Home Birth Plan Template: What to Include and What to Skip

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. Ask her how she usually handles the initial assessment, then note your preference.

Write down which routine newborn procedures you want to discuss: vitamin K, erythromycin eye ointment, hepatitis B vaccine, newborn screening, and hearing screening. Go through each one with your midwife at a prenatal visit rather than deciding from a template. She can tell you what she recommends, what your state requires, and what the timing looks like for each. This guide does not make those recommendations for you.

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. Ask your midwife what her relationship with that hospital is and how transfers from her practice usually go, and check that your insurance covers the facility.

Specify who rides in the ambulance in an emergency transfer: you alone, you and your partner, or you and your midwife. Clarify who stays with the baby if you transfer postpartum and the baby stays home with your partner.

Include your preferences for hospital care if you transfer during labor. You might want your midwife to stay with you as a support person if the hospital allows it, or you might prefer she hand off your history to the staff and go. Note any interventions you would want or would want to discuss if the situation leaves room for a choice, such as continuous monitoring, IV fluids, or augmentation. Whether there is room for a choice depends on why you transferred, which is a conversation for the moment, not the document.

Ask your midwife how long she normally stays after the birth, then note whether you want longer, for breastfeeding support or simply because you feel steadier with her there. Practices differ on this, so get her number rather than a generic one.

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.