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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to be consulted about DP's 8 Y/O DS being at the birth?

305 replies

PeedOffandPg · 02/04/2008 12:43

She will be here for hols and there is no one else to look after her. Her mother is coming up with her and then going the next day and leaving her for five days.
He just assumes she will be there and be fine with it. But HE NEVER ASKED ME HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT.
I approached it today, asking if she will be fine seeing a birth. His response was, as I knew it would be, totally defensive. "I know my own daughter, if you dont want her there, she wont be, but neither will I"
His "issues" stem from thinking I want to do everything my way (long story)
BUT THIS IS MY DAY and I want to be put first. I think the visit should have waited till after I gave birth.
You know, the idea of her being there for her little sister's birth - that I am fine with.
But I am not fine with the fact that he didnt ask me how I feel about it. AIBU???

OP posts:
nkf · 02/04/2008 14:04

He and everyone else are being bizarre. Hire a doula and go it alone with her and the midwife. He can look after his daughter.

QuintessentialShadows · 02/04/2008 14:05

Shocking behaviour from a grown up man.

He would be minding his daughter, not looking after you. What if you need an emergency c section? Shall the child witness that too, or will he and her leave the room and you will be without support entirely?

Even if you dont. A birth hardly goes according to the text book, and it sounds nice and easy, you push baby is out, that happens occasionally too.

What if you need foreceps or ventouse delivery? How would you feel about pooing yourself while pushing while she is watching? Puking in her presense? How will she feel or handle it? Will he embrace her, or help you, if that happens?

To be honest, he is an arse, he is not supporting you in this. I would be inclined to say "Fine, neither of you will be there, I will call you when the baby is born" and just get a doula, your best friend or mum or your auntie to come. I would not even want him there.

And honestly, I dont think you really want her there either. Do you have other children? Have you given birth before?

AbbeyA · 02/04/2008 14:05

I think that it is inappropriate, terramum ,because you can't possibly know how it is going to go (even if you have a history of easy births). It could get quite terrifying for a DC, and it is one time in your life when you should be concentrating on yourself and the baby, not have to worry about how it is appearing to a DC.
The only circumstances that it might work is if you had had lots of chats about it over the months (which OP hasn't)and you were at home with another adult, not involved in the birth, who could be in charge of watching and talking to the DC. I still don't think it is a good thing.

doggiesayswoof · 02/04/2008 14:09

QS is right, he will be focusing on his dd. In which case he is not likely to be of any help to you anyway, and might as well not be there.

Lulumama · 02/04/2008 14:10

first off, YANBU

check with midwife if an 8 yr is even allowed to be in the labour room, i would doubt it very much

ask the child if she wants to be there!

tell your DP to watch some birth videos, find some that are graphic and then ask him if he wants his DD there to see that. yes, birth is normal and not a medical emergency, but i don;t think an 8 year old who does not have to be there, should be there. there can be a lot of fluid, blood, poo , vomit etc...

as for telling you not to swear! well, kick him repeatedly in the stomach every 3 minutes for a minute at a time,for 6 hours,. and see if he won;t swear

seriously, he has only seen very fast labours and needs to get in the real world....

at the end of the day, no-one should be in the labour room that you don;t want there., especially not a child.

GreebosWhiskers · 02/04/2008 14:14

I'm utterly shocked at his attitude tbh.

There is no way I would have wanted either of my elder dds to have been present at the births of their brother & sister & they're both much older than 8. A woman in labour needs to be as relaxed & comfortable as she possibly can be & needs the total support of her birthing partner (which he can't give if he's looking after his dd too). What if the child doesn't actually want to be there anyway & is only going to please her dad - has he actually discussed it properly with her & her mum?

He sounds like a total twunt & personally I'd rather do it on my own than with someone who can't put my needs first at such an important & stressful time. (If she can't go I won't go - ffs!).

If it helps tell him about my labour with ds (my 4th btw) - after 50 hours of early labour & 5 active labour my placenta refused to come away & I lost 2.5 litres of blood. Cue lots of running around attaching drips & running with me to theatre then an emergency blood transfusion. Would he like his dd to witness something like that? (Don't worry btw - that sort of thing is apparently more common the more pgs you have so I don't think you'll have anything like that).

Definitely YANBU - tell him the MW says the labour ward won't allow her in & rope in a friend/relly to come with you instead if he gets arsey.

Good luck (with your dh & your labour).

GreebosWhiskers · 02/04/2008 14:15

& at I hope you don't swear!

NotDoingTheHousework · 02/04/2008 14:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

QuintessentialShadows · 02/04/2008 14:20

I lost a lot of blood too, I tore really badly. My dh was in shock. I was shocked when I saw the obstetrician totally smeared with blood, the wall behind him too. I could see an person outline in smeared blood on the wall, as he put his foot on the "bed" I was on, put the ventouse on babys head, and tugged as he pushed his leg out, and fell back onto the wall, twice. Then the ventouse. I was not in a position to handle the baby, my was the first to hold him, and he held on to him for a long while as they stitched me up.

I cant imagine a child being present at something like that (and hopefully, it wont happen to you, but you have no guarantees how it will go)

Again, I would not want him there at all if he cant put your needs first.

I agree you should let him watch some really gruesome birth videos.

Beetroot · 02/04/2008 14:26

I have no problem with children at the birth. ds1 cut dd's cord.

AT HOME

You really need to plan this now and sort it out. I would seriously find a freidn/mum to be your birth partner.

titchy · 02/04/2008 14:29

OTOH if she is there you could probably pretty much agree she won't fall pregnant as a teenager!

titchy · 02/04/2008 14:29

guarantee I meant not agree...

twirlymum · 02/04/2008 14:33

What is her mother thinking??? I wouldn't want my 7 year old witnessing a birth!! She doesn't even know the facts of life!! Think your dp is being unreasonable. You are the one he should be focusing on.

didoreth · 02/04/2008 14:34

YANBU. I'm not against children at births per se either, but agree with Mrs.Tittlemouse that theres a world of difference between a scenario of older siblings popping in and out of a home birth, (with someone else in present in the house to take care of them), and an 8 year old being stuck for hours in a small hospital room with nothing to do. I'd be very surprised if any hospital would allow it anyway. Your dp needs to decide if he wants to be your birth partner or his daughter's babysitter - its just not possible to do both jobs properly at the same time.

CrushWithEyeliner · 02/04/2008 14:36

What on earth

I can't believe this has happened to you. Anything could happen and you will need your DH full attention - it is really not fair on the girl either. It could stick in her mind for life and possibly traumatise her. I had PPH and believe me my DH is still not over seeing blood pouring from me "like a tap".

You poor thing.

edam · 02/04/2008 14:39

He is being absolutely ridiculous. This is an appalling way to treat you - he should be protecting you and trying to remove stress from your life, not adding to it!

In the short term, tell him you've checked with your midwife and she's said no, the hospital won't allow it. In the long term, you really do have to tackle his very poor attitude. He is a selfish git who clearly has no respect for you.

CrushWithEyeliner · 02/04/2008 14:40

My SC came along to the hosp to visit and held the baby and had a lovely time. We made sure they were included - but at the birth - no way.

May I ask if he would feel differently if it were a Step SON at all?

catsmother · 02/04/2008 14:42

I can only echo what the vast majority of other posters have said and repeat that he is being utterly and totally selfish, arrogant, thoughtless, bullying etc etc etc.

This has nothing to do - really - with whether or not it is "appropriate" for a child to witness a birth, nor with the fact she is a step child ...... but everything to do with who you want to be with you when you give birth.

If there is one occasion in her life when a woman is allowed to be totally "selfish" with extremely good reason, it's when she's giving birth. YOU get to choose who's there, YOU get to choose who visits and when. If you want your husband with you, you'll want him to be a support to you ...... not an effing childminder, for goodness how long. You want him to be wiping your brow, physically supporting you in a position you feel comfortable in, getting you a drink, reassuring you if/when things get scary/painful, you want him to speak up in support of you if there are decisions to be made and you might be semi-comtose/exhausted ..... and 1001 other possibilities which can happen when you give birth.

No-one can possibly predict and be 100% sure how their birth will go - even mums with lots of kids. I'm not going to list all the ways in which things might go "wrong" - and obviously, I sincerely hope they don't, but there is lots of potential for you needing his attention to be 101% on you.

That's before you start wondering what effect various things might have on the child. TBH, that's the last thing you should be worrying about right now - that'd be his fault if she was traumatised in any way ..... but if it got to a point where she had to be ushered out, then presumably he goes with her, leaving you alone at your most vulnerable.

The more I type, the angrier I'm getting. How dare he expose you to extra worry / feeling self-conscious / feeling inhibited / humiliated / exposed and so on when you will need all your reserves to concentrate on the birth itself. Does the prat not realise that if you feel stressed, it's possible your labour may take even konger ? How dare he demand that you don't swear ........ you should be able to scream and swear all you like and no-one at the hospital will give a toss.

Look ....... have you actually spoken to your midwife and/or the hospital about this yet ? As you could drop any moment, this is imperative. I can't believe for a moment they'd feel happy about this.

I want to come over and slap him for you I really do - knock some sense into his condescending shit for brains. As someone else said, how would he feel about exposing his private parts to a child ..... how would he feel being intimately examined by a doctor while a child watched .... how would he feel pooing himself in the prescence of a child ....... the whole idea is absolutely preposterous and at a time, when he should be putting you first, he is putting what he wants above you. What an utter shit he is.

I am so so sorry you are in this position. You must feel very frightened and bullied.

MrsTittleMouse · 02/04/2008 14:43

He's being such an arse that he would probably tell Peedoff that a DSS seeing the birth would be great practise for when the SS is a father.
Does he seriously think that a 16-20 minute labour is typical?

scorpio1 · 02/04/2008 14:44

this has really wound me up.....

I really hope that the MW will be on side and that you get what you want and need for this birth.

SmugColditz · 02/04/2008 14:44

What if (god forbid) something should go wrong? How on Earth would an 8 year old child deal with that?

Ring her mother, appeal to her mother, explain that you are likely to be noisy and hysterical amd you are worried that it will frighten her. What if there is a crash section? Who will look after her?

MrsTittleMouse · 02/04/2008 15:00

Hear hear catsmother. That's it, that's the whole thing in a nutshell.

Youcannotbeserious · 02/04/2008 15:03

I'm with CM on this one....

there is a reasonable chance that my DH won't be able to be with me when our baby is born and I'm fine with that. He'll be there if he possibly can and we've done everything in our power to make sure that's the case........

But, can you imagine, your DH being there and deciding you aren't going fast enough and DD is bored so they are off out to get pizza!!

I'd just be livid!

CM is right. this is the birth of your baby and you should be able to decide what's right for you. there is no right or wrong.

I'm guessing your DH wouldn't be too keen if he saw all our replies?

Beetroot · 02/04/2008 15:13

Ii think I suggested the same fuerther down - serious -

find someelse else no and tell him you are helping him out so that he can be with his daughter and not have to worry

PeedOffandPg · 02/04/2008 15:19

Hello everyone,
Right I have talked to my midwife AND the labour ward. They have agreed to bring forward induction while DSD's mum is around.

I have to go home if nothing happens and come back at 8am the next morning - and if DSD comes the midwives will say she is not around and are happy to be kept out of it.

THEY are being reasonable and helpful, exactly how DP SHOULD be. This has thrown up some serious issues and makes me look at him in a new light.
I cant believe how selfish he is being. How blinkered, how small-minded etc etc etc.

I texted him my main peeve which was "I'm fine with the idea of DSD being there, not fine with the fact that you didnt see fit to consult me - or her!" and I said if he took her away when/if it got too much, where would that leave me? Alone!

He texted back saying that I had created a problem where one didnt exist.

Arrogant twat and I told him as much.

I think it is about him losing face, but that's not my problem. I feel a bit better now I have an earlier date and the midwives on my side though, they were great.

OP posts:
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