When you’re in the middle of an exciting and exhausting labor and delivery, the last thing you need to do is get into a long and detailed discussion of exactly how you want the birth of your cherished child to proceed! And if your baby decides to make an unexpectedly early appearance, you may not have the time or resources to remind your partner and other family and friends exactly where and how you want your baby’s first day to start.
Writing out a birth plan long before your delivery date and sharing it with your partner, doctor, midwife, and anyone else who might be helping you that day ensures that everyone is on the same page. Even friends and family who aren’t actively involved in labor and delivery should get a copy, just in case your baby decides to emerge when you’re having brunch with your aunt in the next town over. If your aunt has your birth plan on her SmartPhone, she’ll know just who to call and what to do.
Never thought about a birth plan? Here are some tips to get you started:
1. Where is your preferred hospital or birthing center?
This may seem like an obvious point, but since babies have their own time schedule, your partner or midwife might not be present when you go into labor. Write down the address of where you’re hoping to deliver and — just in case your baby is coming too quickly or there’s evidence of complications — give a second choice, as well. For instance, even if you want a home birth or a water birth in a birthing center, provide the address of a nearby hospital, too.
2. Who do you want on your birthing team?
Write down your midwife or doctor’s name and contact info. Also, include the contact info of everyone you want present when you go into labor and delivery. That may just be your partner. Or it may be an extended family and your closest friends. It’s your party! You control the invites.
3. What’s your pain management plan?
If you’ve opted for a natural birth, do you want to order your team to ignore your screams for relief? Or are you open to an epidural or other pain management? Write it down.
4. Where does baby go?
When midwives in the UK were asked what they’d put on their birth plan, one said she wanted to have her baby placed on her body rather than in her arms. That increase of skin-to-skin contact made the experience more intimate for both her and her baby.
5. What happens to the umbilical cord?
If you’ve arranged to have your baby’s stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord once it’s been removed, be sure to put that in your birth plan. And be sure that your GlobalCord representative is copied on your birth plan too.
Make an informed choice. Select a cord banking service that is licensed to offer complete coverage for all stem cell therapies derived from your stored cord. Umbilical cord lining tissue banked by non-licensed cord blood banks may not provide the stem cell yield or quality that CellResearch Corporation’s proprietary and patented protocols can provide — this may affect its suitability for future therapeutic use. In addition, these blood banks and medical institutions that offer CellResearch Corporation's patented protocols — which include ALL cord lining stem cell therapies — are at risk of patent infringement.
GlobalCord is operated by CellResearch Corporation and its partners. Cords banked through GlobalCord are covered by CellResearch Corporation’s patent licensure which extends to 41 territories around the world, including the U.S.A.