The Flexible Birth Plan: Birth Preferences and Planning Workshop
with Aless Delia Lobo

When you’re pregnant, preparing for childbirth can feel like stepping into the big unknown. After all, no one can ever predict exactly how a birth will unfold. So you do some reading, and the internet (or your friend, coworker, etc.) tells you to make a birth plan. Online birth planning templates are helpful tools, but they don’t always include important pieces like access to evidence-based resources, so you can make your own best decisions. Nor do they typically address how to adapt to an unexpected change in plans, or how to advocate for yourself in childbirth.

Preparing for birth is super important, but there is more to birth planning than simply creating a birth plan and printing it out. This flexible birth planning workshop is designed to help you feel more informed, grounded, and confident as you prepare for your upcoming birth.

Together with an experienced doula and birth educator, this class takes expectant parents through thoughtfully exploring preferences, options, values, and priorities for labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum period. We’ll discuss common decisions that may arise during pregnancy and birth, including comfort and pain relief options, interventions, support people, newborn procedures, communication preferences, and what matters most to you and your family. We will also cover decision-making and self-advocacy strategies, and how to adapt if things change over the course of the birth.

Rather than trying to create the “perfect” birth plan, this workshop focuses on helping you build a flexible, informed plan that reflects your values and gives you tools to navigate the unexpected. You will leave with a clearer sense of what to expect, a deeper understanding of your options, and a personalized birth plan that can help you communicate your wishes with confidence.