Birth Plan

 I scribbled this on a paper after thinking for a while. I have never written a birth plan out of fear of being one of "those" moms, because, "you know what happens when you come into the hospital with a birth plan..." (thanks, work). But after my second birth, I knew I needed to not just assume that everyone was on my side in terms of being in control. I wanted to communicate confidence, surety, and a sense of calm. Here's what I scribbled out and texted to my doctor:

-I was a NICU RN the first 8 years of my career and have been an IBCLC the past 6 years.

-I had low-intervention births with our now-7 and 4-year olds.

-I know how birth plans make clients look ;-) But I'd love for this experience to be as homebirth-like as possible.

YES

low lights

water labor

lots of positioning and pushing options

labor down and no coached pushing

ice chips (chewing them helps my anxiety right now)

minimal interruptions

minimal doppler surveillance

delayed cord clamping

look a the placenta afterward

NO 

erythromycin or Hep B

no internal exams unless emergent

no routine pitocin in 3rd stage of labor unless actually hemorrhaging 

no bath in hospital for baby

UNDECIDED (ask first)

saline lock

Vitamin K