After considering all your options, you’ve made your decision to create an adoption plan. Along this journey, you’ve made many hard choices, and now it’s time for delivery. Many mothers who are considering adoption worry about their hospital experience and how they will feel. You may wonder if you will see your baby or have time to bond with him/her. Who will be in the delivery room, and what will happen right after your baby is born?

You’ll want someone on your side, and Hope Cottage counselors will be there for you every step of the way. Our Birth and Adoption Plan for Hospital will help answer your questions and make sure that all of your needs get taken care of.

What is a Birth and Adoption Hospital Plan?

The Birth and Adoption Hospital Plan (AHP) is a document that you (as a birthmother) will create so that everyone involved knows what you want to happen during your hospital stay. You can draft this plan days, weeks, or months before your delivery time. It’s best to have this plan intact before childbirth in order to ease the labor process. The AHP is important because it empowers YOU to detail your wishes for delivery. Your Hope Cottage counselor will share your plan with hospital staff and your chosen adoptive family.

Important Considerations for Your Adoption Hospital Plan

Your Hope Cottage counselor can help guide you in creating your AHP. They will encourage you to be open and honest about your wishes concerning the following:

• Labor and Delivery

  • Who will call your pregnancy counselor when you go into labor?

  • Who would you like to be present at the birth?

  • What type of birth would you like to have? Natural or epidural?

  • What is your openness arrangement with the adoptive parents? Do you want them at the hospital or in the delivery room during the birth?

  • Is there anyone you do not want at the birth?

• Contact with Baby

  • Do you want to spend time alone with your baby?

  • Do you want to name your baby, or have you and the adoptive parents chose a name together?

  • Do you want to breastfeed/bottle feed your baby for their first feeding?

  • Do you want to change your baby?

  • Do you want photos taken of you and your baby?

  • Do you want to keep any mementos from your hospital experience with your baby? (Lock of hair, baby bracelet, blanket/hat, footprints or copy of the birth certificate, etc.)

  • Do you want your baby to stay with you until you’re released from the hospital?

When working with Hope Cottage, you are in control every step of the way. We are here to support your decisions and advocate for you and your baby.

Hope Cottage is here if you are pregnant and need help. You can reach a Pregnancy Counselor 24/7 by calling or texting (Dallas) 469.418.4518. If you are pregnant, read our Self Care During Pregnancy for more information on keeping you and your baby healthy during your pregnancy. If you are a social worker, check out At the Hospital: A Social Worker’s Role to learn more about creating a positive environment at the hospital for expectant mothers making an adoption plan.