How to Create a Birth Plan (& FREE Birth Plan Template!)

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Creating a birth plan can feel like a big undertaking. There is so much conflicting information, and so many opinions out there about different aspects of birth, and birth plans are no different. While it’s true that a lot of consideration should go into creating a birth plan, it doesn’t have to be an additional source of stress.

As a doula and mom, I have helped create many birth plans, including two of my own. I’ve also had the unique opportunity to see how these plans directly influence people’s births. Through these experiences, I’ve gleaned insight into how to create and utilize a birth plan most effectively, and now I’m here to share that information with you!

This post serves as a comprehensive birth planning guide. You will learn the 5 steps to create a birth plan tailored exactly to your wants and needs. You will also learn how to use your birth plan as a tool to seek out important information and facilitate conversations around your birth preferences. This way, you will get the most out of your birth planning experience and show up on the big day feeling knowledgeable, confident, and prepared.

As a special bonus, I’m including access to my free birth plan template at the end of the post so you can easily create a birth plan without any of the extra guesswork or stress!

One more thing before we get started: this is a very detailed, long-form post. You may want to save it as a bookmark or to a Pinterest board so you can revisit it as you work through the steps and create your birth plan.

Table of Contents

• The What & Why Behind Birth Plans
  • What is a Birth Plan?
  • Why Take the Time to Create a Birth Plan?
• Step 1: Envisioning Your Birth
• Step 2: The Building Blocks of Your Birth Experience
  • Birth Location
  • Type of Provider
  • Pain Management/Comfort Strategy
  • Your Decision-Making Strategy
    • What kind of decisions might you be faced with?
  • Support Team
• Step 3: Dive into the Details
• Step 4: Putting it All Together
  • The Importance of Structure
• Step 5: Reviewing the Plan With Your Providers and Support Team
• Final Thoughts

Save this page to Pinterest to reference later!

The What & Why Behind Birth Plans

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of putting a birth plan together, let’s quickly cover the basics.

What is a Birth Plan?

Simply put, a birth plan is a collection of all of your labor, birth, and immediate postpartum choices and preferences. It contains pertinent information that you want to relay clearly to your birth team and medical providers.

There is more to making a solid birth plan than simply filling out a template or typing up a few important facts into a document and printing it out. In fact, a great many of the benefits of creating a birth plan are in the thinking, researching, and discussions that surround its creation.

I like to think of it as an extra layer of assurance that your wishes and preferences will be documented and easy to access and revisit as needed by you and your birth team. But that’s not all a birth plan is; it’s also an incredible tool that can help facilitate conversations and informed decision-making and help you determine and actualize your birth goals, and keep feeling empowered even if plans unexpectedly change.

Why Take the Time to Create a Birth Plan?

To quote former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

If you are spending time thinking about how you would like your birth to go, it’s smart to write down your thoughts and really create a vision. You can use that vision productively to help it inform your research and choices rather than just wishing or hoping that things will go the way you want.

One argument I often hear when discussing this topic is that it may be better to avoid writing out plans so as not to get your hopes up. However, birth satisfaction is generally improved when people experience a sense of choice and control in birth, even if the outcome is different than the original plan.¹ Interestingly, according to one 2024 prospective cohort study, a sense of autonomy in childbirth may even impact how capable you feel as a parent moving forward.²

While you can’t necessarily control how well your provider will facilitate informed choice and consent in childbirth, certain variables can improve your likelihood of a positive birth outcome and experience (covered in step 2). In researching and planning your birth preferences, you will gain an understanding of what alternative options may be available in the event that things don’t go exactly to plan. This can also help you plan how to handle scenarios where you may need to make a decision under pressure, and having these “backup plan” scenarios written down and ideally discussed ahead of time with your birth team can help you advocate for yourself and maintain a sense of control.

So, not wanting to be disappointed is actually a good reason to write a birth plan, not to avoid one in fear of getting your hopes up!

Now that we’ve covered the what and why, let’s get down to the details of how to actually write a birth plan.

Step 1: Envisioning Your Birth

Before you start writing your birth plan, I want you to spend some time thinking about the big picture.

You may have already considered many aspects of your birth, such as what kind of provider you’re planning to have attend your birth and where you’d like to give birth. This step will have you step back and determine the emotional and environmental aspects that will become the groundwork for the rest of your plan.

So, get out a journal or start a voice recording on your phone, and begin to imagine your ideal birthing situation. Then, let it out, stream-of-consciousness style. This may feel funny if you don’t do much journaling, but I promise that tapping into these thoughts is an important foundational step.

