The Ultimate Birth Plan Checklist With Free Printable Template

Today, we’re talking Birth Plans. What are they? Do you really need one? And what should you include on it? We’re breaking it all down with some help from Labor & Delivery Nurse Lauren Marino, plus we’re making it easy for you to create your own birth plan by sharing our free printable and downloadable Birth Plan Template!

Lauren has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and is currently working in California as a Labor & Delivery nurse. She is an active member of AWHONN, a non-profit organization directed at helping promote the health of women and newborns. Lauren is also a mother herself to Sophia.

For more expert advice from Labor & Delivery Nurse Lauren Marino check out 8 Questions For A Labor & Delivery Nurse: What Every Woman Needs To Know, where she talks about pain management, home births, hospital stays, and more.

Ok, let’s get into it: Birth Plans.

What is a birth plan and do I have to have one?

Here’s what Labor & Delivery Nurse Lauren Marino says:

Coming to the hospital prepared is always a good idea! A birth plan is a checklist that you fill out indicating your wishes in terms of your environment during labor, which non-pharmacological pain coping mechanisms you’d like to try, and guidelines for medications or interventions you do or do not want to be offered to you.

What should include on my birth plan? 

Labor & Delivery Nurse Lauren Marino says:

Birth plans should be constructed with knowledge about the interventions you’re planning out as well as considerations for your unique condition in pregnancy/delivery. So it’s a good idea to do some research into what you would like on your birth plan ahead of time and then discuss it at a prenatal appointment with your provider. If you do not want to bring a written out birth plan with you to the hospital, it is still a good idea to take a basic childbirth class to understand what to expect.

Here are 10 things you might want to include on your birth plan:

1. Who you want as your birth partner 

2. Where you want to give birth

3. Any special facilities that you might want e.g. a birthing pool

4. Medications or interventions you do and do not want to be offered 

5. Labor tools or non-pharmacological pain coping mechanisms you want to use e.g. hypnobirthing, vocalizations, or focal points. Check out our Labor Toolkit created by expert Tammy Mittell for more on this!

6. How you would like to deliver your placenta and what you would like to do with it. Check out this post on Placenta Pills for more information.   

7. How you would like to feed baby 

8. If you & your partner want to do skin-to-skin contact after birth 

9. Any religious considerations you want the delivery team to know about

10. Anything else you want the delivery team or your birth partner to know — including information about previous pregnancies or labors.
    

Don’t worry, we’ve put together a simple Birth Plan Template so all you have to do is fill it out…

Here’s our free Birth Plan Template! 

You can download a PDF version here.

Keep an eye out next week for our updated Hospital Bag Checklist & let us know in the comments what printable sheet you want next!  

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Read next:

5 Things You Should Have On Your Labor Prep List

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