Do you know what a birth plan is? I knew the concept of one, but didn’t know specifics until I started looking into it a couple of months ago. Like most questions I’ve had, my answer can be found on BabyCenter.com. It’s pretty straightforward and should be easy to fill out based on your preferences. Even if you feel unprepared for labor, you have an idea in your head. You know if you want anyone besides your partner in the room. You know if you want drugs or no drugs. You may not think you know what your birth plan looks like, but the questions are simply to answer.
My idea of the perfect birth is the following:
- Attended by my husband, the one who has the most calming effect on me and knows what makes me “tick.”
- Music to help calm my nerves. The songs picked by my husband.
- My husband to be present during the whole time. I didn’t make this baby on my own so I shouldn’t have him on my own.
- To be able to eat or drink if it’s my desire. (I have a fear of going hungry; regardless of whether I’m pregnant or not.)
- To move about as I desire; not to be hooked up to an IV or monitor.
- Be able to change positions as I feel comfortable and to the degree of what my body wants and needs.
- Labor and delivery free of pain medications
- Be able to hold my son as soon as he is born
- To not have anyone offer my baby a pacifier or try to bottle feed him
- To have my son in our room at all times; he’s our responsibility not the hospitals.
- To be able to bond with our son during the crucial hours after he is born.
- Be able to leave the hospital when my son is cleared to go home.
Like I said, this is my perfect birth plan. I understand that things don’t go as you plan and this is especially true for the birth of a child. I also understand that if things don’t go as I’ve described, it is ok. The important thing is that I have a healthy baby. It doesn’t make me less or more of a woman or mother for me to have him this way or that. What makes me a mother is this little baby. Regardless of how he enters this world, what matters is his being here.
It doesn’t matter how any child is born. Every person is different and every person has different expectations and desires. It so happens that my husband and I both prefer a drug free labor and delivery. I have faith in my body and trust that it will know what to do. I trust that my body will produce the endorphins that are needed to get me through labor and delivery. I know that all my fears and worries need to be checked at the door in order for any of this to happen. To have a smooth natural delivery, progress is made when a woman is calm and relaxed. With my husband by my side, I have faith that my body will work with me and not against me.
Some may call me crazy and most may welcome pain relief, but I’m going to see what my body can do for me. I’m going to see what I was really made for. Stay tuned for the birth story after Baby Leger arrives!
