Thank you for taking the time to read our birth plan and to honor our birth wishes.

We would like for our labor and delivery to be as natural as possible. We wish to keep interventions to a minimum. We wish to move around freely during labor, but we will allow intermittent monitoring of fetal heart rate. We do not wish to be offered pain medication; we prefer to request medication, if we feel it is needed. We would like the lights dimmed and voices lowered during labor and especially during delivery.

Please request mother’s permission before performing vaginal exams or any other procedures.

Barring any complications, we would like for our baby to be placed on mother’s chest immediately after birth. Parents would like to discover the baby’s sex, and father would like to cut the baby’s cord after it has stopped pulsing.

We feel very strongly about sharing quiet time, bonding with our baby after delivery. For that reason, we would appreciate it if medications and examinations were delayed for approximately two hours after birth. In the event that any examinations need to take place before then, please perform them in the delivery room with parents nearby.

Thank you for helping us to achieve the birth we desire.