who did you tell when you went into labour?

[Cazm2]

Hi all posted in pregnancy but maybe better here! 37 weeks with first bubba. Wasn't planning on me and Dh letting anyone know when in labour however kmil has announced she wants to know Dh wavering. I might if things get complicated or need extra support tell my mum. But I don't want Dh constantly on phone with updates or disappearing mil is demanding. What did you do?

Reading with interest as DC1 is due at the end of May but my DM and DSD will be flying in from overseas and staying with us from 37 weeks onwards. DH will be working (unless it happens at a weekend) so means I will have to tell DM, possibly before I tell DH. DM not going to be the calmest I don't think and will also be on serious tenterhooks throughout and when I go into the hospital so think we're going to have to have a preparatory conversation about how we're going to deal with all of this so that it doesn't get too stressful! PIL's and my Dad and DSM will be on the motorway in a shot once they find out too and I'd really like a little bit of space when I get home from hospital without a full on invasion!! Arggh something else to think of and chat through with DH I think!! Thanks for the thread!

DH was still at home and my cleaner because it was her usual day and I was running around with my TENS machine, moaning.

Parents were informed when DD was born.

Most of our friends and family knew that I was in labour. I had a long labour, 40 hours, and spent much of the beginning of it on the phone talking to friends and family trying to take my mind of the pain. It did get annoying towards the end when the pain was unbearable and all I could hear was our bloody phones beeping .

Wasn't going to tell anyone with our first, but most family ended up knowing as labour lasted fucking ages, and as we were meeting FIL/SIL/BIL for lunch they would have guessed anyway if we had to disappear off in a hurry!

With DS2 only SIL/BIL as they were babysitting DS1. My mum was a bit put out that the first they knew was ringing them to announce his arrival, esp as I'd only spoken to her the night before, but even I didn't know then! There's no pleasing some people...

With DD1 it was the entire extended family of mine and of DH! That's what happens when you are labouring on Christmas day!
DD2 was induced so most people knew it was going to happen.

Um...everyone

DH rang my dad to say we were going into hospital as at the time he worked for him and so had to warn him that he wouldn't be in in the morning. So dad told people. After my waters broke (at 8 which prompted us to call hospital; they said come in at about half 9) I was a bit over excited and rang my sister and best friend. Then posted on fb

DD arrived next day at lunchtime.
TBH I wish we could have kept it to ourselves until she was born, looking back. But we had to tell dad who then told others, and I couldn't see how I could tell some family without others knowing. We're quite a closeknit family, albeit far apart location wise.

This time around we shall have to tell my mum as she'll be minding DD for us and my best friend is coming to stay as well so she may well know. That all being said, I'd like to keep it so that DD meets her new brother or sister first and is the first with the news (despite being only 2.8!) I think we'll play it by ear but I certainly don't intend to get quite so overexcited and, erm, indiscreet!

I had an emergency section after going in for a routine bp check, so DH was there, but i got him to call my Dad, text my best friend and text my cousin who was staying in Oz at the time :)

First time round, i laboured from first thing in the morning and we let both sets of parents know that things were happening.

Second time it was different - middle of the night and very quick labour. We phone sil and bil but only because they were to collect ds. Didn't want anyone else informed til baby born. But couldn't stop dh from phoning his mammie...

No one. I had a huge row with DM about it 2 days before I went into labour. I couldn't imagine anything worse than everyone wanting updates!

This time I'll have to tell DM as she'll be looking after DS but she will be on strict instructions to keep quiet

I got a text saying a friend was in labour, I then worried about her non stop for 2 days while the baby took its sweet time to arrive. Dont do it. Far better to get a message saying "Baby is here, name, weight etc".

Dh and I told my parents but they are calm people and we knew they would carry on with their daily routine and wait for 'the call'.
Mil was told after dd was born.

If you don't need to tell them for childminding/pet-sitting services then I wouldn't bother telling anyone.
That way you and your dh can just focus on yourselves and make the phone calls once baby has arrived.

Feeling the need to keep someone updated throughout the day, or night, can just add pressure to a situation that doesn't need it.
You said yourself your mil was demanding...

Well we didn't tell anyone, but that was partly because I went into labour at 11pm and DS had arrived by 4am. Given our parents are usually tucked up asleep by 10pm it seemed silly to wake them when we didn't have any real 'news'. It was great to tell them in the morning. I called my parents and DH had been chucked out of hospital, so went to tell his parents in person. There's a lovely pic of DH and his Mum both grinning from ear to ear just after he told her the news.

TBH I doubt I would have told anybody anyway if it could be avoided, as I wanted to focus on having the baby, not on everybody else worrying, and as other posters have said, if it had been a long labour, our parents could have been v stressed by it all...

DC1: no one
DC2: the friend who looked after DC1
DC3: no one
DC4: no one, and delayed telling my parents for 24 hours after birth due to their previous form for turning up straight away and expecting to spend 8 hours holding brand new baby whilst new parents run around after them

My friend who is due shortly, is planning a home birth, with a number of us to keep her company in the early stages until things get moving when her OH can take over. So I guess we'll know from the start

No one. I had 3 conversations on the phone with people when. Was in early stages but didn't say anything. My friend thought I was being a bit off with as I was trying to get her off the phone.

As it happens, the engineering manager at work. Prem labour, dh in a meeting with his phone off two hours away... Bless him, he grabbed his keys, ran out of the factory and took me to the hospital and kept me calm till dh turned up

With this one, my parents because they're having the other children, my boyfriend and my sister because they're both my birthing partners. My sister gave birth 4 weeks ago (gorgeous wee girl she is, too) and the only person she told apart from her boyfriend was me, as she didn't want our Mum worrying all day and night.

I wouldn't mind my other half telling his family to begin with, but I will be insisting he stay with me and is focused on me, not giving them updates on the phone or, worse, updating Facebook O_o

Mind you, my labours are so unusually sudden and quick I don't think there'll be much time to tell anyone else anyway!

DS1 - DH & friend/birth partner
DS2 - No-one as I knew DH would get into a flap and want to go to hospital, so I hung on all night & mid morning mentioned I thought today might be the day but we'd loads of time - drop DS1 off, make sure there was enough shopping in etc - got to hospital about 3-ish, DS2 born at 8pm.

No one. Contractions started just as I was going to bed, so decided I wanted DH to have a had a good nights sleep so didn't tell him ... Pretended I was uncomfortable and took myself off to spare room. Not much happened overnight so he was very well rested! Certainly didn't tell anyone else. Horrid idea. As DS took another 4 days to arrive, just as well really!

DP knew, as he heard me say "oh fuck" as my waters gushed over the bathroom floor at 11pm Thurs at 36+5. We went into hospital at 6 the next morning. DS born at 1am Sunday morning EMCS. The only other person I told was my best friend who was flying out for a holiday on the Saturday and I knew by the time she'd be back baby would have arrived. SO I snuck out of the hospital on the Friday night and met her in the pub for a (soft!) drink.

Glad I didn't tell anyone else. Much better to announce by surprise on the Sunday.

I ended up having to deactivate my fb as my dp called into work to say he wouldnt be in and everyone started writing on my wall 'congratulations' and baby wasnt even here yet!(was actually fuming as wanted my family to know before it went public)

Next time round i'm turning my phone off from the start deactivating fb and will swear whoever has ds to secrecy!

I think i'm just selfish and dont want to share anymore than i have to tho, i know i hurt my mum's feelings by not letting her in the room with me..oopss

I didn't want to tell anyone.
I was actually quite annoyed when my DH called his parents.
He said it wouldn't matter, but they promptly turned up at the hospital along with DH's sister, expecting the baby to arrive immediately.
The last thing I wanted was MIL around while I was in labour.

Thankfully this was 10pm and the hospital sent them home telling them that the baby wouldn't be arriving until the next morning.

DD arrived at 12:30am and we were able to enjoy the night in peace before the family returned to the hospital the next morning.

Unless you have other children that need looking after I don't get why you would tell anyone. I was on the phone to a friend from work when my waters went with a sudden pop, so obviously she knew my labour had started, but I didn't tell family. There wouldn't have been any point because we have no-one within 150 miles anyway. OH had lots of phone calls to make later that evening though

New flat was being done up so we were at my parents.
2am told my mum that DH and I were off to the hospital.
Followed by "Oh and by the way Mum, today's the day the removal men are coming to move our stuff into the new flat - here are the keys - thanks"
At that point, my mum finally registered what was going on :)
DD born a couple of weeks earlier than planned and we moved into new place when she was 3 days old, amidst chaos of boxes.
Moral of this story: never move when heavily pregnant, or with a newborn - it ain't funny...

No one apart from DH to begin with - then just as things started to get serious I remembered the on line shop, and insisted that DH rang my sister to get her to cancel it. I couldn't think of giving birth while worrying about the shopping.