Preparing for labour and birth

Preparing for labour and birth

Anticipating your needs and planning ahead can help you to reduce any anxiety, gain a sense of control and prepare yourself and your birth partner for labour and birth. Whilst there is no guarantee of outcomes for any given labour or birth, thinking about your needs and wishes, seeking as much information from as many reliable sources as possible, being aware of your options, discussing these with relevant people and health professionals, and having a plan with contingencies (plan A and plan B), can all help you to have realistic expectations about achieving your goal and reduce disappointment if your plans need to change.

Birth plans and expectations

Some people choose to have a birth plan. Writing a birth plan is one way you can mentally prepare yourself for labour and birth. It helps you and your birth partner to explore and consider such things as: what you would like to bring with you to hospital to personalise your birthing experience, what methods of pain relief you would like, what are your preferred positions for labour and birth and your preferences if there are any unexpected complications. Your birth plan is a record of your individual and personal wishes and is based upon your particular circumstances, medical history, and what services are available at the hospital you choose.

It is important that you also discuss your birth plan with your midwife and obstetrician before labour. That way your wishes can be clearly communicated to the rest of your Maternity Services Team.

Your birth plan should also allow you some flexibility to do things differently if circumstances during labour and birth indicate this need. What might be safe and practical for one pregnant woman may not be a good idea for another. Being prepared and having contingency plans can help to reduce disappointment should this happen. Childbirth is not always “normal” and intervention may be required under certain circumstances. If intervention is required, your obstetrician and midwife will explain why the intervention is necessary and the associated risks and benefits of the intervention. In the rare event of a serious or life threatening complication during your care, your Maternity Services Team will always prioritise the safety and wellbeing of you and your baby.

If you have any questions in relation to this information please do not hesitate to contact the hospital you have chosen to have your baby as well as your obstetrician.

Discussing risks and benefits of health care

As in life, all health care involves some degree of risk and different people have different views on risk. Most people will generally decide to do something if the risk is outweighed by the benefit or advantage. When you are faced with decisions about having a health care treatment, procedure or test, you need to know the risks and benefits so you can be truly informed and be able to take responsibility to make important decisions about yours or your family members’ care.

Informed decision-making in health care is a two-way discussion between you and your health care provider about the known risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment.

Because your individual circumstances, beliefs and priorities are considered in this discussion, you become an active partner in decision-making about your care. This allows you to have realistic expectations about the likely or potential outcomes of your treatment as it relates to you personally. It can also help to build trust, prevent harm and reduce surprise and distress if complications or adverse events occur.

While Consent forms for certain treatments and procedures are necessary, it is also important that you and your partner discuss any risks or concerns with your obstetrician.

In the rare circumstance that an emergency situation unfolds in which there is little time to have a full discussion, you and/or your family will receive as much explanation as circumstances allow at the time and a more comprehensive debriefing afterwards when the emergency has passed.

When you engage in your informed consent discussion with your health care provider, they will ideally provide information relevant to your individual circumstances; they will be open, honest and empathetic.

Your responsibility during the discussion is to tell your health care provider if you don’t understand anything, to ask if the information can be presented in another way, to say if you need more time to decide and to seek additional information.

What to buy for the baby

Many new parents are unsure what to buy for their new baby, often buying too much or forgetting those important little items. Experience has shown us that new parents receive many gifts, a lot of which are clothes and toys. We have devised a basic list to help you decide what to buy:

What to bring to the hospital

Most prospective parents have their bag packed by 34 weeks (just in case). Individual hospitals will vary in what they provide and what they recommend you bring with you. Here is a list of common items but please check with your hospital or their website for more information.

When you come to the hospital, these are some of items you should bring with you:

When you come to the Delivery/Birth Suite these are some of the common items you could bring with you:

Support in labour, role of support person(s)

Labour and birth are very personal and special times in your life. Having the right support in labour can make a difference to your labour and birth and how you feel about these important life experiences. Because labour and birth are such intimate experiences for you and your partner, choose someone who loves and respects you, someone that you share a strong bond with. The right support person, who is present throughout labour, can reduce your need for pain relief, assisted vaginal birth and caesarean birth. We encourage you to have at least one supportive companion during labour, preferably someone who can stay with you throughout.

You also need peace and quiet to feel safe and supported so having the right number of support people is vital. Discuss with relatives and friends how you would like them to receive any news during your labour. You probably won’t feel much like entertaining visitors and lots of phone calls can be distracting. Some people organise a contact person who delivers the news to everyone and manages visits and phone calls.

The role of the support person cannot be overemphasised. At times they may feel that they aren’t helping, or don’t know what to do, but just being there is often all that is required. It will be important to discuss the role of the support person prior to the onset of labour so you both know and agree how things will be managed. Please let your midwife know also so she can support you both. Below is a short list of possible ways a support person can help support the woman in labour: