Birth plans are, by definition, the last possible moment of your life you can try to control, with varying degrees of success. Here’s the gist: creating a birth plan is a great exercise in determining how you think you’d like to give birth, ie vaginally versus c-section, with or without pain medication, in a hospital versus a bathtub with flickering candles and a sick Spotify playlist. But the reality is that when that babe’s ready to make their debut, any notion of a plan can go out the window as quickly as your pre-delivery smudge stick session.

Our advice? Have a loose guide, and be OK with a change of plan.