childcare for birth

[hibbledobble]

Dc3 is due imminently.

Sadly both sets of grandparents have booked holidays around my due date. Either side of it, but it means at least one set will miss the birth. They booked these while I was pregnant, and had been told the due date (but apparently they 'forgot').

I'm worried that if I can't reach the set who are still here, what I'm going to do. I don't really have any friends I can ask, apart from one, who has kindly agreed but has her own dc.

Please reassure me it will be ok! I'm worried as dc2 labour was quick, so we will need to get to the hospital quickly. For various reasons a home birth is not an option.

Bottom line is, if your first was quick chances are second will be quick too or even quicker! You need to either get a friend / neighbour on standby, reconsider home birth or be prepared for your partner to miss the birth. You need someone to look after your little one, they won't be allowed in the birthing suite, so if things happen quickly, it will have to be your DH.

Sorry third not second!

I had the same worry. As it happens I was two weeks overdue and the labour took quite a bit longer than dc2. So it worked out fine! I was prepared to go it alone without DH if it came to it. Not ideal but needs must!

Placemarking! Have no family nearby so watching with interest.

We had o grandparents we could ask so with second we used our 20 year old foster son - our daughter had a lovely time eating chocolates and getting dressed with everything inside out and back to front.
Our third we used a school secretary who was a sort of surrogate granny. The fourth and fifth we used the housekeeper. Sixth we used a combination of cleaner and her daughter who was our regular babysitter.

Maybe you could ask a neighbour or other mother from school/nursery. I think most people are only too willing to help.

Why have you started a second thread about this? You were given lots of advice on your other thread

This isn't a second thread, this is the first, which you would know if you had bothered to look

I didn't get a single reply to this thread for over 24 hours, so had asked for it to be deleted and posted elsewhere where there is more traffic.