Create Your Free
Personalised Birth Plan

What is a birth plan?

A birth plan is a record of your preferences for labour, birth and the first moments afterwards. It helps your midwife, doctors and birth partner understand what matters to you, especially when you are concentrating on labour and may not want to explain every preference from the beginning.

The word “plan” can be misleading. It is not a promise that birth will follow a fixed route, and it is not a contract with your maternity team. A useful birth plan is clear enough to guide conversations and flexible enough to change if your circumstances, recommendations or wishes change.

Does the NHS offer a birth plan template?

Yes. The NHS provides birth-plan guidance and a downloadable template covering choices such as where you give birth, who supports you, pain relief, birth positions, skin-to-skin and feeding. EverMama is independent from the NHS. It offers a guided, personalised alternative that you can edit digitally before downloading.

If you already have an NHS or hospital form, you do not need to choose one or the other. You can use EverMama to think through your preferences, then copy anything important into the format your maternity unit prefers.

When should you write your birth plan?

There is no single correct week. Many people begin during the third trimester, once they have had time to learn about their options, and then revisit the plan after antenatal appointments. Starting before the final few weeks gives you time to ask questions rather than making every decision at once.

Take your plan to an antenatal appointment and talk it through with your midwife. They can explain which options are available locally, flag anything that needs a separate discussion and help you adapt the plan to your own pregnancy.

What to include in a UK birth plan

Your plan does not need to cover every possibility. Focus on choices that would help your maternity team support you well. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to include:

• Where you hope to give birth: hospital labour ward, midwife-led unit, birth centre or home, where appropriate.
• Your birth partner or support person: who you want with you and how you would like them involved.
• Your labour environment: movement, lighting, music, privacy, use of a pool and preferences around examinations.
• Pain relief: methods you would like to try, options you would prefer to avoid, and when you would like staff to offer information.
• Monitoring and interventions: questions or preferences you want to discuss about monitoring, induction or assisted birth.
• Birth positions: whether you hope to stay mobile or try upright, side-lying or other positions.
• If plans change: what matters to you if an assisted birth or unplanned caesarean is recommended.
• After birth: skin-to-skin, cord-clamping preferences, who announces the baby's sex, feeding and newborn care.
• Accessibility, communication or cultural needs: anything that helps you feel safe, respected and understood.

Birth preferences for vaginal birth, planned C-section or VBAC

Your plan can still be useful whichever type of birth you are preparing for. For a vaginal birth, you may focus on movement, pain relief, birth positions and what you would want if an intervention is suggested. For a planned caesarean, preferences might include who is present, music, communication in theatre, skin-to-skin and feeding support where clinically possible.

If you are planning a vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC), discuss your preferences and the monitoring or care recommended for you with your maternity team. EverMama can organise the choices you make, but it cannot decide which options are clinically suitable in your individual pregnancy.

What if birth does not follow the plan?

That does not mean the plan failed. A birth plan is also a way to show what matters when the original route is no longer possible. You might note that you want explanations before procedures where time allows, that your birth partner should stay involved, or that skin-to-skin remains important if it can be done safely.

You can change your mind at any point. The preferences you wrote during pregnancy should support your care, not box you into a decision.

How to make your birth plan useful on the day

1. Discuss it before labour. Ask your midwife about local options and any recommendations specific to you.
2. Put priorities first. Make the preferences that matter most easy to spot.
3. Keep a digital copy. Save it on your phone and share it with your birth partner.
4. Take a printed copy. Keep it with your maternity notes or hospital bag if a paper copy would be helpful.
5. Review it if circumstances change. Update it after important appointments or changes to your care plan.