If you're creating a birth plan to give the nurses and other caregivers who'll be attending your birth, you'll want to make sure to include a section on how you'd like both yourself and your baby to be treated after delivery.

For example, if you're planning to breastfeed, you'll get off to a much better start if you can nurse your baby soon after birth — preferably right away. But if your care providers don't know about your wishes, they will probably follow hospital protocol instead, which may mean that your baby will be getting looked over on a warmer when you'd hoped to be nursing her.

When you're creating your postpartum birth plan, be sure to include your preferences for the following scenarios:

• If you want your baby to be with you while you're getting a tear or episiotomy repaired (if necessary), you'll want to indicate this in your postpartum plan. Also, if you'll be delivering at a teaching hospital, think about whether you'll be okay with a student performing your sutures, or if you'd rather your doctor or midwife did it.

• What do you want to happen to your placenta? If you're hoping to take your placenta home for any reason, you'll need to let your caregivers know about this ahead of time and be sure to include it in your plan. Some hospitals won't allow you to keep the placenta.

• If you'll be breastfeeding, you'll want to make sure the nurses know not to give your baby any pacifiers or bottles of formula or sugar water, and that you'd like a visit from the hospital's lactation consultant, if there is one. Also, you may want to indicate that your baby should receive expressed breastmilk if he has to spend time in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU).

• Decide whether you'll be rooming in or rooming out.

• If you want your caregivers to hold off on examining your newborn until after you've had a chance to hold him and breastfeed him, make sure this is in your postpartum plan. Other routine newborn procedures, like clamping and cutting the cord, providing vitamin K injections, or putting antibiotic eye ointment on the baby can usually be delayed if you ask ahead of time.

When you create a postpartum plan, you'll need to make sure that you also communicate your wishes (or have somebody else, like a doula, your partner, or other helper, do it) to all the staff involved in your birth and postpartum experience. Remember, it's your body, your baby, and your right to ask for the treatment you want. You are a paying customer!