DH and I have a 2.9yo toddler DS, and live far away from both our families. DS has never been cared for by anyone else overnight, although he is at nursery a few days a week.
I'm 36 weeks pg and although we have some NCT friends that are happy to have him while I'm in labour, I'm really worried about him staying overnight with any of them - I think he would be scared and confused, and I don't want his first meeting with his new sibling to be connected to a traumatic experience.
So I think the best solution is simply for DH to look after DS while I'm in labour, at least at night. Which means labouring on my own. Has anyone else done this? Was it ok? Do you have someone (a midwife) with you all the time?
I think I would be ok, but there are tons of little things running around in my mind, like if it happens at night, will I be able to get to the hospital on my own? (Taxi?) And what if there are problems and the baby needs to be taken away straight after birth - I don't like the idea of DH not being there with the baby (with DS' birth he had strict instructions to follow the baby and not let him out of his sight - luckily it never came to that as the birth was fairly straight-forward).
I have thought of a Doula, but I think I'm a bit late for that now, and also, I'm fairly sure I will be asking for an epidural, and Doulas seem to be very much about natural birth. I think I would feel a bit ashamed like I was 'letting her down' (I know this is silly) by going down the medicalised route...
I guess I'm just looking for encouraging stories of others who have been in the same situation and hearing what you did/how things ended up for you...
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Childbirth
Giving birth alone
19 replies
HazelShade · 07/07/2015 11:26
OP posts:
DixieNormas ·
07/07/2015 23:50
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DixieNormas ·
07/07/2015 23:51
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