Your birth plan
A birth plan, of course, is an ‘ideal’ scenario. Rarely do birth plans follow suit without some tweaks here and there. As an example, I wrote on my third baby’s birth plan ‘Do not touch me!’ and my wonderful midwife respected that totally, but of course as I progressed and the situation changed, she did touch me with permission. Had to in fact. But for the whole of my labour she did not actually physically touch me. I had my reasons, and they were important at that time. But she helped me and empowered me to birth my way until I needed her.
Things to include are your thoughts on pain relief; how you would prefer to labour; whether you want to labour in water; who you want in the room with you; music you may like playing during labour; whether you want the umbilical cord to remain attached, i.e. delayed cord clamping; who you would like to eventually cut the cord; your feeding plans for your baby; length of alone time after the birth… etcetera. It doesn’t have to be exhaustive but it can help your midwife to see at a glance what your ‘plan’ is so they, and others who may be involved, can best support you.