Our Birth Plan

Today we had a Dr. appointment and decided it was time to share our birth plan with our Dr. and get his thoughts on it. We also wanted to be sure nothing we had on our plan was an absolute no go so that we could adjust accordingly. Our Bradley Class encouraged us to do a birth plan and I have to admit I'm a little nervous as to how it will be percieved at the hospital. Will they look at it and laugh...will they pay it no attention...will they be pissed and think we are telling them how to do their job...will they follow it and be accepting. I have no idea. This is my first time giving birth obviously and I know no one that went in prepared with a birth plan.

That being said I also don't know anyone (well enough that is) that went into the hospital and didn't have a C-section. Those I sort of know didn't have a birth plan but went in and wanted an epidural so...who knows. My doctor read the plan over and said it was resonable. Here it is below.

Birth Plan for Danielle & Mark Motley

Goal: To have a healthy baby (Eli) with a natural childbirth process without the use of medication and/or instruments that would augment the natural birth process. Should complications arise, we trust your judgement and would be open to alternatives presented & explained to us.

First Stage Labor

• Environment
• Dimmed lights, quiet, prefer own clothing
• Anesthesia
• Prefer none
• Hydration
• Prefer clear liquid diet, please avoid IV unless medically necessary. Heplock on wrist is fine.
• Positions
• Would like to change positions often and move freely
• Cervical Checks
• Prefer as little as possible. One at arrival & one before pushing. Same examiner if possible.
• Labor Augmentation
• Avoid rupture of membranes and avoid pitocin/cytotec.

Second Stage Labor

• Episiotomy
• Avoid, prefer to tear naturally if nessessary. Please use perennial massages & warm compress.
• Forceps/Vacuum Extraction
• Avoid both unless medically emergency
• Caesarean Section
• Avoid unless medically necessary, would then request an epidural, no narcotics, and would like Mark present.
• Umbilical Cord
• Would like cord to remain intact w/o clamping until pulsating stops. Cord to be cut by Dr. or nurse.

Third Stage Labor

• Placenta
• Avoid pitocin/cytotec as a method of speeding placenta delivery. Prefer immediate breastfeeding.

Post Partum

• Infant Exams
• Please delay all exams for 1 hour to allow for bonding/feeding time
• Infant Leaving Room
• If it is necessary for Eli to leave the room, he is to be accompanied by a parent
• Infant Sleeping Arragements
• Prefer to have Eli stay in room with mother.

After sharing our plan with the Dr. he said it was reasonable and there was no problem with anything we requested. He did prep us by saying there are certain reasons why they use pitocin and he also threw in there that probably 90% of people go in wanting the epidural. (yay, even more reason to prove him wrong) He said that it is also in how your are viewing it. People (the majority, or so he says) that go in wanting no pain want the epidural asap and those that have prepped themselves mentally for pain and a natural birth handle it better.

Some of the reasons he said they use pitocin is when labor stalls they use it to help get things going again. My thoughts are that if we wait until close to the last minute the only stall would be one that might naturally happen between the transition and pushing which I would not want to rush things a long. If a "stall" happend sooner, especially if my water hasn't broke, I am fine waiting it out. He also said that after birth they use pitocin to keep the mother from hemorrhaging. My thoughts on that are that I didn't make it all the way through birthing my child only to bleed to death, so by all means...if there is any sign of a problem, bring on the pitocin. 

I also asked him about waiting to come to the hospital until the last minute. We were told by our Bradley teacher to wait until contractions were lasting a minute and 2-3 minutes a part regularly. He said that most people want to come in sooner than that but if we are hanging in and still want to wait then coming in at that time is just fine. He said that we would definately be in active labor at that time. He also admitted (not that he was hiding anything) that if we wanted to do a full natural birth, waiting as close to the last minute to come to the hospital was best.

So, there we go. All plans approved thus far. I am really concerned that we will get to the hospital and it will be a whole different story though. My only comfort is knowing that Mark fully understands how I feel and what we want and that he will stand up for our plan to anyone that wants to stray from it or talk us out of it. He is good at being firm and putting his foot down which will be really important when I'm in such a vulnerable state. 

Danielle