When it comes to how you prefer to birth your baby, there are no right or wrong answers. Making one decision can affect what choices you then have for labor. For instance, if you choose pain medication, you’ll need constant fetal monitoring and will mean not being able to get up and walk around or use the tub or shower for pain management. Whereas if you choose to labor in the water that will mean only listening to baby with a doppler intermittently, and you won’t be able to get an epidural or IV pain medications. Choosing to birth at a hospital may increase the chances of unwanted augmentations and interventions, yet it provides you with interventions immediately, should they become necessary.

Having a doula present at your birth means having someone who has been trained in handling stressful situations, comfort measures, options and solutions, emotional and mental support, and advocacy. That does mean you won’t have the intimacy of laboring with just your partner once the doula arrives. For some, this is a drawback, while others find it comforting to know they’ll have someone to support them and empower them.

What are your birth preferences? When you imagine your birth, what do you see?