Here are some prompts to get the juices flowing:

• When you think about your birth, what comes up?
• Who would you like to be present at your birth?
• What kind of physical and emotional support do you envision?
• What kind of atmosphere will help you feel as relaxed and in control as possible during your birth?
• How do you see yourself coping with the pains and discomforts of labor?
• How do you want to feel after your baby is born?
• What do you want your baby’s experience to be like?

Once you’ve done this, you can move on to step two. Keep your vision for your birth front of mind and use it to help guide your research and planning in the next steps.

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Step 2: The Building Blocks of Your Birth Experience

Now that you’ve established a vision for your birth, you can begin fleshing out the basics.

In this step, you will have to begin doing some research. It’s not always easy to find reputable birth resources on the web, so I would recommend using Evidence Based Birth as a starting point for tons of unbiased evidence and resources.

The different choices you make related to items in this section can directly affect your birth experience and satisfaction level. Keep in mind that you may be limited by variables such as location, access, cost, and risk status. Even so, having some limitations does not mean you can’t honor your needs and wants; just that you may have to get creative about planning and support. Use the following five categories in conjunction with your birth vision to guide your research.

Birth Location

Generally, options include a hospital, a free-standing birth center, or at home.

Home and birth center births are usually attended by midwives and offer benefits such as comfort, familiarity, and continuity of care. The separation of home birth and birth centers from the medical system and attendance by midwives can also aid in birthing people having a greater sense of autonomy, informed decision-making, and a stronger relationship with their provider.

A hospital birth will be the safest choice if your pregnancy has been labeled as high-risk. It is also the only option if you’re planning a Cesarean or you want access to an epidural or the most medical staff, medication, and equipment.

If there are multiple hospitals or birth centers close to you, it’s a good idea to look up their outcome statistics (such as the Cesarean rate and episiotomy rate) and amenities. You may find that driving an extra 30 minutes could offer a better standard of care!

Type of Provider

Different provider options include midwives, obstetricians, and sometimes family practice physicians.

Midwives typically manage low-risk pregnancies and births, with in-hospital midwives having a broader scope of practice and the ability to manage some higher-risk births. Out-of-hospital midwives are experts in normal pregnancy and birth and are a great option for low-risk births.

Obstetricians have the broadest scope of practice and are also surgeons. If you have a high-risk pregnancy and need very close medical management or a Cesarean, this kind of provider will attend your birth.

You can interview different providers in your area before making a decision. If you’re already established with a provider or practice, even if you’ve been with them for a while, don’t forget that transferring your care to another provider or practice is usually an option. And just like you can look up outcome statistics for different facilities, you can ask a prospective provider about their individual outcome rates to help you make up your mind.

Pain Management/Comfort Strategy

Whether you’ve decided you want an unmedicated birth, would like to get an epidural as soon as possible, or are planning a c-section, it’s important to think through your options and incorporate this into your plan strategically. I always remind my doula clients that even if they are set on one pain management option, it’s a good idea to be knowledgeable about other options in case they need to tap into some different tools than expected.

Some common pain management options include relaxation, distraction, counter-pressure/massage, hydrotherapy, a TENS unit, nitrous oxide, IV medication, and an epidural. Think about what strategies appeal to you, and research the benefits and potential risks of different options before deciding.

When considering where to give birth, it’s good to ensure your chosen comfort strategy aligns with that location’s capabilities. For instance, if you want to have access to a tub for hydrotherapy in labor, ask the provider or check with the facility to make sure they offer it as an option.

If you’re planning a C-section, it’s important to learn about what kind of anesthesia you will be offered and think about comfort and distraction methods that can help ease some of the discomforts of the surgery. Some common comfort methods for C-sections include aromatherapy (usually in the form of essential oils on a cotton ball or gauze), breathing techniques, music, and visualization. You can also ask beforehand about medication options for nerves or nausea.

Your Decision-Making Strategy

You will likely be faced with having to make some in-the-moment decisions during your birth. Some of these decisions will also happen prenatally and postpartum. For your birth plan, let’s focus on the decisions you may be faced with in the weeks leading up to birth, during labor, and immediately afterward.

I always teach the BRAINS acronym to my doula clients. It’s a great tool to tap into during labor if you need to, and it can help you gauge the situation, ask important questions, and help you come to an informed decision with your provider.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure about a decision, just remember your BRAINS: Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition, Nothing, Space.

