I agree playful mom, but I'd even say it goes beyond Singapore. Women everywhere in the world using highly medicalized birth facilities are treated as high-risk as default and interventions are done that parents can't complain or get justice for unless the baby dies as a result. If the baby is healthy then no one wants to listen about the unnecessary frightening or traumatic experience that mom and baby had. Many parents feel convinced after that they needed to go through such a bad experience to get their healthy baby in the end, which is so sad.
If parents don't know what procedures are typically done for a hospital birth from entry to hospital to exit from hospital they should ask to be walked through step by step. Do the research after and ask why things are done! There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a birth plan that tells hospital staff what procedures you will accept and what procedures you won't. Doulas in Singapore are in a tough spot because they can be ejected from the mothers room if the staff get upset that she is interfering, so it is up to dads or other family members who are birth companions to stand up for mom's right to not undergo some procedures. Of course you need to be flexible in the rare event of emergency to baby or mother. The problem is, this is sometimes abused by docs - as in the episiotomy given to me. Doc claimed fetal distress but there was none, the doc simply wanted the birth to go more quickly.
The worst thing mom can do is just turn up at the hospital and hand herself over to the "medical professionals" for the birth. If you feel there is nothing wrong with this, just beware, because you can very well open yourself up to a traumatic experience that leaves you wondering after, "What if...". You can only give birth to your baby once, so why not try to make it as gentle and wonderful as possible, with as few people meddling in the experience as possible. Remember, the majority of women are fully capable of birthing their babies without interventions! Women have been doing this since the beginning of time!
This link is a good start. It contains further links to useful articles that delve into some of the topics for consideration. Interactive Birth Plan at childbirth.org -
http://www.childbirth.org/interactive/ibirthplan.html When we made our birth plan we also included our wishes about routine vitamin k for the baby, as well as initial immunizations. In Singapore some hospitals are still trying to shave and give enemas to mothers, so that could go into the birth plan as well.