How to Have a Successful Labor and Delivery

You are pregnant and glowing. You may be a little swollen and tired but you couldn't be happier about the anticipated arrival of your little bundle of joy. But you have many things to do before you can hold your new baby in your arms. Some of them include setting up a nursery, having a baby shower and planning the birth of your baby. When it comes to planning the birth of your baby you already know what your idea of the perfect birth is. Everyone's is different. Perhaps this is your first and you want to have a natural childbirth. Or it's your second and you have a planned cesarean section because your first was an emergency cesarean. Or maybe it's your third (or fourth!) and you want the home water birth you always wanted. No matter what kind of birth you want you must plan ahead, play it safe and be prepared for the unexpected.

No one knows what will happen when you enter that delivery room past the fact that you are there to have a baby. Although women have been doing it for centuries, and without that epidural you may beg for, things can always take an unexpected turn. Now, you've done your research. You went to one of the trendy pregnancy and baby websites and printed out a play-by-play birth plan that's three pages long. Are you really going to give that to your labor nurse? Sure you are, and with a smile on your face. Let me tell you, you won't be the first or the last to do this. Making a small birth plan with a few things that you want isn't unreasonable, but going into it with those expectations (like the ones on your three page birth plan) just isn't realistic.