Dr. Jason James, Obstetrician and Gynecologist with Baptist Health South Florida, explains patients are prepared for a vaginal birth by getting admitted and then they get an IV. There is no more eating in the hospital, but sometimes you can have your fluids if you are low risk. They put you in the bed and use a fetal monitoring.”

He says the idea is getting a tracing of the heartbeat of the baby to make sure it is healthy and also for timing contractions. “A birth plan is an idea of how they would like their labor to go in the ideal situation, whether they want pain medication and who they want in the room, their preference for vaginal or cesarean, breast-feeding or bottle feeding. But you need to understand it is given in ideal circumstances and sometimes things go according to plan, but sometimes things change.”