Postpartum Plan Worksheet_________________________________ A Postpartum plan is much like a Birth Plan. It helps you to plan for a smooth transition adjusting to your new family dynamics in the first few weeks. Bear in mind that flexibility is the key when considering all the potential conditions and “personalities” that are unknown. Remember to honor this time as a rite of passage. The most important element is the “babymoon” phase. You will only experience this time once for this baby/these babies. Make it count for you and your family – everything else that was there, will still be there to consider at a later time. Sleep and Rest What are your normal (pre-pregnancy) sleep requirements (# of hours per night)? _______________________________ Here’s an approach to help you get as much (or almost as much) sleep as you need: 1. Calculate how many hours of sleep you used to need regularly before pregnancy in order to function well. Six hours? Eight hours? That is the amount of sleep you now owe yourself every day. 2. Since you cannot get this amount of sleep in one stretch because of interruptions for feedings and baby care, you will require more hours in bed to get your allotted amount of sleep. 3. Plan to stay in bed or keep going back to bed until you have slept your allotted amount of hours. This means that, with the exception of trips to the bathroom, you do not get up. You do not brush your teeth, shower, or dress in the early morning. Make a mental note of approximately how many hours you have slept since you went to bed. You may have to stay in bed from 10pm until noon the next day to get eight hours of sleep! If that’s what it takes, do it. Then brush your teeth, take a shower, dress, and greet the day. Physical Recovery What is important to you when determining how you expect to physically recover from the birth? (Self care, exercise, weight, etc.): ________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Breastfeeding/Infant Feeding Anticipated method of feeding for baby/babies:_______________________________________________________ My expectations for feeding the baby/babies are: ⃝ On Cue

⃝ Scheduled

I feel this way because:__________________________________________________________________________ We will have a feeding/elimination chart:___________________________________________________________ Nourishment We plan to: ⃝ Have meals prepared ahead of time and stored in the freezer ⃝ Prepare meals day to day ourselves ⃝ Prepare meals day to day with help ⃝ Order in ______ times a week ⃝ Combination of ______________________________________________________________________ Phone: 559.392.1407 www.loveandlaborbirths.com [email protected]

Caring for the baby/babies: We plan to: ⃝ Have help from a professional doula, so that we can spend our time with the baby/babies and siblings ⃝ Have help from family, so that we can spend our time with the baby/babies and siblings ⃝ Hire a housekeeper for general housekeeping so we can spend time with the baby/babies and siblings ⃝ Hire a nanny to look after the baby/babies and siblings ⃝ Care for the baby/babies and siblings ourselves and manage the house at the same time Sleeping arrangements: ⃝ We plan to co-sleep ⃝ We plan to have the baby/babies in the same room but sleeping in a cradle/bassinet ⃝ We plan to have the baby/babies in their own room Redefining roles: Who will do the caring for the baby/babies? ___________________________________________________________ Who will do the caring for siblings? ________________________________________________________________ Who will do the cleaning? _________________________________________________________________________ Who will do the cooking? _______________________________________________________________________ Who will do the laundry? _______________________________________________________________________ Who will do the shopping? _______________________________________________________________________ Who will run the errands? _______________________________________________________________________ Who will transport the siblings to places? ___________________________________________________________ As the mother I will expect my partner’s role to be: ____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ As the partner I will expect the mother’s role to be: ____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Partners/relationships: It is important to our relationship that we _____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Siblings: It is important to maintain ______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone: 559.392.1407

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Pets: It is important to maintain ______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Family and friends: Who is going to be involved in our support over the postpartum period? _____________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Visitors: We expect to have the following visitors in the first week:_______________________________________________ We expect to have the following visitors in the second week:____________________________________________ Organization: Baby feeding areas will be _________________________________________________________________________ Areas will include such things as ____________________________________________________________ Diaper/change tables/areas will be _________________________________________________________________ Areas will include such things as ____________________________________________________________ Baby sleeping/resting areas will have ______________________________________________________________ If bottle feeding, preparation area will include _______________________________________________________ Longer term support for the next 12 months: Childcare, babysitters and daycare options: __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Housekeeping and chores: ______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Staying connected to the outside world: It is important to have: __________________________________________________________________________ How important is staying connected to you? _________________________________________________________ ⃝ It is important to get out and meet up with friends and family as usual ⃝ It is important to talk to friends and family as usual ⃝ It is important to put a message on the machine and return calls when possible ⃝ I will be using social networking and/or e-mail to stay connected to the outside world ⃝ I’m not generally sociable and prefer this to be a quiet family time Recording and journaling: It is important to ________________________________________________________________________________ Phone: 559.392.1407

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Greatest concern is: ____________________________________________________________________________ Other things important to us: ____________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone: 559.392.1407

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