birth plan?

A birth plan is a plan for how you want your labor and delivery to go. It includes whether or not you want pain medication during labor, how much you want to have or avoid a c-section, an episiotomy, a vacuum used to assist your baby coming out, whether you want to be able to walk around, be in a bathtub, use a birthing ball, what positions you want to use for labor, who you want with you, etc. Make sure you talk to your doctor about your birth plan so that he or she knows what you want and write it out so that the nurses at your hospital will know as well. But, don't expect to follow it rigidly. Be willing to go with the flow as births don't always go according to plan. Be open to listening to your doctor, especially when he or she is giving you options that can save your baby's life.