What is an Adoption Hospital Birth Plan?
You’re in complete control of your adoption journey, including making your personalized adoption hospital birth plan.
Contact us today if you’re ready to talk to an adoption professional about creating your adoption hospital plan.
Keep reading this guide to find out the three simple steps involved in creating hospital adoption plans.
How to Shape Your Birth Plan for Adoption
Before we explain what a birth plan for adoption is, we want to touch on its purpose.
As the birth mother, you always control what goes into your hospital adoption plan. Your adoption professional is there to help guide you and ensure you get everything you need.
Understanding a Birth Plan for Adoption
Your newborn adoption birth plan is one of the many pieces of your broader adoption plan created specifically for you.
Once you select an adoption agency, you’ll start working with an adoption professional. This professional will ensure you create an adoption birth plan that meets your needs. The adoption professional you work with is dedicated to providing practical and emotional support throughout your adoption experience.
Step 1: Think About Your Options for an Adoption Hospital Plan
Although your adoption professional will guide you through this step, you get to choose every part of your labor and delivery experience. This includes all the normal details of a birthing plan and the unique nuances of placing a child for adoption.
Your newborn adoption birth plan will include the following information:
- Where you will give birth
- Whether you want a medicated or un-medicated birth
- Who will be in the room with you
- Who will take care of your baby after delivery
- How much time you want to spend with your baby and the adoptive parents
- And more
An adoption professional will walk you through each step of the adoption birth plan template to ensure no details are omitted. Make sure to speak up about anything you want; your professional will make sure it happens.
Step 2: Understand That Your Hospital Adoption Plan May Change
Although you are in control of creating your adoption hospital birth plan, you’ll also need to remember that babies come on their own schedule and in their own way. Try to be flexible about your birth plan to avoid stress and disappointment. And while unexpected developments may crop up, your adoption professional will help you minimize those occurrences.
“I did actually complete a hospital plan with my specialist and my OB/GYN,” birth mother Serenity says. “She walked me through everything that would happen and a plan B in case things didn’t go as planned. She also just reassured me every step of the way that ‘Hey if this doesn’t happen then it’s okay, we have a backup plan and no matter what we’re going to make sure that you are as comfortable as possible in the hospital.’”
As a prospective birth mother, you also reserve the right to change your hospital adoption plan as your pregnancy progresses. You’ll always be in charge of how you want this experience to go, even if it’s different than you originally planned.
Step 3: Consider Common Adoption Hospital Birth Plan Questions and Finalize the Document
When you start to work with an adoption professional, they will present you with a sample template for an adoption birth plan.
Your birth plan for adoption will address commonly asked questions by former birth parents, giving you an idea of where to start when planning your hospital stay.
You can expect to see questions like the following:
- Do you want an unmediated (natural) birth?
- If not, what kind of medication do you want to receive?
- Where do you plan to deliver?
- Who will be your overseeing doctor?
- Who will be in the delivery room with you?
- If you have other children, will they be at the hospital? If not, what are your childcare plans?
- When do you want to see the adoptive parents?
- How much time do you want with your baby after birth? Do you want to care for them alone?
- Who will hold your baby first?
- Will you breastfeed your baby? Or pump breast milk for the adoptive parents?
- Do you want the adoptive parents to care for your baby until discharged?
- Do you want photos taken during labor or after your child is born?
- Do you want to give your baby any special keepsakes or gifts?
- Do you want to leave the hospital before or after your baby? Do you want to leave with or without the adoptive parents?
This isn’t an exhaustive list, so feel free to add anything else to your hospital adoption plan that you want.
Remember: You are in total control of what goes into your adoption hospital birth plan, and your adoption professional is on your side.
Talk to an Adoption Professional Today
You are your own advocate during the adoption process and are in charge of every decision. Your adoption professional’s goal is to ensure your comfort while creating your hospital adoption plan.
Contact an adoption professional today to start your adoption journey.