Birth plans have become somewhat standardized now. You can go online and you can click boxes that will tell you what you should ask your doctor about your birth plan. I believe that birth plans are important because it gets you thinking about the process, but I don't think anyone should be rigid with respect to their birth plan. You have it as a template or a guideline to how you would like an experience, but you have to be open-minded. If you're close-minded, if you're rigid, things aren't going to go your way all the time; you have to expect that. Because everybody is going to be different. If you have three pregnancies, all three labors may be completely different. So having expectations set upon you, upon your partner, upon your doctor, or anybody else involved is not necessarily going to be productive. Write a birth plan, have a birth plan so you have a guideline, but the most important thing is to keep an open mind.