If you are expecting a baby you need to plan ahead and decide where you will give birth. There are several choices: the local hospital where you will be for between 7 hours and 4 days depending on any complications and how you received from the birth. Then there is the birth centre: this will be staffed just by midwives and will offer similar facilities to a home birth and will be less impersonal than a hospital. Or you can give birth to your baby at home. Two midwives should be in attendance and your home will need to be within fairly easy reach of a hospital in case of emergency. Which ever you choose, make sure you record baby’s time of birth and other details that you will want to remember in the years to come. There is no better way of recording these than on birth plates which will be treasured for many years.