Birth plans - do they work?

**HOW FLEXIBLE ARE YOU WITH YOUR IDEAL WAY TO DELIVER YOUR BABY? **

My beautiful friends recently had a baby. They had a strong idea of how they wanted the labour and delivery to be. As natural as possible, water birth, no epidural and certainly no caesarean-section. Well, was that further from the truth! The complete opposite happened – an induction, epidural and c-section. In their situation, there wasn’t any possibility of resisting.

Another friend said that when her labour stated she straightened her hair, put on some light make up and mascara – she was feeling good to labour and was certainly planning to look great for the photos with bub in her arms. Her birth plan changed – it was more intense than she anticipated. Her water birthing and powerful contractions meant that her make-up was all over her face. Her photos certainly told the story!

My two children presented two very different deliveries. One had a natural start – upon arriving at hospital, I felt uncomfortable and put off by how little I had dilated. Recognising that I was tired, I had an epidural. The second baby did not want to enter the world – this bub was 40 weeks +14 days and had to be induced followed by an epidural.

Many, many other mothers shared similar stories. More often than not, your labour will not go exactly to plan. Having an open mind is crucial to the positive outcome.

In light of this, make yourself the promise to have a birth plan that:

1. Is informed about all options for labouring and delivery including C-sections (pros and cons, effects and recovery), natural labour, pain relief options (gas, epidural, pethidine) and delivery locations (home, water-birth, birthing suite, hospital)
2. Has an ideal scenario planned (one that allows for adjustments and flexibility)
3. Allows plenty of room for change to the plan. If your plan needs to adjusting, then modify it.
4. (Most importantly) has an ultimate outcome for a healthy and safe mummy and baby If we were to take the lessons from my friends and I, it is that baby will teach you to ‘go with the flow’ and ‘roll with the punches.’ Sometimes, you can’t force nature despite your best efforts.

Remember, your birth plan is ideally to be informed and be open to needs with the ultimate outcome of a healthy and safe arrival/delivery for mum and bub.