Sugar water is often given to babies during a circumcision to calm them down. However, if you prefer for your baby not to have it, you can opt for just a pacifier to soothe them. FREE Natural Birth Plan Template Getting to practice skin-to-skin care immediately after birth (if medically safe for baby) – even if this ends up being with your partner

Inclusion and consultation in care decisions whenever possible (barring emergency situations, of course)Not to mention they are not necessary: they are mainly just a progress report of how your cervix is doing! So, I don’t think they are worth the risk just to find out how dilated you are, with no guarantee of finding out when labor is going to start. Labor & Delivery

On the other hand, other positions such as standing, sitting or squatting, use gravity to facilitate the downward movement of your baby. Squatting in particular can increase the size of the pelvis, providing more room for your baby to descend down the birth canal. I ended up giving birth standing up and my baby came out on a pillow on the hospital floor! List any birth education courses you’ve done or the tools you’ve been using in your pregnancy, like massage, hypnotherapy, yoga, etc. MedlinePlus (ADAM). 2020. What to include in your birth plan? https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000567.htm Opens a new window [Accessed October 2021] The goal of a birth plan seems obvious. It’s documentation of your preferences related to the birth process. It’s an outline of your wishes and hopes for your birth, but remember that it’s NOT a binding contract. The key difference between pre-labor and early labor though is that pre-labor does not progress. When pre-labor contractions begin to change and start getting closer together, then the body enters actual labor.Are you planning on having a natural (unmedicated) birth and looking for a natural birth plan template? Whether you are planning on giving birth in hospital, at home or at a birthing center, a birth plan is a must, and you’ve come to the right place – I have the perfect template for you! I personally never managed to use a birthing ball during labor, despite trying multiple times. It never really felt comfortable for me, and it felt like sitting down was slowing down my labor instead of speeding it up, so I gave up. However, if you end up finding it comfortable to use it during labor, whether you are sitting or kneeling on it, using a birthing ball has its advantages. The extra section for baby tends to make the birth plan a little bit longer, so up to you whether you want to keep it or not. Like for everything else in this natural birth plan template, I have included a lot of preferences – it’s then up to you to decide what you want to keep or discard, or what you want to add. It’s called template and not finished birth plan for a reason 🙂 Any support your caregivers can provide during the birthing process will ensure your brand new arrival will be a safe and happy one.

If you are very scared of the pain and don’t know if you are going to tolerate it, I strongly encourage you to look into hypnobirthing. The philosophy behind it is mind blowing and will totally make sense to you when you start reading about it. I had the most amazing birth thanks to it, and you can read my birth story here. If you are approaching your due date, I would also strongly recommend you take a prenatal or birthing class (it doesn’t have to be hypnobirthing): having a good understand of what happens during birth can be really empowering and take a lot of the stress and anxiety away. Plus, during these classes, they usually give lots of tips and information on what to do during the first few weeks with a newborn after birth. Make sure your partner (whether husband, wife, or other birth partner) is also aware of your birth preferences, so they can advocate for you. Babies traditionally go to a nursery after birth, so that nurses can monitor them for a period of time and mom can get some rest. However, this practice is slowly disappearing across multiple hospitals across the world. In New Zealand it doesn’t happen at all, no matter where you give birth, and babies are left to bond with their new parents the whole time. Nemours Foundation. 2018. Birth plans. http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/birth-plans.html Opens a new window [Accessed October 2021]

Reclaiming your right to birthing your baby vaginally after previously birthing through cesarean-section. A choice made from a place of power, peace, and inherent belief in the body to naturally birth your baby. The way a culture treats women in birth is a good indicator of how well women and their contributions to society are valued and honored." - Ina May Gaskin It’s a comprehensive list of interventions that put everything into simple and basic terms, and clearly get your message across as to what you want from your birthing experience. Stems cells have the ability to grow into many different kinds of cells like bone marrow cells, blood cells or brain cells. Birth plans aren't required, but they're nice to have, especially if you have specific desires and want a place to make your wishes clear. Making a birth plan may even help you get more comfortable with and prepared for the childbirth process.

Okay, so a birth plan is basically a guide or form that lets your provider and birthing team know your preferences surrounding labor, birth, immediate newborn care, and postpartum hospital stay. Baby delivered on to your stomach - Do you want your baby placed on to your stomach straight away, or do you want him cleaned up before you see him? It’s a chance to think through your preferences before you’re actually IN labor. It’s meant to get conversations about interventions, pain relief, and newborn care procedures going before the big day. These may seem like insignificant details, but they can make all the difference in how you feel about handing your provider your birth plan. As your pain level increases, and the hormones course through your body, you might have the feeling that you are the most important patient that these medical professionals are assigned to.Breast stimulation is especially effective in starting labor at term when it is combined with sexual intercourse. Unless your partner is an abysmally poor lover, this combination is by far the most enjoyable method of induction. " - Ina May Gaskin Oxytocin is known as a ‘love’ and ‘forget oneself’ hormone because of its involvement with sexual activity, orgasm, birth and breastfeeding. This is a good one to take a look at to see what type of things could actually be involved in a birth, but some of the interventions seem a little strange to include in a birth plan. The visual birth plan is a great reminder to you and your birth team that you have choices and that you can make decisions together. Aside from the birth preferences for all stages of labor, the visual birth plan can include six helpful questions to be asked in case of emergencies, names and roles of people on your birth team and crucial details about your pregnancy and health.