No access to shower
Labour in shower
Partner announces baby’s sex
Care-provider announces baby’s sex
Intermittent monitoring of baby’s heart-rate
Continuous fetal monitoring
Labour is induced
Labour starts on its own
Birthing parent and Baby go home within 24 hours
Birthing parent and Baby stay in hospital for several days
Artificial oxytocin (Pitocin) is used to augment (speed-up) labour
No artificial oxytocin (Pitocin) is used
Baby delivered up onto birthing parent’s chest
Baby taken to warming table and cleaned up before coming back for a cuddle
Bag of waters breaks on its own
Artificial rupture of membranes
Cesarean birth
Vaginal Birth
No forceps or vacuum extraction
Forceps or vacuum extraction
Baby receives only colostrum/breastmilk
Baby receives formula in the first few hours after birth
Labour in bed
Walk and move around during labour
Upright, forward-leaning positions for pushing
Laid-back, recumbent positions for pushing
Keep placenta
Have placenta discarded
No breastfeeding within first hour after birth
Breastfeed within the first hour after birth
Narcotics (Morphine or Fentanyl)
No Narcotics (Fentanyl or Morphine)
A care provider you don’t know or prefer not to have
The care provider I know or prefer
Early Labour at home
Early labour in hospital
Nitrous Oxide
No Nitrous Oxide
Pushing following my own urges (spontaneous, physiological pushing)
Directed pushing (hold breath, count to 7, no noise)
Immediate cord clamping
Delayed cord clamping
No student nurses and doctors in attendance
Student nurses and doctors observe or participate in care
No doula, friend, or family member for support
Doula, friend, or family member for support
Private room in Postpartum Unit
Shared room in Postpartum Unit
Labour in birth pool (with option to birth in the pool)
No access to birth pool
To start: You have an array of blue “cards” in front of you. Each has two options on it. For example “Labour in shower” and “No access to shower”. You can toggle between the options by clicking with your mouse.
- Examine each card. Choose the option you prefer, and then SET that option by pressing the number 1 key on your keyboard, while your mouse hovers over that card. The card will turn yellow. Go through all the cards, choose your preferred option and turn them all yellow.
Choose carefully and be realistic with your choices. You can’t have a home birth with an epidural. Make sure your choices are consistent with each other.
NOTE! The Healthy Baby card does not have a different option. Your decisions are not about choosing any risk for your baby.
- Look at the birth you have outlined here. How do you feel about it? Discuss your choices with your partner. Were either of you surprised by the preferences of the other?
- We all know that things rarely turn out EXACTLY as we plan. So choose EIGHT cards you would be okay to turn over to the other option. Hover your mouse on the card and click the number 2 on your keyboard. The card will turn cream and the alternate option will appear.
For example, I chose “Labour in shower” to begin with and turned that card yellow. Then I thought, I would be okay without the shower, if I had to. So I clicked the 2 and the card turned cream, and says “No access to shower.”
You can move the cards around so the cream and the yellow cards are grouped together.
- Look at the birth the way it is now. How do you feel about it? How did you choose which options to change? Was it difficult? If your birth turned out this way, what support would you need to deal with the experience?
- Now, choose SEVEN more cards which you could accept to turn over. Hover your mouse over the card and click the number 2 on your keyboard. The card will turn cream and the alternate option will appear. Move them to the side with the other cream cards.
- Look at the birth the way it is now. How do you feel about it? How did you choose which options to change? Was it difficult? If your birth turned out this way, what support would you need to deal with the experience?
- Now, choose SIX more cards which you could accept to turn over. Hover your mouse over the card and click the number 2 on your keyboard. The card will turn cream and the alternate option will appear. Move them to the side with the other cream cards.
This is the final set of cards you will have to turn over. It might be easier this time, to think about the ones your really want to KEEP. You get to keep 9 cards, including, of course, the Healthy Baby card.
- Look at your 9 remaining yellow cards, and the cream cards too. How would you feel if your birth went like this? What support would you want to deal with this experience?
- Those last 9 cards are your most important BIRTH VALUES. It would be worth taking a screen shot or a photo of them, and making sure you talk to your care provider about how you feel about those particular options.
I hope your birth goes really well, and that all the choices that you make are the best ones for you at that moment! Wishing you all good things,
Eva
