Who was present at your birth?

[LatoyaLondon]

I would like my mum and partner present. I know people who have had friends present, aunts, and one had a doula. Out of pure curiosity, who did you have present at the birth of your child(ren) and why?

DS1 DH, and 2 MWs. All as planned one of the MWs was training in water births.

DS2 I was induced and the horror stories made me think i was miles off So Me alone until crowning at that second I realised what was happening 4 MWs / Auxillaries who'd heard me bounded into the room just in time to catch him!

DH and assorted hospital staff. Second time around I kind of wanted my mum there, but it was very important for my DH that it be only the two of us (and hospital staff) so I never even asked her.

DH and 3 midwives, 1 dr the first time. DH and ?2 midwives the next 3 times.
I would have been ok with my DM there. I can't imagine anyone else who I'd have brought!

My husband & midwife.

With DS about 20 or so it seemed.
Emergency Caeserean at 33 weeks due to pre eclampsia.
Grateful for every one of them being present.

DS1 - midwife, head midwife, junior doctor, consultant & baby doctor.
Thanks to un-necessary intervention DS2 was a home birth with OH, student midwife & other midwife day in chair & another midwife in the kitchen doing paperwork.

Medical staff tend to slow me down.

OH and medical staff.

I could have managed easily without OH, he;s not good at these type of things.

I would have hated my mother there.

Do you mean when you were born? Or your DCs birth? My mum was present for my birth, DH & I (obvs) were present for dds birth.

My mum and auntie

My mum. DH had a hospital phobia at the time (only overcome now 18 years later) and would have been useless.

For numbers 1, 2 and 4 it was just DH and midwife but with 3 and 5 my cousin was also with me. I was expecting number 3, she was 19 and asked if she could come so I said yes - we've always been very close. She came with refreshments and a video camera and an hour or so after DD was born she was with my mum showing her the baby. DD has her name as her middle name in honour of the role she played in her birth.

When number 4 was due everything was so fast we didn't get a chance to tell her I was in labour.

With number 5 she was with us off and on throughout the day in charge of the tv remote. Again she took lots of photos and went straight to my parents and the other children so they could see their baby sister straight away.

She was very sensitive and both times left almost as soon as the babies were born so we had lots of time together as a couple but having her around was great - especially while I was being monitored and strapped down to the bed!

my dad

DD1 and 2 - bunches of people, multiple doctors, midwives, nurses and DH (v premature twins)
DS1 - one doctor, two midwives, DH
DD3 - nobody, just me (unplanned and extremely quick home birth)

Run the whole spectrum! Would have liked my mum to have been there for one of them (particularly the first and the last) but it never worked out that way.

DD1- Sister and DH,a midwife who fainted at my nearly 2hour epidural attempt,so replaced with various other midwives.
Then turned into EMC situation with a lot of medical staff. So them and DH, as only one person allowed in theatre with me.

DD2- Elective C section, less medical staff and DH. DH got to cut the cord. Dsis and parents/family looked after DD1.

me and my ds
2 midwives

DC1 - exH, OB/Gyn doctor, nurse for me, nurse for baby, and anesthesiologist for my epidural at one point;

DC2 - exH, doctor, two nurses, at least twenty other people (medical students at varying stages of their studies and OB/Gyn residents). I squeezed the hand of one resident really, really hard. This particular baby was a chance for the students to see a vacuum extraction. A nice Scottish anesthesiologist arrived five minutes too late, apologised profusely for lack of epidural, congratulated me on a bouncing baby, apologised again when told exactly how 'bouncing';

DC3 - exH, hospital OB/Gyn resident, two nurses, flustered lad from phlebotomy (temporarily) until I told him to get out, my OB/Gyn doctor for the last hurrah (to direct the mopping up);

DC4 - exH, hospital OB/Gyn resident, a seasoned nurse called Roxanne who knew a woman whose DCs went to my older DCs' school (we chatted as the Dr waited for the placenta and then stitched me back together);

DC5 - exH, midwife, trainee midwife.

@Sittinonthefloor Out of pure curiosity, who did you have present at the birth of your child(ren) and why?

Thanks everyone for these answers! Really interesting and has definitely opened my eyes to the fact that anything can happen!

ExDP, medical staff and midwive.

Husband and mum. And staff as it was in hospital. He was pretty hopeless in some sort of shock state (baby was a month early) and I couldn’t have done it without my mum. She kept us both going.

DS1 - 1 MW, 1 medical student now married to a family member which is a bit awkward, XH (wasn’t x at the time) and his bloody stepmum who wouldn’t fuck off.

DD - DP, MW and the crash team as DD was undiagnosed footling breech (thankfully she was fine, no complications at all). I wasn’t even aware of the crash team at the time because they were behind me, and they melted away very quickly as she was fine.

DS2 - DP, MW and student MW. ‘‘Twas a good thing the student was there as MW wasn’t listening that I needed to push and she didn’t even have gloves on so student caught DS2!

My mum and my husband. My husband is scared of needles and blood so thought it best to have my mum there in case he decided to pass out! Extra glad because I ended up having an emergency c section and he obviously couldn't come in with me so my mum did. I had a really lovely birth and having my two favourite people made it extra calm.

Due in July and it will be just me and DH, alongside any hospital staff.

My mum is a bit put out by this - I think she thought she'd be invited too but she's so 'stressy' that she would just make the whole thing worse for us all. (I do love her btw - she just isn't the person for when I'm going through the worst pain of my life).

@lifechangesforever of course you love her if my mum hadn't been a midwife and wasn't the most relaxed woman on earth I doubt I would want her there either, but I love her to pieces 🙈

For the actual births I had dh and medical people. Mil, fil and ds2 joined us for some of the pacing hospital corridors stage with dc3 but left before things got going.