If you are currently pregnant Congratulations! If you are trying to get pregnant may God bless you on your journey.

Pregnancy is beautiful and hard. There are a lot of choices you have to make as a family a long the way. In this post we are going to discuss a few of them. Some options you may have already thought about and some you may have never thought about.

Overall, remember the number one goal is to have a healthy baby and a healthy momma after delivery.

I am in no way a medical professional. Please seek the advice of your health care provider when making final decisions.

Included in this post is a downloadable Birth Plan Template to help you organize your decisions.

The 1st Choice: Where do I go for care?

There are two general options here: a Midwife or an Obstetrics and Gynecology doctor (OBGYN).

Midwives can have a different levels of training.

• Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM): registered nurse; graduated from an accredited nurse-midwifery education program; has passed national exam; can practice in all states
• Certified Midwife (CM): not a nurse; has a bachelor’s degree in a health field; graduated from an accredited midwifery education program passed a national exam; cannot practice in all states
• Licensed Midwife (LM): attends an accredited school and then licensed by the states health department
• Certified Professional Midwife (CPM): not a nurse; has clinical training in childbirth; has passed a national exam; cannot practice in all states
• Lay Midwife: is not licensed or certified; has received informal training or did an apprenticeship

An OBGYN has attended medical school and did a residency specializing in this field.

Both a Midwife and an OBGYN can give you the care you need throughout your pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum journey. They both can do your prenatal check ups, give you advice on nutrition and exercise, educate you about pregnancy and childbirth, deliver your children and everything else they’d need to do.

One thing to keep in mind is not all midwives can deliver in a hospital and OBGYNs only deliver in a hospital. If you are planning a hospital birth and want a midwife please check with the hospital you’d like to deliver at and ask them who their accepted midwives are.

When choosing between Midwife or OBGYN, people usually chose midwives if they want a more natural birthing experience with little to no interventions, more emotional support and more one on one care throughout their entire journey.

We personally wanted to go for an all natural route so we chose to use a Midwife. If you are in the Central FL area, we went with Mary Surprenant with Blessings in Abundance Midwifery. We loved our experience with her. She came to our house for most of the appointments. She answered all my questions with patience and care. She was very accessible and never made me feel like I was bothering her.

For more information on choosing between a midwife or OBGYN; I found this article helpful: OB/GYN or Midwife?

The 2nd Choice: Where should I have my baby?

Now generally speaking, many people think there is only one viable option here; The Hospital. However, there are a couple other options that are just as viable. Besides the hospital, you could choose to have your baby at a birth center or at home.

Each option has its own pros and cons.

Hospital

• Pros:
  • full medical staff/equipment
  • constant monitoring available
  • Medical pain relief
  • immediate access to emergency services
• Cons:
  • interventions can lead to more interventions
  • constant interruptions
  • limited choices on what you can eat
  • multiple physical checks

Birth Center

• Pros:
  • Feels more like home,
  • natural and calm birthing environment
  • all necessary equipment is provided
  • natural pain management
• Cons:
  • not suited for high risk pregnancies
  • in case of emergency you’d have to be transferred if you’re at a free standing birth center
  • generally limited access to pain medication

Home

• Pros:
  • Your at home comfortable in your own environment
  • you feel safe to labor can be easier
  • you can eat/drink what you want
  • you set your environment music, diffusing oils, watching your favorite show etc;
  • Birth moves at your body’s pace
  • You feel empowered to let your body do what is made to do
• Cons:
  • not suited for high risk pregnancies
  • in case of emergency you’d have to be transferred
  • epidural is not available

These are my opinions on the pros and cons of each these methods. If you have a low-risk pregnancy please carefully consider all options and choose which will be best for you and your family. Remember healthy momma and healthy baby are always what is most important.

Also, sometimes you may be considered high-risk just because you are overweight, an older woman, or in a VBAC situation. Please seek medical advice and get second or third opinions to help determine if you are truly high risk. I had a birth center tell me I was too high risk for them just over the phone without even being seen just because I am overweight. However, my pregnancy was not high risk and I did not have any issues in the pregnancy or birth of my child.

After watching The Business of Being Born and doing lots of research we choose to do a home birth. It was a beautiful experience and I would do it again.

The 3rd Choice: Should I have a doula?

Well, first of all, what is a doula? According to DONA International, a doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible.

As discussed in our podcast episode: The Choices of Childbirth I could not have survived childbirth without my doula. I was a first time mom and due to COVID I had no other support besides my husband. She came as soon as I needed her and helped get through the entire thing and I still talk to her today. I believe doula’s are necessary. If you are in the central FL region Beth Goodroe, The Good Rose Doula is who we went with. She was absolutely amazing and we could not have done it without her.

The 4th Choice: Will you breastfeed or formula feed?

Now you may ask why is this important to decide before the baby is born? You will want to know how you want your baby to be fed as soon as they are born. If you are choosing to breastfeed you will want to let the doctors and nurses or your midwife know not to feed the baby formula. If you are choosing to formula feed you will want to have formula on hand or let the hospital staff know so they are prepared with this.

There are many benefits to breastfeeding and I believe if you can do it, please try to. But, not every woman can breastfeed. All that really matters is that you feed your baby. I was not able to breastfeed because my baby would not latch. This was hard to deal with at first because everyone always asked me if I was breastfeeding and I always had to explain why not. However, I knew my baby was healthy and getting the nutrition she needed. So never feel bad if you cannot or do not want to breastfeed.

The 5th Choice: What interventions are you okay with or not okay with?

Keep in mind that if there is an emergency follow your health care provider’s advice.

However, if you and your baby are healthy and there is no emergency, you do not have to allow interventions even if they are suggested. I advise that you decide ahead a time what is acceptable for you and what is not and include it in your birth plan.

Here are some examples of medical interventions during labor and delivery:

• Labor Induction
• Assisted Delivery by forceps or vacuum
• Episiotomy
• Continuous Electronic Monitoring
• Pain Medication/Epidural
• Directed Pushing
• Vaginal Exams

This is just a short list. I suggest doing more research or asking your healthcare provider what other interventions could take place during labor and delivery and what are the potential side effects of each intervention. This will help you decide what to include in your birth plan.

The 6th Choice: What do you want to happen with your baby immediately after they are born?

Congratulations! You have made it through the hardest thing in your life and your baby is finally earth-side! Now you have to decide what you want to happen with your baby. Do you want immediate skin to skin? Who cuts the cord? When do you want the cord to be cut? How long do you want to hold your baby before the doctors or midwives do their exam? What medications if any will you allow them to give your baby? Do you want your partner to have skin to skin time? There are a lot of questions you have to answer here and you can look over my birth plan template to help you see the options you have.

As you can see there are a lot of choices you have to make before you get to welcome your baby into your arms. This can be overwhelming. Use this birth plan template to help you organize your decisions before you get to your due date. This will help relieve some of your stress. Share your birth plan with all medical staff that will be assisting you and any support people that will be in the room. This will ensure that everyone is on the same the page with choices you have made.

Again, I am in no way a medical professional. Please seek the advice of your healthcare provider when making final decisions.

To hear more about the choices we made listen to our Podcast Episode: The Choices of Childbirth

Blank Birth Plan Template

Birth Plan With Options