to four hours if I wasnt ready yet. I guess we will wait and see what happens. Thanks for the info though.

[alaysha]

15-25 minutes isn't that far away from the hospital. If you go in before your contractions are 4 minutes apart lasting for 1 minute for 1 hour than you may not be dilated enough (and you could be in the every 10 minute stage for a while) and if that is the case and you have no complications like water breaking than they will send you home. I'm about 30 minutes away from my hospital and when I got there last time I still didn't deliver for 12 hours.

[xx_Louise_xx]

I wouldnt worry too much about needing a episiotomy, alot of women wont tear, or will only slightly. I gave birth naturally with my soon, and had only a minor tear. And he was a big baby, 8lb 1oz, i am only very petite myself. I dont think they will just give u a episiotomy, just incase u tear. And u dont always tear there anyway. My tear was on my labia on one side, so keep that in mind.

I also had a epidural. If your sure thats what u want for pain relief, then i would suggest u dont leave it too long! As if u get to a certain stage in labour they cannot give it to u.. And it didnt slow down my labour either. Within 3hours of having epidural, my son was born. I felt no pain...the pressure was there, but no pain. I would reccomend the epidural 1000% i plan on having another with my next baby. Having it 'topped up' a little while before i started to push helped too. As it was starting to wear off a little.. I was up and walking around within half hour after giving birth. So it does wear off quickly.

Your plan is very thorough..and hope all goes well for u!

[Tiffiepooh]

Thanks for the info on informed consent I added that to the plan and changed the part about the episiotomy and moving around as long as I can before the epidural. I am going to try to labor at home till the contractions get to about 10 minutes apart since it takes 25 minutes to get to the hospital.

Changes to plan:
-no episiotomy
-walk around as long as I can before epidural
-informed consent

Can anyone give me any advice on when to leave for the hospital? It takes about 15-25 minutes to get there depending on the traffic. When should I leave to get there in plenty of time? We were thinking maybe 10 minute apart contractions would be when we would leave. Any advice on when to leave and the changes to the birth plan would be appreciated!

[szw2008]

I agree about no episiotomy! Most women will not tear badly at all if the delivery isn't rushed and if they do it is almost ALWAYS smaller than an episiotomy.

Another thing to keep in mind- you keep mentioning as long as you and the baby are fine- make sure if they want to do something that you are opposed to that they tell you before hand what they want to do (informed consent) if you still don't feel it's necessary you should demand that they put it in writing. If they refuse to put it in writing you know that it's not a real worry and therefore you can refuse which is also part of informed consent!

And hold off on that epidural! Make then let you walk around and try massaging first so that you don't stall labor (which epidurals usually do).

Beautiful birth plan. MAKE THEM LET YOU KEEP YOUR BABY! It's YOUR baby. Some hospitals do the testing in other rooms but if you insist enough they will do it in your room or in front of you or your husband. It's your birth not theirs!

[nickieb85]

I agree with the other ladies... It sounds that you are getting everything in line and just make sure that you discuss the birth plan when you get to the hospital to make sure that they understand your birth plan =)

[Tasha505]

I trusted the nurses with my baby 100%. My nurses were so good to me and my baby. They made me feel like I was the only one in the hospital! The hospital where I delivered is small so I never worried at all, my baby was taken across the hallway from where my room was if they ever took her out and my husband could see the room where they would take her and was welcome to go with them if he wanted.

Tiffie- I really think you should talk with your doctor about an episiotomy... some doctors will massage your labia before you give birth so that you will not tear. Healing from a small tear is much less painful than healing from a episiotomy. My doctor said he wouldn't give me one because it's worse than tearing and that chances are I wouldn't tear much if at all... he was right. I only needed one stitch as opposed to being stitched back up from being cut with a scalpel.

talk to your doctor about what they do to prevent tearing. if you have a really big baby then you might want to consider it... but weigh your options and get the facts first!

[alaysha]

That's pretty cool he can look through the widow. I remember I used to bite my nails and be restless when they would take Aspen. But I was all by myself so they demanded once that I let them put her in the nursery for an hour or so because I hadn't had any rest. Ugh it was a stressful time. Thank goodness this time is going to be easier! I totally agree with the bracelets though. Especially with all the crazy baby thieving back in the day! I love prevention!

[Tiffiepooh]

Well they told us when they go that my husband can go watch through the nursery window where they will test her. And I like the fact that they started all the bracelet stuff it seems a lot more safe for the baby especially since thats how they do medicine if they need it too.

[alaysha]

Everything sounds good but some of the procedures they do with the baby I don't think you are allowed to go to (or your husband). I know that when they were testing Aspen's hearing and eyesight and things like that they would take her out of my room and then return her right after. That's why they put the bracelets on the babies ankle so that they know where baby is supposed to go and who is allowed to have her. They won't return her to you unless your id matches hers.