What kind of decisions might you be faced with?

I want to focus for a moment on what interventions you may have to decide about during labor. Learning about common interventions before your birth is crucial for three main reasons:

First, many interventions are performed routinely instead of when medically indicated³ and often performed when the benefits don’t outweigh the risks. You have every right to instead ask detailed questions about them and provide informed consent or informed refusal.

Second, there is a phenomenon in birth called the cascade of interventions, which is the concept that one intervention can tend to lead to additional interventions. Certain interventions can make it more difficult for mom and baby to cope with labor, making labor more risky and, therefore, leading to more interventions.

Third, some interventions can occur before labor starts. This includes things like cervical checks, getting your membranes stripped, and having an induction.

Now, I am not anti-intervention. It’s incredible that we have tools to help reduce and prevent poor birth outcomes. Some interventions are life-saving procedures.

I focus so much on interventions because I believe that including them in your research as you create your birth plan can help you have conversations with your provider before and during birth. This way, you will have already thought about your preferences, which can help you make an informed decision with your provider in the moment. You can also advocate for yourself to avoid unnecessary interventions if they don’t align with your goals.

Step 3 will go into detail on common interventions so you can do your own research and preparation.

Support Team

Now we’re onto the final building block of a birth plan: your support team. This includes everyone who is dedicated to physically and emotionally supporting you during the birth. It’s usually best to keep the number of attendees at your birth low, but you should choose a support team that feels right to you.

Ideally, you should focus on picking one or two people you cannot imagine giving birth without. This will often be a partner and perhaps a close relative or friend. Think about who will help you feel relaxed, calm, and supported. You don’t want to be managing other people’s emotions, playing hostess, or feeling self-conscious around the people at your birth. Sometimes this means saying no to your well-meaning mother-in-law or best friend who really wants to be there. It’s more important that you can relax and focus inward and not worry about anyone else’s experience.

Many people also choose to have a doula at their birth. Doulas are a great option for an additional support person because they are knowledgeable about the birth process and can use evidence-based support measures to help you physically and emotionally cope with labor. They can also help you communicate with your providers and other support people, advocate for yourself, and help you achieve your birth goals.

If you’re not sure about whether a doula is for you, check out my post Should I Hire a Doula? to help you decide.

Step 3: Dive into the Details

A birth plan can contain a wide variety of components and can be short and simple or longer and very detailed. Regardless of what ends up on your birth plan, it’s important to go through what routinely happens at a birth, common options that you may be presented with, and gain awareness about what emergency procedures could look like.

The table below can guide your planning and research. You can begin filling out the birth plan template or create a document and take notes as you go through each section. Doing this as you go will make creating the finalized version of your birth plan easier.

Side note: not all of these items will ultimately end up on your finalized birth plan, but going through each section can help you determine what is and isn’t important to you. Your birth plan might end up being really short or really long, and that’s ok; we will go over how to structure and prioritize items on your birth plan in the next step.

Stage	Considerations (non-exhaustive)
During Labor	– physical and emotional support preferences (massage, hair brushing, words of encouragement, affirmations) – atmosphere (music playing dim lights, essential oils, quiet voices) – medical/nursing students – monitoring (intermittent monitoring, doppler instead of wearable monitors) – pain management preferences – eating and drinking during active labor
Labor Interventions	– induction/augmentation preferences (such as amniotomy/artificial rupture of membranes, Pitocin) – cervical exams – routine IV fluids or saline lock
Delivery (vaginal)	– birthing position – laboring down/waiting for the urge to push – whether or not you’d like coaching or counting during pushing – a mirror for pushing – episiotomy – vacuum or forceps
Delivery (c-section)	– partner/doula to accompany you – gentle cesarean – lowered or clear drape – narration of the procedure – skin-to-skin (you or partner) in the OR – vaginal seeding – comfort preferences (visualization, meditation, breathing techniques, aromatherapy)
Immediate Postpartum	– delayed cord clamping – immediate skin-to-skin – uninterrupted golden hour – routine newborn procedures (vitamin K injection, erythromycin eye ointment, Hepatitis B vaccine, etc.) – plans for your placenta – who will cut the cord
Emergency Preferences	– having your partner and/or doula present in the surgical suite for a C-section – having your partner stay with baby if they go to the nursery, NICU, or another facility – if you’re planning a vaginal birth, include some Cesarean preferences
Postpartum	– boundaries you have about visitors – rooming in with baby or allowing them to go to nursery – baby feeding preferences (seeing an IBCLC, pacifier use, preferences in the case of supplementation) – baby care preferences (rooming in with baby, if you’d like baby to be bathed, additional newborn procedures, circumcision)
Other	– anything else important to you (such as cultural practices or traditions) – history or health information that could impact your birth (such as past trauma or anxiety surrounding birth)

Step 4: Putting it All Together

At this stage of creating your birth plan, you will have covered an abundance of information and ideas in your research. Let’s be honest: It can be downright overwhelming to try to fit all of your ideas and preferences on one piece of paper!

