You've probably spent a lot of time thinking about all things baby during your pregnancy: names, which brand of car seat to buy, whether you'd like to breastfeed, whether you plan on staying home or heading back to work after birth. But if you haven't already, it can be helpful to give some thought to your labor and delivery experience. Now is the perfect time to create a birth plan. The big day will be here before you know it! 

To help you figure out if a birth plan makes sense for you and what to include in one, here’s a primer, including the benefits of having your preferences all in one place as well as a birth plan template to help you get started. 

What is a birth plan?

A birth plan is just what it sounds like — a written plan that communicates your wishes and goals for before, during and after labor and delivery. In it, parents-to-be can offer up their best-case birthing scenario: how they'd ideally like labor and delivery to play out if all goes according to "plan."

Besides listing your preferences, a birth plan factors in what's practical, what's feasible, and what your practitioner and hospital or birthing center has available or will accommodate (not everything on your birth plan may fly with them). Some doctors routinely ask expectant parents to fill out a birth plan, while others are happy to oblige if one is requested.

Birth plan template

There's no right or wrong way to write a birth plan. Some documents cover just the basics, while others are extremely detailed. And because every expectant mom is different — not only in what she'd like out of the birth experience but what she can likely expect given her particular pregnancy profile and history — a birth plan should be individualized.

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To help you craft a personalized plan, here’s a template to consider (you can circle the options you’d like and cross out the ones you don’t). Be sure to list your and your partner’s names at the top, as well as that of your doctor and hospital.

Basic information:

  • Name: ______________
  • My support person's name: ______________
  • Hospital/birthing center: ______________
  • Due date/induction date: ______________
  • Practitioner's name: ______________

Before labor:

  • My health factors include: ______________
  • My planned delivery is: ______________
  • My birth team includes: ______________

During labor:

If medically possible, I would like to (circle all that apply):

  • Eat and drink during labor if my practitioner allows it
  • Be out of bed (walking around or sitting up) during labor
  • Labor in water
  • Play music, dim lighting, use incense, scented candles
  • Have partner take photos or videos
  • Labor with an exercise ball, in-room shower or birthing tub
  • Use specific birthing positions
  • Other:______________

Medical interventions:

I would prefer (circle all that apply, or make a note next to any you'd like to avoid):

  • Artificial rupture of the membranes
  • Leave membranes intact for as long as possible
  • External and internal electronic fetal monitoring
  • Intermittent fetal monitoring
  • Doppler fetal monitoring only
  • The use of an IV or catheter or enema
  • The use of oxytocin to induce or augment labor contractions
  • Episiotomy
  • Natural tearing only
  • Vacuum extraction or forceps to assist in the birth 
  • Other:______________

Pain relief:

I would prefer (circle all that apply, or make a note next to any you'd like to avoid):

  • Epidural
  • Acupuncture
  • Acupressure
  • Breathing exercises
  • Massage
  • Meditation
  • Reflexology 
  • Other:______________

Delivery:

I would like to (circle all that apply):

  • Use mirror to see baby crown
  • Have partner help catch baby
  • Allow partner to suction
  • Allow partner to cut umbilical cord

In case of a C-section:

If medically possible, I would prefer (circle all that apply, or make a note next to any you'd like to avoid):

  • To be conscious
  • Clear drapes be set up so I can watch as my baby emerges
  • One arm to be left free of cuffs, monitors and IVs so I can hold the baby
  • To breastfeed as soon as possible

Newborn care:

I would like to (circle all that apply, or make a note next to any you'd like to avoid):

  • Hold the baby immediately after birth, allow baby time to creep from belly to breast
  • Breastfeed immediately
  • Have a lactation consultant help me breastfeed
  • Bank the cord blood 
  • Donate the cord blood
  • Keep the placenta to take home
  • Give my baby formula
  • Give my baby breast milk only
  • Offer my baby a pacifier
  • Room-in with baby
  • Let my baby sleep in the nursery
  • Have circumcision performed if baby is a boy
  • Give my baby vitamin K
  • Give my baby antibiotic eye treatment
  • Other:______________

What information should a birth plan include? 

