Creating a Birth Plan
What are your overriding wishes for your baby’s life and the time you are able to spend with him or her?
Try to summarize your vision for your baby’s birth.
What is most important to you in preparing to deliver your baby? These conversations are hard because they force us to confront the reality that our baby is going to die. But having clarity about your options and making decisions ahead of time can help you and your caregivers work together to fulfill your overriding wishes for your baby. This may allow you to have a more fulfilling time with your baby during his or her brief life and after death.
“By stating your overriding wishes, you are creating a mission statement that helps guide the myriad of details of how you would like your baby’s birth and hospital time to be managed … A flexible birth plan is a statement of your preferences, not a list of demands … In addition to summarizing medical decisions you have made, birth planning is a way of thinking through experiences you might like to have with your baby, especially opportunities that you might not otherwise have time to seize in the hospital if your baby’s life will be brief.”
- The Gift of Time, by Kuebelbeck and Davis
“Our #1 goal was for our son to be born alive. That directed all other decisions throughout our pregnancy and surrounding his birth. We also accepted the limits of Trisomy 18 and had laid out what interventions we wanted and did not want after birth. I am so grateful for the planning we did ahead of time. It allowed me to be fully present during that sacred time.”
-Elizabeth Leon, Director of Family Support for Red Bird Ministries
Resources for Creating a Birth Plan
Perinatal Hospice offers a birth plan as a way to share your decisions and hopes with your caregivers, who can use it as a guide as your baby's birth and life unfolds.
Create an online birth plan here by stepping through a series of questions related to your wishes and preferences.
Be Not Afraid works with parents in the development of a written birth plan, including a newborn care plan, to better understand potential decisions regarding labor, birth, and the care of their baby.
Stillbirthday discusses birth plans specific to a life-limiting diagnosis or stillbirth.
Click here for additional birth plan information.
Creating a mission statement of your vision and desires for your birth is a way of parenting your little one and advocating for them before they are born. Many parents find this to be a rewarding, albeit painful, experience.
Disclaimer: Please note, some websites may discuss birth choices that do not align with our Catholic beliefs. Red Bird Ministries does not support or endorse those practices.