What is a Pregnancy Birth Plan?

Featuring Dr. Barra, MD
What is a Pregnancy Birth Plan?
Duration: 2 minutes, 3 seconds

The concept of a birth plan is an opportunity for a woman to potentially script what she would see as her ideal birth for the woman and her partner. 

In the past, this was a way in which women took back the control of the pregnancy from a more sort of medically driven procedure. Now in the present time it allows us the healthcare provider to get some ideas as to what this woman would like to see in the course of her labor and delivery in the latter part of her pregnancy.

Not all women come to their healthcare providers with a birth plan. However, it is helpful for us to get some sense of what their wishes with their partner in their pregnancy in the latter stages and the labor and delivery.

Having said that if we don’t really have a birth plan presented to us we often attempt to gain this information through our questions in the prenatal period and the prenatal visits with them when we address issues like pain management and when to call us, who is going to be in the room with them which is all key important parts of the birthing experience.

It is a really helpful tool for us as healthcare providers to address worries. For instance if in the birth plan an item comes up under those circumstances should forceps be used and that is a red light to us that maybe there is some myth or misinformation in that particular area of her information package going to the birth.

If they have questions in regards to birth plan and benefits and whether it would be helpful in their pregnancy, by all means run it by their healthcare provider to see if it would be helpful in their care.   
       

Presenter: Dr. Barra O'Briain, Family Doctor, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Family Doctor