A birth plan, is basically having no plan. When researching the “perfect” birth plan I came to realize that actually the plan really is not in my hands but the hands of my unborn child and whether or not they want to come out one way or another. ( I mean I know they can only come out one way) But these days there is so many options in the hospital on how you can deliver the baby that when telling my gran she was shocked back in her day it was a swing of booze and a scream. Not to sure how the NHS will look at me if I start swinging back a GNT before doing the final push that’s for sure.

So as any new mum to be I came onto the internet in some hope that I would come across a dream plan and be like right I will just do this but the more I researched and went down the rabbit hole of pinterest and all these plans people had done I was a) More unsure about anything and b) totally in dismay about the length of detail some people had gone into.
All I knew at this point was that I had a preference in my head and if that couldn’t happen for whatever reason then I just want what is the safest healthiest and easiest way for my little one to be delivered. As long as they are okay then I am okay after all its little ones show her debut into the world lets make it a good one.
So I know I just mentioned above a preference and that is that I would like to have a water birth. I didn’t really need much convincing on this form of birth, All I know is that I am a massive water baby I love being in water whether that’s a pool somewhere exotic ( Dreaming of the the sunshine in Rio) or my bath tub back in the heart of zone one London. Water just relaxes me as I assume it would any one and when I typed into google “Water birth” it said exactly that…
“Choosing to give birth in water can increase relaxation and reduce the need for medical intervention and is used by almost one in three women for pain relief during labour.”
So no brainier right. Wrong along with choosing what type of birth you’d like you then have a series of other things to think some are relatively straight forward for example..
Companions And the question being would you like your partner or companion(s) to be with you during labour ( Yes or No).
Birthing equipment Now this one shocked me I didn’t really know anything about what Birthing equipment you could use. So I would defiantly say go and have a look now before answering this question or not knowing what is on offer. I Would not want any one to miss out if it means a beanbag or a wall bar gets thrown in the mix.
Positions for labour and birth Now I do feel like my younger self would be like yes.. to half of these position they offer but seeing as my knees crack walking up the stairs these days I was like why don’t we just play it safe. You can choice from various positions and I am not sure how your local hospital would do it but when looking online position you could choice from where as follows.
back propped up by pillows, to be standing ,sitting kneeling kneeling on all fours squatting or simply lying on your side
Midwives, nurses and doctors in training : This one was pretty common Midwives, nurses and doctors need to observe women in labour as part of their training. They assure you that there will always be supervised by a senior health professional but the question is whether or not you would want them in with you. I mean as long as they’re not looking at me like ” Why is she pulling that face or why is she constantly snacking” then why not I am all for educational purposes I may have a few questions myself.
Pain relief options I hear you behind that screen, “Now were talking” well pain relief was actually one I wanted to look into in detail. Being a first time mum I do not know what to expect pain wise, does anyone really when they’re going into this blind. However There are many different pain relief options. I found out that Some women use a combination of methods and that you may find that you want more pain relief than you may of planned, or that more effective pain relief may be advised to assist with delivery. What got me was that you can use a number of different methods at different times. So Pain relief options to look at that I saw was
breathing and relaxation being in water during labour and/or birth massage,acupuncture,TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) gas and air (entonox) ,pain-relieving injections epidural
Lastly as I feel like this blog post has gone on long enough that you probably already have had the baby by now is Vitamin K for your baby . I will not lie I didn’t know that Vitamin K was an option but I do know that it is needed to make the blood clot properly. Some newborn babies have too little vitamin K so it may be suggested that your baby be given vitamin K either by injection or by mouth however like I said this apparently is optional however I know that if Its going to help the little one then I am all for it. (Just another read up before prepping your birth plan).
Anyway I hope that has helped you, I know that reading more information on the birth plan helped me more then the hours spent down the rabbit hole. If you have made it to the end of this blog then thank you and I hope that you have a safe and healthy delivery and that your maybe a little bit more clued up then I was before writing this post.
Until next time
Lots of Love
Em