Making a birthing plan is an essential part of labour preparation, and can often make the difference between having “the birth you want” and “the birth you end up with”. The birthing plan is a legally binding document and Naava Carman offers a special session (see Know Your Rights) to help you to write your plan.

Choosing where to give birth

There is an invaluable website which compares the birth statistics of each hospital in London from non-intervention all the way up to emergency c-section. Before you choose your hospital, Naava strongly recommends that you look at the Birth Choice UK and look at the recent data which has come out of the hospital of your choice.

Useful Reading

Naava recommends contacting AIMS which is the Association for Improvements in Midwifery Services, and ordering one of their highly informative publications; most specifically a book by Beverly Beech called ‘Am I Allowed.’ This gives clear guidance about your rights as a pregnant and birthing mother, and sheds light on the most commonly recommended forms of care offered by the NHS.

Naava also suggests reading Ina May Gaskin’s book, ‘A Guide to Childbirth,’ which has lovely birthing stories and a layman’s guide to the more technical aspects of labour. This is an excellent book for fathers-to-be to read, as it gives clear information about the options and rights in the labour itself.

For mothers who are interested in exploring the idea of a home birth, and would like to know their rights, Naava recommends an excellent book by Nicky Wesson called ‘Home Birth: A Practical Guide’. This beautifully written and highly informative guide does a wonderful job empowering women who want to go down the route of a home birth and wish to be informed about the positive and negative aspects of their choice.