Create Your Birth Plan with Confidence: Free Downloadable Template for Expecting Parents
How to Write a Birth Plan: What to Include & How to Use It
A birth plan is a short summary of your preferences for labor, delivery, and the first hours with your baby. Typically it's a page or so long. It isn't a contract or a script. It can serve as a way to think through your options before you're in the moment and as a non-confrontational way to let your care team what matters most to you.
Below you'll find what to include, how to use your plan with your care team, and what to do if labor takes a different path. If you'd like a head start, you can download our fillable template.
Free Birth Plan Template — a one-page, fillable, printable starting point you can bring to your next prenatal visit.
Download the free template →Why a Birth Plan Helps
Labor moves quickly, and it's hard to weigh options calmly while you're in active labor or meeting your baby for the first time. Thinking through your preferences ahead of time means fewer decisions to make under pressure and a support person who already knows what you'd want.
It also helps even when birth doesn't follow the plan. Parents who've talked through their priorities in advance often feel more steady and more heard, because the people around them already understand what matters most.
What to Include in a Birth Plan
A good plan covers the full arc of birth—from labor preferences to the first moments after delivery—and stays short enough for a nurse to read in about 90 seconds.
During labor
- Comfort measures and pain management (including epidural timing)
- Movement and position preferences
- Monitoring (continuous vs. intermittent)
- IV, fluids, and hep-lock preferences
- Who you want in the room, and when
Delivery & just after
- Pushing preferences (coached vs. breathing down)
- C-section preferences if needed (skin-to-skin, partner presence)
- Cord clamping preferences
- Skin-to-skin and the golden hour
- Newborn care (vitamin K, eye ointment, bath, feeding)
Leave room for a "flex plan"
Often the most useful part of a plan is a short note: "If my birth goes differently than expected, here's what still matters most to me." Writing that while you're calm is very different from trying to put it into words when contractions are two minutes apart.
How to Use Your Birth Plan
The plan is only as useful as what you do with it. This is the sequence that tends to work.
Fill it in around 28–32 weeks
Early enough to review with your provider, late enough that your preferences are informed. Starting later? Still useful—just move a little faster.
Review it at a prenatal visit
Ask your OB or midwife what aligns with how their practice works and what might look different. Some preferences vary by hospital—better to know now.
Brief your support person
Give them the two or three things that matter most. If there's a shift change during labor, they're the ones who'll re-introduce your preferences to a new nurse.
Keep it to one page and pack two copies
Mark your top priorities clearly; that's what gets followed. One copy for you, one for your chart. Email it to your provider before your due date if you can.
At intake, keep it simple and warm
Handing over the plan, you might say: "We made a birth plan, we know things can change, but these two things matter most to us." Naming your top two makes it memorable and starts a conversation, rather than hoping a document gets read. Most labor and delivery nurses want to support your preferences when they can.
Our Approach: The Two-or-Three Rule
If there's one idea we come back to, it's this: a birth plan works best when it leads with the few things that matter most to you, and leaves room to navigate the rest in the moment.
It also helps to decide, in advance, how your support people can pitch in. Most want to help and just aren't sure how—so a loose role can make a real difference.
Role 1
Comfort
Positions and movement, counter-pressure, breathing cues, water and cold cloths.
Role 2
Communication
Reminding staff of priorities, asking questions, re-introducing the plan at shift changes.
Role 3
Logistics
Tracking progress, managing the room and visitors, updates to family, keeping the plan visible.
Partners: you don't have to be "good at this." Show up, know the priorities, and be willing to ask one question when it matters.
Birth Plan FAQ
When should I write my birth plan?
Around 28–32 weeks is a comfortable window—early enough to review it with your provider at a prenatal visit, late enough that you've thought through your options. If you're further along, start now; an unfinished plan with your top priorities noted is still useful.
What if my birth doesn't go according to plan?
That's common, which is exactly why a short "flex plan" note helps. The goal isn't to control what happens; it's to know what still matters if the path changes. Someone planning an unmedicated birth who ends up needing a C-section can still have preferences about who's in the room, whether they watch the birth, and skin-to-skin in recovery.
Will the hospital actually follow my birth plan?
Many preferences—skin-to-skin, delayed cord clamping, who's in the room, asking before procedures—are honored routinely. Others depend on your hospital's policies and what's happening clinically. The best way to know what to expect is to review your plan with your provider before you're in labor.
Do I need a birth plan if I'm planning an epidural?
It can still help. An epidural doesn't mean fewer decisions—just different ones. Your plan can cover when you'd like to be offered the epidural, what you want during pushing, delivery preferences, and newborn care, all of which matter regardless of your pain management approach.
Continue Learning
A few related guides to help you feel ready for the day itself.
Feel ready, not just prepared
A birth plan captures your preferences. Our Online Childbirth Class helps you understand what's actually happening at each stage of labor, what your options are, and how to make decisions in the moment—so the choices in your plan are informed ones. Self-paced, calm, and made to revisit whenever you need it.
Want birth, postpartum, feeding, sleep, and the first year in one place? See the Pregnancy + Baby Bundle →