I did!
I wanted as natural as a birth as I could get. I even took The Bradley Method childbirth classes before the birth of my first baby. After the first class my husband asked me in the car, “Are you sure you want to do this?” My response to him was, “It’s a little late to be asking me that question!” I knew I would have to have my babies in a hospital due to having a history of blood clots, but it was still important to me that my labor and delivery was drug free. So I went all out with my first baby and wrote up a birth plan expecting it to go as I planned and it did for the most part, but there were a few hiccups along the road. I know a lot of my friends and family thought I was crazy for wanting a natural birth, but I knew it would be best for my baby and for myself.
I read a lot of birth plans online and got ideas through The Bradley Method books and compiled a bunch of them together to plan out the way I wanted my first baby to be born. I even contacted the lady that was in charge of the Labor and Delivery department at the hospital. I emailed her my birth plan and she replied back with a few concerns because of the hospital protocols;
Did you know…..
1.) you cannot eat while you are in labor and
2.) you cannot get out of the bed once your water has broken….
SAY WHAT????
Those were two of the items I had listed on my birth plan that I wanted to be able to do! I couldn’t imagine going through labor for hours upon hours without eating anything. How was I going to have energy to push the baby out? There is no way I was going to pee in a bed pan! REALLY???
Now my first pregnancy didn’t go as planned during my 8th month. I started having contractions at 32 weeks so onto bed rest I went. I managed to have my baby shower at 33 weeks and behaved as well as I could. Mind you I was working out at the gym the night before I was put on bed rest so staying still and resting was not an easy task for me. Then I had a hospital stay to monitor my blood pressure because I was stressing out about having a baby too early. Fun! Fun! At 34 weeks my parents went out of town for a wedding and I told them to be ready to drive to the Valley! No sooner did they get home to Houston and I called to let them know my water had broken while we were at my husband’s grandmother’s house to celebrate his Mom’s birthday. So they hopped back in the car and drove all night to be at the birth of their first grandbaby. After my water broke we went home to gather my hospital bags, put the car seat in the car and I showered and shaved my legs because I knew that wouldn’t happen again for a while.
Did I mention my doctor was out of town!!!!
Luckily, I had a friends who had his cell phone number and he showed up to deliver my baby when it should have been the on-call doctor. SCORE!
Once I was all checked into the hospital and in my room the nurses came in and asked me a million questions and then I sprung my birth plan on them. We read through it together and of course they told me that I wasn’t allowed to eat (YEAH, RIGHT!) and get out of the bed since my water had broken, but I told them I had spoken to the administrator and she was okay with me doing those things. They seemed annoyed that I had done that, but I wanted a natural birth and I had heard numerous times that they push Pitocin and epidurals so you can quickly have your baby so the next birthing mother could have your room. I was not about to let them do that to me! The nurses left the room and not even an hour later they were back asking me if I wanted Pitocin and an epidural! “No, thanks,” I said. Maybe another hour passes and they were back asking me again. At that point my husband could tell I was annoyed so he chimed in and told them not to ask me again and they didn’t. Thank goodness!
My labor and delivery was just under 12 hours long. I was able to get up and use the restroom and I managed to eat a granola bar half way through my labor. My baby boy was born at 34.5 weeks and came out screaming and peed all over the doctor.
He was just perfect!
He had to stay in the NICU for the first 4 days until he was nursing well. All in all I thought my birth plan went as well as it could have for having my baby in the hospital and for him being a premie.
Now when I had my second baby I remember sitting down to revamp my birth plan, but when it was time to have her, I didn’t even print it out! I knew what I did and didn’t want to happen and luckily the nurse I had never asked me if I wanted any drugs after I told her I didn’t want any. I also had her at a different hospital so maybe that made a difference.
I definitely think a birth plan is up to you!
I think it is great for a first time Mommy that is wanting a natural birth experience because it allows you to know what you want and don’t want to happen during your labor and delivery and feel like you have a say in what is happening with your baby. I didn’t think it was necessary the second time around because I felt like I knew what I was doing and what to expect.
Here is a peek at my birth plan:
You can download a PDF version of it below:
Birth Plan RGV Moms Blog.com
Did you (or do you) have a birth plan for your labor and deliveries? Did they go as planned? What would you change about it the next go-around?