Don't bother if it's your first baby, you probably won't stick to it. (Birth Plan)

Member Name: lyndsay3201

Product:	Birth Plan
Date:	10/03/09 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good once you know what to expect.

Disadvantages: Hard to plan for something when you have no idea what to expect.

A Birth Plan is part of the Maternity notes that a pregnant lady recieves, where the pregnant women is supposed to plan the birth that she wants to have. This will include details such as: drugs wanted, natural birth, bottle or breast feeding, who will cut cord and where you want baby to be placed straight after the birth.

I filled in a birth plan with the help of my midwife when I was pregnant with my son - it included the fact that I wanted a water birth,no drugs, my partner was going to cut the cord and I was going to breastfeed straight away. As it turned out the plan was not refered to by either myself or the midwives.

As it was my first baby, I really didn't know what to expect so filling out the birth plan in the first place was extremley difficult. Because I didn't even know how much it hurt (loads btw), I found it hard to say whether or not I wanted drugs or to do it naturally.

When the big day came, I got to the hospital and was in too much pain to ask to be put in the room with the birthing pool so I ended up on a normal bed. As much as I asked for an epidural to help with the pain, it never happened - as by the time the anesthetist arrived it was nearly all over.

My partner didn't cut the cord as he thought it was too thick, and I didn't breastfeed as it didn't feel right at the time.

All in all, nothing that I wrote in the plan actually happened when it came to the big day.

In my opinion, a birth plan would be a great idea for your second or third baby, but for the first you really have no idea what to expect so it is nearly impossible to plan for. Also, you may not be able to stick to the plan so it seems pointless taking the time to consider.

If I were to have another child, I would definatley write a birth plan - but I needn't have bothered with my first.

Summary: This is just my opinion - a plan may be helpful to you!?