How are you going to prepare for birth & postpartum? If you are someone who has balked at the idea of a “birth plan” or planning for postpartum, then this blog is especially for you. The point of planning isn’t the written part, it’s the learning. One of the best ways to be able to keep yourself calm during what can be a very chaotic situation such as birth or life with a newborn, is to learn what might happen. No, that doesn’t mean running drills or anything like that, but it does mean that even if you don’t plan to go without pain medication for your birth, learning a few coping techniques for contractions can help in case you have a quick labor and don’t have time for an epidural. The best laid plans are flexible, and anyone who makes fun of a birth plan is someone whose agenda & experience I always question.
You don’t have to hire a doula to create a birth plan either. We do have some great insider information for you if having a doula on your team is part of your plan. Yes, we do birth planning consulting with people who aren’t our clients too, but you can also find some great resources online. Doulas help clients prepare for their birth by talking through all of the options available and making sure our clients have the information they need to make an informed decision about their care. Knowing the options and tools available to you is half the learning you need when it comes to birth preparation. Not everyone has the same options depending on their specific situation and location, so having a doula to help you navigate all of that can help you prepare for birth.
Prepare for Postpartum
The other thing we talk to all our clients about is creating a postpartum plan. We find postpartum planning often is an after-thought, and it really catches some people by surprise. This is one reason all our birth doulas always talk about postpartum planning. Prepare for postpartum so that you have the resources you might need at your fingertips and know who to call when you have a specific concern. For example, while both local Evansville hospitals have great lactation help available, we also have Groundworks who will send an IBCLC to your home! If you’re worried about your baby possibly having a tongue tie, where should you go? Those are things that come up in a postpartum planning discussion! Taking some time to prepare means saving yourself some stress later. You can also prepare for practical things in postpartum like setting up a MealTrain for friends and family that want to help but are short on time.
Preparing doesn’t help stave off bad things from happening (see blog post linked above), but it does help your brain to know the possibilities before they happen. It actually works as a protective factor for your mental health! How cool is that? Taking the time to prepare for your birth and postpartum is time well spent, and by the way, this doesn’t just go for first babies. Parents expecting their 5th baby know way more about what they want and don’t want from their experience and writing out expectations can help them too! You might learn about some new local resources or techniques that you haven’t tried before too. When you prepare, you help get your brain into that problem solving space, before you’re so tired from getting only two hours of sleep in a row at a time that you can’t think straight. Prepare for birth and postpartum and your future self will thank you.
