Having a good idea of what you want for your birth is important. Knowing what the options are and what choices are available can be frustrating. To help guide you, we recommend mastering the art of BRAIN, an acronym to use for making decisions.

What is BRAIN?

The acronym BRAIN is the process of using questions to analyze your options and guide your decision making process. We will explain the acronym and then apply it to circumstances you may encounter during birth.

Benefits- What are the benefits of this intervention, option, procedure? How does it benefit me and baby?

Risks- What are the risks of this intervention, option, procedure? How may it affect baby and I negatively?

Alternatives- Are there other alternatives to this intervention, option, procedure? How do they compare to XYZ? Are they gentler or more invasive?

Intuition- Ask yourself how you personally feel about the situation? What does your gut say?

Nothing- What happens if we do nothing? Is it safe? Is it possible things can change? What happens if we wait? How long is it reasonable to wait for me to decide?