Birth Plan Template

Nurses and midwives change shifts, and a two-page essay rarely gets read in the middle of labor. This set keeps each plan to a single page of tick boxes, with one line at the bottom for what matters most to you. There is a version for a hospital birth, an unmedicated birth, a planned or unplanned cesarean and a home birth with a transfer plan.

On the visual pages, each wish sits on its own tile with a small drawn icon, from dim lights and a birth ball to delayed cord clamping and skin-to-skin, and you circle YES or NO. Someone walking into the room can take it in at a glance.

Around the plans are the practical pages: an about-me sheet with contacts and health notes, a hospital bag list for you, the baby and your partner, home birth supplies, a postpartum plan for the first six weeks, a help schedule for meals and visits, questions for your care team and a contraction timer. The pages record your wishes and do not replace advice from your doctor or midwife.

• Cover, how to use and an about-me page
• Hospital birth preferences, natural birth plan, cesarean birth plan and home birth plan (one page each)
• Visual plans with icon tiles: labor, birth and the first hour, C-section, baby care and feeding
• Hospital bag checklist and home birth supplies
• Postpartum plan and help schedule
• Questions for my care team, contraction timer and notes

Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader or your browser and choose Actual size (100%) in the print dialog, not "Fit to page". Plain printer paper is fine for most pages. For pages that get handled a lot or hang on the wall, use matte card stock of 65 to 80 lb (176 to 216 gsm).

No printer at home? Email the PDF to a copy shop or take it on a USB stick; any shop can print it the same day.