Labour babysitters on standby : how best to plan and prepare?

[Smittals]

I'm due at the end of April and already have DD, 2.4. The plan is for DH to drive me to hospital (35-40 mins away). The rough plan for babysitting is for my local friend to come and babysit in the first case (she is about 15 mins away), then my SIL to come up (40mins drive away) for the bulk of the time. As everything is so speculative i.e. I don't know what time of day or night I'll be heading for hospital, or how quickly the contractions will build up so how much notice I'll be able to give them (but took ages last time), I can't seem to think straight and sort out what exactly I need to ask/prepare them to do, or even any good ideas if they can't get sitters for their own children. Worst case scenario, I would have to get to hospital on my own and deliver alone but this is a pretty miserable prospect! So if you have any good tips that helped you plan for your labour-sitters, I would love to hear them please.

oh watching this with interest, as I am due in the next 2 weeks and have a 3 yr old dd- in laws and my parents are both 50 min drive away, and all friends either work full time or have their own children

I had same situation - had a friend about 10m away to look after dd, who was 2 at the time, and my parents on standby (about 1 and a half hours away). I just wrote a huge document covering every eventuality of dd's schedule, where supermarket was (we'd just moved house so my parents wouldn't have known), how to work microwave etc and put lots of food in freezer that I knew dd would eat! Then emailed it to my parents!! In the end, I managed to have enough time to get my dd to my friend's, then drive and pick up my dh from work (!) and then get to hospital (40 mins from our house). My fab friend then had dd overnight and my parents picked her up next day (instructions to my friend's house also in email!). So basically micromanage as much as you can in advance and you should be fine. One tip - have an overnight bag packed for your dd as well as your own, it was the one thing I overlooked and then had to dash about house in early stages of labour getting her clothes together!!

I am due in a couple of weeks and my main babysitters are my parents who are 1.5 hours away. I am assuming that'll be plenty of time (dd was evicted early by c-sec so not sure how I will go naturally) for them to come up. Other than that, I have a list of various people who would take dd at a moment's notice hopefully but no hard and fast plans (and obviously a middle of the night need to get to hospital is going to be trickier although I do have some good friends about 10 mins drive away who have said they'll come out in the middle of the night). Am just kind of hoping it all comes together in the end !!

I had that problem too - I had a bag packed for DD1 with phone numbers of family, instructions, nappies, change of clothes (day and night), favourite snacks etc. etc, - you get the idea. The idea was that we could drop her off with anyone at any time of day and they could cope (friends all have children too, so not an option for them to come to DD).

Do you have another friend who lives close as another local backup? People love to be asked to be the emergency labour person.

Make sure you have plenty of your little ones favourite comfort foods in and meals for them. Does she stay at home or go to nursery? If so, leave bag packed with her stuff ready. Is she used to having someoone else sleep over in your house, in case you are away early hours of morning - may be worth havong a trial run with SIL to see how your DD will cope.

I am sure she will be fine, if your SIL has kids or is used to your DD and her ways (they are all different - eg - she likes a certain bowl for breakfast,e tc), so SIL doesnt have to deal with a meltdown! Good luck with the impending baby!

I wrote out various scenarios, I even called a private ambulance firm to see if they could be on call (but of course they couldnt!). In the end my consultant suggested having an induction so of course I was able to plan everything down to the finest detail.

Things do work out for the best. You might even have a funny story to tell after it is all over! My husband took a bag for himself and I peeked in it and it had an IPOD and headphones, six books and a snack for himself he says to keep his strength up! Needless to say he didnt even open it.

Agree that people LOVE to be asked as a emergency labour person.

We had this problem too.

I ended up asking loads of people if they could have DS1 in the event I couldn't get hold of anyone else, so I knew that someone would be free - don't put all your eggs in one basket, and have a Plan A,B,C,D etc.

I also had a bag packed for him with written instructions for his asthma medication, as this is important to get right.

As it happened, it all went to plan. went into labour at 7 pm. Dragged DS 1 out of bed at 10 pm and took him in the car with us to the hospital, where MIL and FIL met us and took him back to theirs. It was much less stressful than I'd imagined. We'd done some 'practice sleepovers' a few weeks beforehand and DS (1.11 at the time)wasn't remotely phased, watching Bob the Builder and drinking Hot choc at Granny's house at midnight!!

Best of luck