You’ve taken a pregnancy test, confirmed your pregnancy with an ultrasound, and chosen your doctor; it may be a good time to start thinking about a birth plan. You may be thinking, “What’s that?” It can be overwhelming to think about your birthing experience. To help easy worries, sometimes women choose to make birth plan.

A birth plan is a way to document your preferences for how you want your labor, delivery, and postpartum care to unfold. Some birth plans are very detailed, and some are more of a basic idea of what you’d like your birth experience to look like.

Here are a few things to consider when thinking about or constructing a birth plan.

Labor Preferences

• Pain management
• Different types of labor/births, including positions for labor and pushing (like a birthing ball or tub birth).
• How your baby’s heart rate is monitored.
• Bringing comfort items from home like a blanket, pillow, or slippers.
• Whether or not you want to have a doula assist in birth.