A home birth plan should cover your preferences for labor support, pain management, immediate newborn care, and transfer decisions if needed. Most midwives prefer a one-page document that focuses on your specific preferences rather than every possible scenario. The plan works best as a conversation starter during prenatal visits, not a rigid script.
You don't need a 10-page document to prepare for a home birth. A clear, focused birth plan helps you think through your preferences, communicate with your midwife, and prepare your support people for what you want during labor. This template covers what actually matters in a home setting and skips the hospital-specific items that don't apply.
Hospital birth plans often focus on avoiding unwanted interventions or requesting permission for normal labor practices. At home, you already have freedom of movement, food and drink, no required monitoring, and control over who's in the room.
Your home birth plan focuses on what you do want rather than what you're trying to avoid. This includes pain management preferences, specific cultural or religious practices, how you want your partner involved, and your wishes for the immediate postpartum period.
Most experienced home birth midwives prefer brief plans. They've already discussed your general philosophy during prenatal appointments. The written plan captures specific requests that matter to you and helps orient support people who won't be at every prenatal visit.
Start with who you want present during labor and birth. List specific people by name and clarify if anyone has a particular role like photography, child care for older siblings, or cooking.
Include sensory preferences that your support team can manage: lighting (dim, candles, natural light), sound (playlist links, silence, specific music to avoid), temperature, and any scents you want or don't want. If you have cultural or religious practices during birth, describe them specifically so your midwife and support people know what to expect.
Note your preferences for coaching style. Some people want active encouragement and suggestions for position changes. Others prefer quiet presence unless they ask for help. Your midwife can't read your mind during transition, so write it down.
List your preferred comfort measures in rough order of preference: water (tub or shower), movement and position changes, counterpressure, massage, heat or cold, vocalization, breathing patterns, or visualization.
If you plan to use specific tools, name them: TENS unit, birth ball, rebozo, birth stool, particular essential oils. If you own this equipment, note where it will be. If your midwife provides it, confirm this during a prenatal visit.
Address your preferences about pain medication in case of transfer. Some people want to labor at home as long as safely possible before requesting an epidural. Others want to transfer at a specific point to access pain relief. This helps your midwife understand when you'd consider transfer for pain alone versus medical necessity.
Specify your preferred birth position if you have one, but know that most people change their minds in the moment. Mention if you definitely don't want to birth in certain positions.
State whether you want to touch your baby's head as it crowns, catch your own baby, or have your partner catch. If you want directed pushing or prefer to follow your body's urges without coaching, write that down.
Include your wishes about the umbilical cord: immediate cutting, delayed cord clamping (specify how long or until it stops pulsing), or lotus birth. Note who you want to cut the cord. If you're collecting cord blood, remind your midwife since this requires specific timing and equipment.
Decide whether you want immediate skin-to-skin or prefer your midwife to dry and assess the baby first. Most midwives can do initial assessment while baby stays on your chest, but clarify your preference.
List your decisions about routine newborn procedures: vitamin K (injection, oral, or decline), erythromycin eye ointment, hepatitis B vaccine, newborn screening tests, and hearing test. Some of these can wait hours or even days, so note your preferred timing.
Address feeding preferences. If you plan to breastfeed, note whether you want help with initial latching or prefer to try on your own first. If you're formula feeding or have a specific supplementation plan, include the details so your midwife can support you appropriately.
Name your preferred hospital if you need transfer. Confirm that your midwife has privileges or a relationship there, and verify that your insurance covers that facility.
Specify who rides in the ambulance if you need emergency transfer: you alone, you and partner, or you and midwife. Clarify who stays with the baby if you transfer postpartum but baby stays home with your partner.
Include your preferences for hospital care if you transfer during labor. You might want your midwife to stay as your doula if allowed, or you might prefer she communicate your history to hospital staff and then leave. List any hospital interventions you'd want or want to decline if the situation allows choice, like continuous monitoring, IV fluids, or augmentation of labor.
Note how long you want your midwife to stay after the birth. Standard is 2-4 hours, but you can request longer if you want extra breastfeeding support or feel more comfortable with her present.
State your placenta plans: trash, burial, encapsulation, or keeping for lotus birth. If you're using an encapsulation service, provide contact information and clarify whether your midwife or your partner handles the handoff.
List any postpartum preferences that differ from standard midwifery care: timing of newborn exam, when you want visitors, specific foods you want prepared, sibling meeting plans, or help you've arranged for the first week. This helps your midwife understand the support context you're working within.
Review your plan with your midwife at a prenatal appointment around 36 weeks. She'll flag anything that's not feasible, suggest additions you haven't considered, and help you prioritize what matters most.
Give a copy to anyone who will be at your birth, not just your midwife. Your partner, doula, mother, or friend needs to know your preferences so they can support you when you're deep in labor and not making clear requests.
Update the plan if your preferences change. Email your midwife rather than assuming you'll remember to mention it at the next visit. She needs current information to prepare appropriately and bring the right equipment.
Write your home birth plan in one page with specific preferences for support, pain management, birth, newborn care, and transfer decisions. Review it with your midwife by 36 weeks and give copies to everyone who will attend your birth. Treat the plan as a communication tool and starting point for discussion, not a contract or guarantee of how your birth will unfold.