I was recently asked the following question…
<aside> ❓ Without stalling, what would you do if you are presented with an important, immediate decision?
</aside>
It was completely on the spot and before I had time to formulate a response, my brain somehow yielded this distant memory of discussions with my Wife regrading her birth plan. Before realising why, the words were already tumbling out of my mouth to answer the question.
As explained by the NHS, a birth plan is a way of letting your midwife, nurses and doctors know what you want to happen during labour. It's a chance to plan things such as where you want to give birth, who's going to be with you during the birth, and what facilities you'd like to use.
Giving birth is inherently risky - there can be complications to the mother, the baby or both. It would be remiss of anyone to forego the opportunities when asked if they can help detect, prevent or alleviate often inevitable challenges during labour.
It all boils down to managing risk - if a situation arises, how are those present (in this example the patient, birthing partner, Doctors and Nurses) going to deal with it. The birth plan specifically is for the birthing partner to be aware of the mother’s wishes should she become incapacitated.
The critical word here is risk.
Every decision is based on risk. Whether that decision is to drive or cycle to work, unplugging a critical server which is showing evidence of malware or, contemplating being induced whilst in labour. And generally we need to make decisions based on your own or others’ actions, such as car accidents in the local area, server administrator misconfiguration or friends experiences.
Risk is determined by the theoretical occurrence of an event happening based on the interpretation of historical data or information.
This definition is applicable in both cyber security and labour/child birth.
A core, and widely adopted component of a birth plan, is BRAIN; a decision-making tool to help choose which treatment options are best for mother and baby. As explained by Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundations Trust, BRAIN stands for: