The Secret Birth Plan for Dads

Creating a birth plan is standard practice for expectant mothers, and rightly so. In a stressful situation, you don't want to miss a chance to get an epidural or kick out an overbearing in-law.

But shouldn't expectant fathers have a birth plan too? A wise father would say he doesn't need a plan. He only needs to say yes to whatever his wife wants and needs.

But privately, an expectant father knows he desperately needs a thorough plan to avoid blacking out from the pressure to act like everything is completely normal and going great. Here are 10 suggestions for such a secret birth plan for dads:

1. Make sure your plan isn't ever confused with your wife's plan. The last thing you want to do during the frenzy of a delivery is grab your wife's birth plan instead of your own and mistakenly give someone permission to use forceps on you or, heaven forbid, cut your cord. Print your plan in a different color if necessary, because you don't want any confusion about who should be getting a circumcision.

This list originally appeared on the ParentNormal Comedy Podcast website and aired on the episode about Birth Plans . Like ParentNormal on Facebook . Follow ParentNormal on Twitter .