Having a birth plan helps both you and your family deal with everything that comes with giving birth. Right from choosing your primary care provider to what types of pain meds you would want during labor, a birth plan is one of the most crucial steps for influential family and pregnancy planning. The goal is a reassurance of what all things will be in place on the day your baby is due, to make the experience as memorable and comfortable as possible.

Here are some of the crucial things that must form part of your pregnancy planning to get you started.

Compile a list of services

Check with your pregnancy healthcare provider to understand what all is already covered under the policy. This way, you are at liberty to include the essential and compile your list of preferences that will be made available on the day of the labor. List everything from who your wife wants in the labor room to preferences for time and place of breastfeeding, fetal monitoring, the position of giving birth, and more. Plan everything with the doctor who will be delivering the baby.

Pain medications

This is one of the crucial points of family and pregnancy planning, especially when the due date is close. Labor is challenging, and both the body & mind undergo extreme stress right from the first contractions to the crowning of the baby. Pain medications help the body endure most of the strain, and the mother can choose what type of meds are made available before labor. There is no telling how she will feel during labor. That is why keeping her options open for an epidural, breathing exercises, or even a massage to ease labor should be planned far ahead of the due date.

Preference for delivery

While most women prefer natural childbirth, certain complications may arise during labor, prompting a re-evaluation of the situation, which is one of the main reasons you must also understand other options apart from a vaginal birth, including a C-section or episiotomy. Discussing these options with your primary birth doctor helps instill more confidence in the hospital and staff’s abilities to provide the right treatment. Giving a copy of your birth plan to the hospital is also a good idea for a change in staff if your primary doctor cannot make it on the big day.

Note that family & pregnancy planning starts a long time before you even consider compiling a birth plan. Right from conceiving for the first time to the due date, every day of the following nine months of pregnancy is crucial. You have the absolute right to ask for all the information you need, before, during, and especially after childbirth to ensure both the mother and baby get the best of hospital facilities and amenities.