There are as many different birth plan examples as women who give birth, so don’t worry about making the “right one” for your labor and delivery. You also don't have to follow a set template or make the plan too formal: You can freestyle it by simply jotting down a few of the issues that concern you the most and then bring them up with your practitioner at your next visit.

After you talk about your preferences for your childbirth experience, listen to what your practitioner has to say about your labor options. If there are any changes you need to make, update your birth plan.

A good rule of thumb is to make several copies of your health care provider-approved birth plan. This way you can have them available for the nurses on your labor and delivery and post-birth teams.

Some information you might want to include in your birth plan:

Requests before labor

What do you want the atmosphere where you give birth to be like? List your desires, remembering that not all choices may be permitted. Some issues or scenarios you may want to tackle include:

  • Who you'd like to have with you during labor and/or at delivery — such as your partner, a doula, friends, family
  • Eating or drinking during active labor
  • Being out of bed (walking around or sitting up) during labor
  • Being in a tub for labor and/or birth, if one is available
  • Personalizing the atmosphere with music, lighting, items from home
  • Taking photos or videos
  • What equipment — exercise ball, in-room shower, birthing tub — you may want available to you (permitting your chosen facility can accommodate your request) for use in active labor
  • Specific birthing positions you'd like your practitioner to support you in

Requests during labor and delivery

This is where you can be clear about how you want to labor, the manner in which you will manage labor pain and what labor procedures you are comfortable with. Just keep in mind that some of your preferences may need to be adjusted depending on how your labor is progressing. Issues or scenarios you may want to address are:

Vaginal delivery vs. C-section preferences

Even if you know you don't want a medical induction or C-section, it's important to prepare for unexpected events by listing your preferences regarding those processes. However, know that your health care provider may advise against some of your preferences, especially if you are high risk or experience a medical emergency during labor and delivery.

Requests for newborn care

How do you want the moments after your baby's birth to unfold? Use this part of your birth plan to share your expectations of care for both you and your baby during recovery. Here are some issues and scenarios to consider:

  • Special requests around suctioning baby
  • Holding the baby immediately after birth, allowing baby time to creep from belly to breast
  • Any plans for breastfeeding immediately, having a lactation consultant there to help
  • When to cut the cord, and cord blood banking
  • Having your partner catch the baby and/or cut the umbilical cord, if you'd like
  • Postponing weighing the baby and/or administering eye drops until after you and your baby greet each other
  • Special requests around the placenta

Do you need to create a birth plan? 

While a birth plan isn’t mandatory and, of course, this document is always subject to change, some parents-to-be find that it gives them a chance to consider their choices and feel prepared. A birth plan may help ensure a better birth experience, head off unrealistic expectations, minimize disappointment, and eliminate any potential conflict or miscommunication during labor and delivery.  

A birth plan is especially useful in a large practice group of doctors where it’s possible that you won’t have met your delivering physician during your appointments. In smaller practices, however, patients often have the chance share their birth wishes with all of the providers. 

The process of creating a birth plan can also be a springboard for dialogue between patient and practitioner, particularly if you’re not sure how your health care provider feels about some of your birth preferences. Now, well before labor starts, is the time to find out, and a birth plan can be the ideal vehicle for this discussion. 

Of course, some moms-to-be choose not to make a birth plan. If the thought of one makes you feel anxious or overwhelmed, or if you feel like having a written document will make it harder for you to be flexible in the moment or possibly be disappointed if something happens differently, talk to your practitioner about ways you can feel prepared without a written birth plan.

The bottom line: Putting together a birth plan ahead of time might help you feel more prepared for labor and delivery and empower you to express your preferences. Still, keep in mind that a birth plan is a written understanding — not a binding contract — between you and your practitioner. 

Although chances are very good that your plan can be carried out the way you wrote it, there's always the possibility that it won't and that your birth plan might need to change in the moment. This is why the most important part of a good birth plan is flexibility. Childbirth is unpredictable: The best-laid plans don't always go, well, according to plan.