Building a Birth Plan: the post in which we stray dangerously close to daddy blogging territory

Fatherfolk is not a daddy blog. I don't mean any derision. I think that there is a brave and growing chorus of dads out there talking about their experience as father's openly. One great example of this is the guys over at dadrevolution.com who I admire very much. Fatherfolk is something different. We believe without a trace of irony that in order to be a good father, you need to live a rich and interesting life. You need to be able to accurately describe the sensation of eating a sheep's head and list several items in great detail that vet tech's have removed from insides animals intestines. You need to know how to brew your own beer. We are a lifestyle resource. That being said, we will from time to time indulge in some navel gazing of our own when it feels important.


Kristen and I have decided to do a home birth for our son, Judevine who is due at the beginning of October. I will talk more about that decision some other time perhaps. For now, I wanted to share our birth plan, which is a back up in case we do end up going in to the hospital. It is a plan, expressing our preferences for care, that will be given to the doctors and nurses. This particular plan is adapted from one Kristen found on a blog, and tweaked to express our particular preferences.

Our Birth Preferences
We understand that labor and birth are unpredictable and ultimately want the health and safety of both the baby and Kristen to take precedence. We have planned and prepared for a peaceful and natural childbirth. We would like to allow our labor and delivery to unfold naturally, with as few interventions as possible.

When possible, we request that procedures be explained thoroughly (benefits and risks) and also, when possible, we would like to be included in the decision-making process. We want to be aware and informed of all of our options in the event of an unexpected emergency.

Below are items that are important to us. Your help with these is very much appreciated.

All of the requests are for a normal labor, birth and postpartum period.

Labor

• We would like to have as natural an experience as possible - freedom of movement, intermittent and very minimal monitoring, a saline lock instead of an on-going IV (if necessary), and freedom to eat food and drink brought from home.
• Aaron, Emily, and Tamsin will be present with Kristen throughout labor and birth.

Birth

• Use of spontaneous, self-directed pushing.
• Use of an upright labor position of Kristen’s choice.
• We would like to be as active in the birth as possible, including Aaron catching the baby and/or bringing him up to Kristen’s chest.

Baby Care

• After the birth, immediate contact between Kristen and baby: baby placed on Kristen’s chest, breastfeeding encouraged, Kristen and baby left undisturbed for one hour following birth, and any newborn procedures performed afterward.
• All baby examinations and standard newborn procedures done with the permission, and in the presence, of Kristen and Aaron.
• We want to give our baby his first bath and understand you might have to wear gloves when handling him. This is an acceptable compromise to us.
• We want our baby to remain in bed with Kristen at all times; he is not to be placed in the warmer or taken to the nursery at any time.
• Our baby is not to be given formula at any time.

In case of Cesarean

• Kristen is not squeamish and would very much like to watch the baby be delivered as much as possible.
• We admire Baby-Friendly Hospitals and would like to create that type of environment as much as possible. This includes having the baby skin-to-skin (as health permits, of course), keeping Kristen and the baby together during the repair and recovery, and encouraging unlimited breastfeeding, even during the initial recovery period.
• If Aaron leaves the operating room with the baby, we would like to ask if Emily might step in to help Kristen during the repair.
• Kristen would like one of her major support people to stay with her at all times in recovery.