This section will walk you through reviewing your goals and preferences, identifying which items are most important to you, and organizing everything into a simple and logical written plan.

If you’re using a template, you can simply fill it out, print it, and use it as your final birth plan. The one I created (available for download at the end of this post) is intentionally optimized to be on one piece of paper (front and back), is organized for easy reference in labor, and has prominent spaces for you to highlight the most important information. Feel free to skip to step 5 if you plan to use a template as-is.

The Importance of Structure

If you choose to type your preferences up in a blank document, here are my tips for how to structure it:

1. Length: Make it long enough to cover all of the most important details but not so long that it’s too hard for others to reference during your birth. 1-2 pages with a standard font size is ideal.
2. Order: Structure your preferences in the order in which a birth progresses (labor, pushing/delivery, immediate postpartum, and postpartum).
3. Prioritization: Highlight or otherwise emphasize important pieces of your birth plan. You can do this by going through your planning notes and picking out the items that are most important to you. If there’s anything that you really do or really don’t want to happen, these items will be the main or bold points on your birth plan. You can either place a prominent “important notes” section close to the top of the page or do this for each section (see the first example below).

Structure the most important pieces so they stand out. Here are a couple of examples of how that could look (all names and identifiers have been changed to protect privacy):

In this example, the birthing person organized and bolded the most important pieces at the top of each section.

This example uses the birth plan template, with the most important pieces highlighted in the “important notes” section at the top of the page.

The only other information you’ll want to include along with your preferences from step 3 are:

• Personal Information: Include your full name, estimated due date, and any other pertinent information, such as your pronouns and preferred name.
• Support Team: Include the first and last name of your partner and any other support people, such as a doula, friends, or family members you’d like to be present during your birth.
• Providers: Include the name of your provider or group practice and pediatrician.

Step 5: Reviewing the Plan With Your Providers and Support Team

As I stated earlier in this post, a birth plan can help facilitate communication with your birth team. If you’re unsure about anything, write down your questions to bring to your provider. If you have a doula, they can also help you create your birth plan. Typically, some time during a prenatal visit will be dedicated to discussing your birth preferences as well, and you will get even more out of this meeting if you do some of this work ahead of time.

Once you’ve finished putting it all together, take advantage of the incredible tool you have created to discuss your plan to your providers, partner, doula, and other support people before the big day! Don’t forget that it may be difficult to communicate and make decisions while in labor, so having important discussions before you’re in labor is invaluable. Make copies of your birth plan, pack a bunch of copies in your birth bag, and give one to your nurse or provider, one to your partner, and one to your doula. Have extra copies lying around or taped up in your birth room. Trust me, it’s not overkill!

Final Thoughts

Now that you have the roadmap to create your birth plan, it’s time to put it into action!

Remember that although plans might change, your birth plan is an incredible tool you can use to empower and advocate for yourself. By informing yourself about what to expect, deciding on preferences ahead of time, and preparing to make decisions in the moment, you can go into your birth feeling confident and prepared.

I wish you the best for your birth and beyond!

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Is there anything else you’d include in a birth plan that I did not mention? Leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts and share your ideas with other readers.

1. Cook, K., & Loomis, C. (2012). The Impact of Choice and Control on Women’s Childbirth Experiences. The Journal of perinatal education, 21(3), 158–168. https://doi.org/10.1891/1058-1243.21.3.158 ↩︎
2. Brand, R. J., Gartland, C. A., Koo, G., McMahon, J. E., Hicks, J. M., Al-Khayyat, R., & Jaatinen, M. M. (2024). Perceived autonomy during childbirth predicts mothers’ parental self-efficacy: A prospective cohort study. Journal of health psychology, 13591053241236642. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053241236642
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3. Lothian, J. A. (2019). Healthy Birth Practice #4: Avoid Interventions Unless They Are Medically Necessary. The Journal of Perinatal Education, 28(2), 94-103. https://doi.org/10.1891/1058-1243.28.2.94 ↩︎