Birth plans serve the laboring mother and her support team more than they serve the medical or midwifery team. This is mainly because most institutions have protocols and standards in place that don't fully acknowledge patients individuality. I like to engage in birth planning with my clients as a means of educating them around routine procedures and as a way of informing myself about their concerns and needs. I encourage you to review this page and take any pressing issues to your provider, along with the question:
Considering my pregnancy health, what do you expect my birth to look like? What routine procedures can I expect for labor and newborn care?
Considerations for Creating Your Birth Plan: Routine Procedures and Their Alternatives
Group Beta Strepp
- If mother tests positive antibiotics are usually given upon induction or admission to hospital every four hours for 24 hours.
- Chlorhexidine wash every six hours during labor.
- Garlic suppositories. (Learn how by clicking here)
Monitoring of the baby
- An initial fetal monitoring period upon admission to the hospital/birthing center varies but is usually considered procedural to determine how well the baby is tolerating the process of labor.
- Unless there are contraindications, external fetal monitoring (EFM) reduces mothers mobility.
- Encourage checking fetal heart rate using auscultation before and after each contraction. Intermittent auscultation (listening) with a Doppler is the least restrictive method of monitoring the baby’s heart rate and is safe in labors. This way you can labor in whatever position you like while the nurse or midwife listens to your baby’s heart rate for brief periods of time. For most labors, the nurse or midwife listens to the baby’s heartbeat every 30 minutes during active labor and every 15 minutes during pushing; for a high-risk labor or if there is a medical indication, the nurse or midwife will listen more frequently (ACOG, 2005).
Activity during labor
I see it as my work to know these positions and help you to move freely into whatever feels most comfortable. Your work before the birth is to learn to trust and communicate with your body. This takes practice. Birth requires an energetic awareness. You can study these positions as intensely as you want but come your special day, you'll let go of mental knowing and you'll go into your body. Rest assured that in the labor room, when you start to become tense and pain is starting to make itself known to you again, your birth partners will help you to regain your rhythm. Your job is to flow.
I see it as my work to know these positions and help you to move freely into whatever feels most comfortable. Your work before the birth is to learn to trust and communicate with your body. This takes practice. Birth requires an energetic awareness. You can study these positions as intensely as you want but come your special day, you'll let go of mental knowing and you'll go into your body. Rest assured that in the labor room, when you start to become tense and pain is starting to make itself known to you again, your birth partners will help you to regain your rhythm. Your job is to flow.
- Positions
- Standing
- Walking
- Leaning Forward
- Slow Dancing
- Lunge (Standing and Kneeling)
- Sitting upright
- Sitting and leaning forward
- Hands and Knees
- Open knee-chest position
- Side Lying
- Squatting
- Lap Squatting
- Dangle
- Birthing Ball
- Relaxation
- Hydrotherapy
- Hypnobirthing
- Breathing
- Music
- Massage/touch
- Heat/cold
Eating and drinking
Vaginal Exams
Induction
- Self Induction Methods
- Intercourse
- Nipple simulation
- Castor Oil
- Acupressure
- Stripping
- Consider Herbal Remedies (Do not use without permission from provider)
- Evening Primrose Oil (Cervical Ripening
Pain Medication
Episiotomies
- Before birth, perform Kegal Exercises up to 80 times per day. This helps you to become familiar with the muscles of your pelvic floor. The more aware you can be of this part of your body, the more familiar you can be with how to use these muscles, the more control you'll have in time of need.
- Before birth, perform perineal massage. Practicing this without the pressure of labor helps you to know how to release tension when it comes time to do the real work. Some woman feel particularly sensitive to sexual activity in the third trimester. This can be a way to invite that kind of activity or simply you can set aside some space by yourself and do it without the expectations. You can learn how on this website.
Cord Clamping
