Every mom should think about what her options are before she arrives at the hospital, and there are SO many options. Many women choose to make a birth plan or birth preference sheet to give to their care provider so they can be on the "same page" so to speak about the things that are important to them for their birth. I would really recommend spending some time thinking about your desires for your birth, and also spend time ranking your top 3 priorities. This is important because you cannot control your birth-- some things are just out of your control. If you start thinking about things that matter most to you, out of everything, that will give you a starting point. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you are hoping to avoid larger, more invasive interventions, it is a good idea to put on your preferences that you want to avoid some smaller seemingly harmless interventions, as some research shows that sometimes one intervention can lead into another. Do your research and know what those things are! For example, some research has shown that women who have continuous electronic fetal monitoring or auscultation have higher rates of cesarean birth, versus those who have intermittent fetal monitoring.
Here are some options that you should research and consider what your preferences are:
*note-- if something is listed here, it is likely because there is research that shows improved mother or baby outcomes by choosing one or the other: ) Give a gift to yourself and your baby: do your research!
-Your preferences regarding stripping of membranes, cytotec/misoprostol, and other induction techniques
-When you plan to arrive at the hospital
-Who you would like with you (partner, doula, family, friend)
-Preferences about photos or video taken during labor or birth
-Wearing a hospital gown, or not
-Preferences about the atmosphere-- voices kept to a whisper, lights on, off, dim, bringing your own pillow, pictures, music, etc.
- IV placed, or not
-Preference for intermittent or continuous monitoring, external or internal monitoring
-Freedom to move about as you choose, or laboring in bed
-Use of comfort measures such as warm or cold compresses, bath or shower, birth ball, positioning
-IV pain management, epidural pain management, inter-thecal pain management preferences
-Use of pitocin to augment labor (help contractions progress)
-Positions you would like to push in
-Desire to use a mirror for the pushing time
-Use of warm compresses or perineal massage
-Opinions about use of episiotomy or preference to tear
-Use of vacuum extraction or forceps
-Option of partner or mother "catching" baby
-Preferences about allowing the cord to finish pulsating, or not
-Preferences about saving cord blood, or not
-Who is cutting the cord?
-Okay with suctioning baby's mouth, who is doing this?
-Peferences to have baby skin to skin immediately following birth with all testing and checks on mom
-Formula or breastfeeding
-Pacifiers or not
-Desire for allowing the placenta to detach itself versus cord traction for birth of the placenta
-Keeping the placenta for encapsulation, personal or spiritual reasons
-Preferences for circumstances warranting a cesarean birth (may consider making a separate emergency plan for this)
-Preferences about when baby should have a bath, if at all
-Preferences about baby receiving vitamin K or eye ointment
-Is baby rooming in with mom?
These are just a few ideas! Make sure to keep your preferences to ONE page. The more concise, the better! It helps providers more easily read all of your preferences. It also helps to divide each preference up by stage, so that when staff are changing shifts, they can easily be caught up to speed about what you want.
I would LOVE feedback about other preferences that people have found helpful to list on their birth wish list.
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