Free Birthing Plan Template

What Is a Birthing Plan Template and Why Write One

A birthing plan template is a short document, usually one to two pages, that records your preferences for labor, delivery, and the first hours after birth. It is addressed to the nurses, doctors, and midwives who will be with you on delivery day, and its purpose is to communicate your wishes clearly so that your care team can provide more personalized support.

A birthing plan does not guarantee that every preference will be honored. Medical circumstances can and do change during labor, and your care team's first obligation is the safety of you and your baby. What a plan does guarantee is that you have thought through your options in advance, that you have had a conversation about them with your provider, and that the nurses who may not know you personally have a quick reference for what matters most to you.

Writing a birthing plan is also a valuable exercise for partners and support people. The process of filling in the template together forces important conversations about pain management options, newborn procedures, and contingency preferences before you are in the middle of active labor.

Please discuss all items in your birthing plan with your doctor, midwife, or other qualified healthcare provider. This template is a planning and communication tool, not medical advice.

• First-time parents who want to understand their options before labor begins
• Expectant parents planning a hospital birth, birth center birth, or home birth
• Parents who have had a previous birth experience and want to document specific preferences or avoid a particular outcome from last time
• Those who want their partner or support person to be able to advocate for them during active labor
• Anyone working with a doula who needs to understand the family's priorities
• Parents who feel anxious about the unknown and want to feel more prepared and informed

What to Include in a Birthing Plan

A complete birthing plan template covers eight main areas. You do not need a preference in every category. Writing "provider discretion" or leaving a section blank is a perfectly valid choice.

• Personal and medical information: Your name, due date, provider, hospital or birth center, blood type, GBS status, and allergies. This helps care teams who do not know you find your chart and understand your baseline quickly.
• Labor environment: Who you want in the room, preferences about lighting, music, and how often you want to be examined. These choices affect your comfort and the atmosphere during labor.
• Pain management: Which pain relief options you are open to (epidural, IV medication, nitrous oxide, hydrotherapy, massage) and which you prefer to avoid if possible. Being explicit reduces awkward negotiations during contractions.
• Labor and delivery: Preferences for freedom of movement, fetal monitoring frequency, delivery positions, and how you feel about interventions such as augmentation or episiotomy.
• Cesarean section preferences: If an unplanned cesarean becomes necessary, document who you want present, whether you want music, if you prefer a clear drape, and your wishes for immediate baby contact. Having thought this through in advance can make a stressful situation feel less out of your control.
• Immediately after birth: Cord clamping timing, who cuts the cord, skin-to-skin preferences, and newborn procedures including Vitamin K, eye ointment, hearing screening, and first bath timing.
• Feeding preferences: Whether you plan to breastfeed, formula feed, or combine both, and whether you want a lactation consultant visit while you are still in the hospital.
• Additional notes: Previous birth experiences, cultural or religious preferences, fears or trauma history your team should be aware of, and anything else not covered above.

How to Write a Birthing Plan Step by Step

The most useful birthing plans are written in collaboration with your provider, not in isolation. Here is a practical process.

1. Download this free birthing plan template and open it in Google Docs, or print the PDF to fill in by hand.
2. Read through every section before filling in anything. Research items you are not familiar with, such as GBS status, delayed cord clamping, or intermittent fetal monitoring. Understanding what you are deciding about makes your preferences more informed.
3. Fill in your preferences together with your partner or support person, talking through any areas where you disagree. Labor is not the time to have those conversations for the first time.
4. Bring your draft to a prenatal appointment, ideally between 32 and 36 weeks. Ask your doctor or midwife to go through it with you. They will tell you which preferences your facility routinely accommodates and which may require special arrangement or are not available.
5. Revise the plan based on that conversation. A plan that reflects the realistic possibilities at your specific facility is more useful than one built on general information.
6. Print three to five copies for your hospital bag. Hand one to your labor and delivery nurse when you arrive.
7. Keep a digital copy on your phone as a backup. The printed copies will often end up in a folder and not be seen; having it on your phone means you can pull it up if needed.

Key Options to Understand Before You Fill In Your Plan

If this is your first birth, some of the items on a birthing plan template will be new to you. Here is a plain-language explanation of the choices that come up most often.

GBS (Group B Streptococcus) screening: Routine GBS testing happens around 35 to 37 weeks of pregnancy. If you test positive, your care team will typically recommend IV antibiotics during labor to protect the baby from potential infection. Knowing your status before you are in labor matters because it can affect how quickly interventions need to happen. Ask your provider about your results and what they mean for your plan.

Delayed cord clamping: After birth, the umbilical cord continues to pulse for several minutes, transferring blood and iron to the newborn. Waiting at least 30 to 60 seconds before clamping is supported by major obstetric guidelines for full-term births and is a relatively simple preference to note in your plan.

Skin-to-skin contact: Placing your newborn directly on your bare chest immediately after birth supports temperature regulation, bonding, and early breastfeeding. Most hospitals accommodate this routinely for uncomplicated vaginal births and increasingly for cesarean births as well. If skin-to-skin after a cesarean matters to you, note it explicitly.

Episiotomy: A surgical incision made to enlarge the vaginal opening during delivery. Routine episiotomies are no longer considered standard practice by most obstetric guidelines. If you have a strong preference about this (many people prefer a natural tear to a surgical cut, or vice versa), note it.

Birthing Plan Formats: Printable PDF and Google Docs

This birthing plan template is available in two formats to suit different preferences.

Printable birthing plan template (PDF): Download the PDF and fill in sections by hand or using a PDF editor. A printed plan is the most practical format for your hospital bag because it does not require a phone or device to access. Print several copies before your due date.

Birthing plan template in Google Docs: Click the link above to open the template in your browser, then File > Make a Copy to save it to your Google Drive. Type your preferences directly, add sections if you need them, and print or share via link. The Google Docs version is easy to update as your preferences evolve in the final weeks of pregnancy.

Both formats are completely free and require no account or email address to access.

Tips for a More Effective Birthing Plan

A birthing plan that works well is a communication tool, not a contract. These tips help you create one that your care team will actually read and find useful.

• Keep it to one page if at all possible. A nurse or doctor who has just come on shift does not have time to read a four-page document before they check on you. One page of clear preferences is read. Multiple pages of dense text often are not.
• Use specific, positive language rather than a list of refusals. 'I prefer to try non-medicated pain management first and will ask if I change my mind' is more useful than 'no epidural.' It signals your preference without creating an adversarial dynamic.
• Identify your non-negotiables separately from your preferences. Some things may genuinely be very important to you; others are nice-to-have. A plan that treats everything as equally important makes it harder for your team to know what truly matters.
• Include a line acknowledging flexibility: 'I understand that safety may require changes and I trust my care team to communicate options with me.' This signals that you are a collaborative patient.
• Make sure your partner has read the plan and knows which items are most important to you so they can advocate if you are not in a position to speak for yourself during active labor.
• Bring the plan in a plastic sleeve or a labeled folder. Labor and delivery wards are busy and paper gets wet or lost in the shuffle.