The Birth Plan
I've been asked this question many times by my family members and friends, and usually if that person is already a mom they proceed to tell you what they’re birth plan was. So then you’re sitting there with tons of stories swirling in your head.
Some mothers-to-be know right away what they want and how it will all go down, I on the other hand had no idea what my concrete plans would be until about the beginning of my third trimester. Since I did choose the facility midwife and decided to go away from hospital norms, my birth plan is pretty basic. I want it to be all natural, no drugs, and I basically want to do anything that will help me at that moment. I may even give water birth a try if it relieves the pain. For me I’m more relaxed knowing that I can move around, won’t be hooked up to monitors, and people I don’t know won’t be rushing in at random moments.
I didn't choose to do a hospital birth, not because I’m “anti-hospital” or one of “those woman” as some of my friends so kindly put it, I chose the birth plan that was going to make me the most comfortable, and quite frankly hospitals scare the shiitake mushrooms out of me. It’s so stark and shiny sharp objects are everywhere and the constant beeping would drive me up a wall! For me if it’s a low-risk birth, I think a woman should be able to give birth in whatever way that works for her, as long as there are precautions of course.
A great documentary that talks about natural birth as well as hospital births that I found helpful is “The Business of Being Born”.
My midwife Misti actually told me to watch this, and only this documentary (did I listen? Of course I didn’t) because it’s more educational on different options for birth. They don’t side with how birthing should be, multiple stories in the video are natural at home, facility, or hospital, and other stories go over hospital births with epidurals, getting induced, or cesarean. It really opened my eyes to how our generation views the birthing process. For thousands of years woman have been doing what they were physically built to do, and it’s only been in the last two generations that birth has become a “medical issue”. They also have a four part series to follow up the original documentary. I was able to watch all of them on Netflix, so if you are looking for a non-biased film to help educate you, you should check it out.
A documentary you should not watch while pregnant because it scared the crap out of me and seemed very one sided towards home births is “pregnant in America”. But if your curiosity is now peaked, go ahead and watch it, but I did warn you! What I did find out that was interesting from the film is how other countries look at our birthing process. America is the second highest in cesarean births under Brazil. Other countries however have a lower infant and mother mortality rate and the majority is home births. Only high risk pregnancies use the hospital facility. Something that really stuck with me was “why are we birthing babies in a place where sickness is, or where people go to be healed”. This made me think a lot about my birth plan, and really solidified what I wanted to happen.
Now remember I am not saying I am against hospital births, because I will never know how my birth will turn out. It could be going great and then suddenly something unexpected could happen and I’ll have to be transferred to the hospital. I think hospitals are great for emergencies, where there needs to be medical interference. I just disagree with some of the practices hospitals use for a low risk pregnancy such as Pitocin, which is used for induction or to speed up the labor process. In the majority of cases if the baby doesn't come out in a certain time frame, the doctors will schedule an emergency C- Section. Even though labor shouldn't be timed, when the body is under the influence of Pitocin for a large amount of time the baby does become distressed and can cause problems. For now with a low risk pregnancy, I’m sticking with the all-natural route, without hospital interference.
So before you base your birth plan off of others stories such as “you will need the drugs honey! I’m telling you it hurts!” well of course it’s going to hurt, did you think the process of bringing a little human in this world would be all rainbows and butterflies? Or other stories that say “oh it didn't hurt at all, I don’t even remember it!” well those women were very lucky. Look at all your options, and choose what will make you comfortable. Do not base it off of other people’s judgment, they are not the ones giving birth, you are, and you deserve to choose the path that is right for you and not feel pressured into anything. If you feel the natural route is for you, and you can withstand the pain then go for it! If you decide that you would like the epidural at a safe time and prefer medical assistance then do it! This is your time, your body, and your baby. Do what you feel is right for you.
A great Birth plan worksheet I found is: http://assets.babycenter.com/ims/Content/birthplan_pdf.pdf
I got this off of the Baby center website; it’s an easy checklist that brought up things that I never thought to mark down.
Something interesting to leave you off with that I learned from my midwife is that for every person you invite into your birthing room, that’s another 30 minutes put on your labor. Crazy right? But I guess it’s true, the more people who are looking at you and distracting you, the longer it’s going to take you to get into your comfortable process of birthing your baby.
Feel free to comment! I would love to hear others birthing experiences or questions!
A documentary you should not watch while pregnant because it scared the crap out of me and seemed very one sided towards home births is “pregnant in America”. But if your curiosity is now peaked, go ahead and watch it, but I did warn you! What I did find out that was interesting from the film is how other countries look at our birthing process. America is the second highest in cesarean births under Brazil. Other countries however have a lower infant and mother mortality rate and the majority is home births. Only high risk pregnancies use the hospital facility. Something that really stuck with me was “why are we birthing babies in a place where sickness is, or where people go to be healed”. This made me think a lot about my birth plan, and really solidified what I wanted to happen.
Now remember I am not saying I am against hospital births, because I will never know how my birth will turn out. It could be going great and then suddenly something unexpected could happen and I’ll have to be transferred to the hospital. I think hospitals are great for emergencies, where there needs to be medical interference. I just disagree with some of the practices hospitals use for a low risk pregnancy such as Pitocin, which is used for induction or to speed up the labor process. In the majority of cases if the baby doesn't come out in a certain time frame, the doctors will schedule an emergency C- Section. Even though labor shouldn't be timed, when the body is under the influence of Pitocin for a large amount of time the baby does become distressed and can cause problems. For now with a low risk pregnancy, I’m sticking with the all-natural route, without hospital interference.
So before you base your birth plan off of others stories such as “you will need the drugs honey! I’m telling you it hurts!” well of course it’s going to hurt, did you think the process of bringing a little human in this world would be all rainbows and butterflies? Or other stories that say “oh it didn't hurt at all, I don’t even remember it!” well those women were very lucky. Look at all your options, and choose what will make you comfortable. Do not base it off of other people’s judgment, they are not the ones giving birth, you are, and you deserve to choose the path that is right for you and not feel pressured into anything. If you feel the natural route is for you, and you can withstand the pain then go for it! If you decide that you would like the epidural at a safe time and prefer medical assistance then do it! This is your time, your body, and your baby. Do what you feel is right for you.
A great Birth plan worksheet I found is: http://assets.babycenter.com/ims/Content/birthplan_pdf.pdf
I got this off of the Baby center website; it’s an easy checklist that brought up things that I never thought to mark down.
Something interesting to leave you off with that I learned from my midwife is that for every person you invite into your birthing room, that’s another 30 minutes put on your labor. Crazy right? But I guess it’s true, the more people who are looking at you and distracting you, the longer it’s going to take you to get into your comfortable process of birthing your baby.
Feel free to comment! I would love to hear others birthing experiences or questions!
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