What did you do with other DC if you went into labour in the middle of the night?

[tasmaniandevilchaser]

I think we can cobble together some child care for the day time, or at least something until my parents can get here. But what about night time? I can just imagine being desperate to get to where the gas and air is(or epidural!) and being stuck at home all night because we can't get anyone to look after DD. i was induced the first time round so have no experience of early labour, just the drip. what did you do?

I will get a taxi if needed and dh will follow on once my parents get here (1 hour away)

I do have offers to come round in the night but I would not relax incase toddler dd wakened up to a stranger so.

I had a nearby friend on standby to do the interim bit until my mum (who lives further away) could get here. It worked really well - friend got here in 5 mins and the DCs never woke up, and by the time they did in the morning, my mum was here (and their little brother had been born) :)

I had homebirths so I didn't have to bother :)

I di have a couple of friends happy to be woken at night if needed though just iin case.

Rang Mum at 4.30 am (on first contraction).
Baby, Mum and paramedics all turned up at the same time (7am)

Think DH got the worst job - juggling toddler, ambulance control and me!!!!

Had said I'd go to the hospital on my own if required. That obviously didn;t happen.

Would you consider a home birth?

Do you have any neighbours your child would be familiar with that would be willing to come in during the night till the main babysitter arrived? With DC3 and DC4 we had the offer from 4 different neighbours to do that till my mum could get there. It wasn't needed in the end but was reassuring to know we could call if needed.

you need a plan

we wrapped ds who was 3 in quilt and took him to my parents who live a few miles away.then turned around and drove in opposite direction very slowly to the hospital.

We had DBIL and a friend/neighbour on standby. Both live very close to us - just as well, as DS2 arrived in a great hurry at 1.30am, and I only woke up and called him at 12.30..

Labour is usually pretty slow. If you're having pains in the evening you'll have a good idea that you'll be needing overnight care. If you start having pains in the middle of the night chances are you won't be going to hospital until morning

Or have a hone birth

My mum was staying. I had asked her to come and stay as I got to 40 week mark, to help with DC1, I was too tired to do it all day. I think she thought she'd be there 3 days or so until DC2 arrived. DC2 was full 14 days late! My poor mum did not dare leave as the days went on.... but I went to hospital with DH in the middle of the night so it was really good she was there.

My plan was to run around the neighbours until someone answered the door and then send them to ours to look after DD whilst DP took me to hospital. With this in mind, I'd written out a quite detailed "guide" to DD which included things like what she had for breakfast, where her clothes were kept, how to fit the car seat, what time nursery opened etc. And she was booked into nursery every day (rather than her usual 3 days a week) so there'd be minimum waking hours care or interference with a neighbour having to get themselves to work. The spare bed was made up so the neighbour had somewhere to sleep and I'd vaguely prepared DD (2.5yr at the time) by saying that mummy might go to hospital & wouldn't it be an adventure if she woke up and X or Y were in the house). I had thought about asking in advance but that gave them an option to say no and I thought they'd respond better in an emergency situation.

I had a friend on call, who would have come anytime if needed. In fact DD1 slept through the whole of my home birth and wandered in when DD2 was 3 minutes old.

DF had her for tea instead and DH,DD2 and I caught up on sleep.

I have no family nearby (nearest were ILs over 1 hour away, who don't drive) and had just moved to a new area when DC3 was due.

Trying to find a solution to this really stressed me out near the end of my pregnancy as I was due at the beginning of January but had both my eldest two a couple of weeks early so was worried it'd happen over Christmas (and I don't have a car and am 30 minutes drive from the hospital)

I thought about a home birth but dismissed it because of my other DC.

I had one friend 15 minutes drive away on call and the hospital advised me that I could bring the DC there temporarily but that their dad would have to look after them there until someone else arrived.
I looked at paid emergency child care options (you can ask your surestart centre for help finding someone) but decided against it.

Luckily I went into labour the day the eldest two were due to go back to nursery after the Christmas period.
6.30am i went into labour. I ran myself a bath to try and relax (!) as nursery doesn't open until 7.30.

Got DC up and dressed, off to nursery then almost immediately my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart so had to be blue lighted to hospital (was so glad for the gas and air!) Dc3 was born at 9.30!

Such a considerate baby - he's 10 weeks old now and still the same!

Good luck!

I have 3 different sets of friends on call so that someone will be around. Dc1 knows all of them well. Have also written out full "instructions" of where to find things etc. Next door also happy to pop in if we get stuck.

DS knows what could happen (nearly 3yo).

I agree above that you need a plan. Disagree hat you can just wait it out in the night as labour usually slow. Dc1 was 5.5hrs from contractions to birth. I suspect things will be faster this time. You'll be so stressed if you don't have a plan. Just ask for help, very few people would say no.

My ultimate back up plan is that I'll take a taxi whilst DH looks after DS until babysitter arrives. Doesn't bother me going it alone.

Thanks everyone, yes I def need a plan, I'm not the sort of person to leave it til the last minute. murtette, that sounds very 'fly by the seat of your pants' to me! I do have a neighbour or 2 that could mind DD til the cavalry arrives.

though if baby waits til 38 wks then could send DD to my parents if the nesting gets crazy - that's how I knew DD was a day or 2 away from arrival. Then the problem is solved.

I like the idea of a home birth but the reality.... Not sure. We have a very very small flat and I don't really want DD to see me in an 'intense' state. I've also had lots of things go,wrong with pg over the last couple of years so I'm not feeling much confidence in my body.

Plan Z would be going alone to the hospital. I can't quite imagine getting from taxi to delivery suite holding a bag (maybe biting the bag!) on my own in full labour but hopefully it won't come to it.

Tasmanian my big tip would be to pack in a pull along hand luggage case, the sort of thing you can take on a plane. No way I could carry a big bag in labour, but I can pull one!

Good luck

My in-laws were looking after my youngest DD whilst I was at the hospital giving birth, but when night time came they wanted to go home. My DH drove home, got her ready for bed, wrapped her in a blanket and bought her back to the hospital. The midwife didn't bat an eyelid at it. My DD was very good though and just sat on DHs knee dozily. I'm not a screamer when in labour either, so nothing traumatic for DD to witness.

Another mum from pre-school or toddler group might help or staff from one of the settings your DC goes to. Did you say how old they are?

I had a nearby friend without dc on standby as she could come at a moment's notice. I had v quick labour (2.5hrs) with dc1 so needed a quick solution and all family are far away. Dc1 (thenunder as pre warned that he might wake up in the morning to find friend there and it meant that mummy and daddy had gone to the hospital.

As it turned out dc2 my waters went at midnight before I went into labour so friend came over, dh and I went to hosp to be checked, sent home, went into labour within a couple of hours and just made it back to the hospital in time (labour 45mins total ) I was glad that friend was there otherwise it would have been an emergency home birth (which I had also prepared for with bag of stuff).

Definitely work out a plan in advance and make sure dc1 understands - what would happen was one of my main stresses.