Creating an Easy & Effective Birth Graphic for Your Birthing Team

March 17, 2021 By Jane Chevalier

Birth Preferences 101: It is a major benefit to you to do thorough research on birthing options within whichever environment you are planning to give birth in (home birth, birth center or hospital). Depending on the place, there are different rules and different medical interventions that may not be advertised easily unless you ask and do some research. It is also to your benefit to research rules and interventions within hospitals even if your intention is to birth in a birth center or at home (it’s always good to have a back up plan).

This blog post will not list the various birthing preferences and medical interventions, because this is a large topic. Most birthing classes cover this topic – if you would like a direct online resource for this, please check out MotherBoard Birth (yes you have to pay for is – just like any birth class).

Instead, this blog post is about how to create a visually effective Birth Preference Board (I like to use the word preference rather than “plan” because it indicates the fact that we can have an intention for our birth, but we can’t control the actual outcome). As my midwife told me when I found out my baby was breech, “Welcome to parenthood – you are no longer in control”; the outcome of each birth is out of our control.

Steps to making a glowing Birth Preference Board that will elevate your birth experience:

• Do your research for birthing options and medical interventions
  • Decided on preferred option/interventions versus backup option/interventions

• Make 2 versions
  • Vaginal Birth Preference
  • Cesarean Birth Preference

• Use Graphics
  • Easy for birth staff to read – more likely to honor your wishes

• Less than 1 page
  • Easy for birth staff to read – more likely to honor your wishes

Unsure where to find graphics? Check out Motherboard Birth for the graphics I used (you need a paid membership) or Mama Natural (offers a free template but doesn’t have as many graphics as MotherBoard Birth).

Vaginal Birth Preference Example:

Vaginal Birth Preference Example

Cesarean Birth Preference Example:

Cesarean Birth Plan Example