Anybody had experience delivering their own baby?

[Simon73]

My Girlfrined is 32 wks pregnant with our first child. She has a 3yr old who I have been Daddy to since she was 14mths. Her first labour was fairly quick! We live quite close to the hospital but would like to be prepared just in case!

there are tutorials on you tube

No - but the thing to remember is that most births happen without significant external medical intervention and many people opt for home birth anyway albeit with a midwife present.

As you know, a birth normally takes several hours or even days to proceed from start to finish so you will have plenty of time to get to the hospital. If it happens really quick then you will have mostly have absolutely nothing to worry about. Even then, in most cases you will stil be close enough in a real medical emergency.

Do you have the phone number of the hospital and say the community midwife service in your mobile? That might be a comfort.

Good luck to you and your girlfriend.

You could also post your question on another suitable MN thread and ask for advice there as far more women read those than Dadsnet.

Maybe she could book a homebirth? You can change your minds at any point (even mid-labour) but it means she would be booked for one and you'd have all the numbers etc for midwaives it it went to quickly.
Definitely worth doing IMO - my last 2 labours (planned HBs) were really quick and we wouldn't have made it to hospital even if I had wanted to go.

My dh delivered ds3 and as he said he didn't have a choice. everything happened and tbh he just kept me calm and caught his son then helped cover him up until mw arrived. That said I think he was fantastic. Will get him to post later.

My DH also delivered DS. We rang the birth suite and they said I wasn't ready to go in yet and wait and see an hour but 45 mins later I couldn't stand the pain any more and we rang 999 for an ambulance (DH can't drive and it was our only way to hospital). the operator said that we'd have to deliver him at home. We didn't believe them but sure enough DS popped his head out to say hello then DH caught him. He was great and didn't panic (much). He's my hero and the 999 operator is his hero! They talked him through it really well. Not recommended for a first time birth though. We were both scared.

i delivered my own baby 4 weeks ago today!!!

it says on my notes that dp delivered him. hmmph. he was on the phone to the ambulance operator at the time pmsl
i was in the birth pool delivering the baby

tbh you just do what you have to do. babies tend to deliver themselves really. as long as you are there to catch them when they come out you'll be just fine

my top tip: if your girlfriend says that this baby is coming imminently. believe her

I also delivered my 2nd, and ditto on the notes saying that ex-H delivered - he was cutting bubble wrap for the plastic sheeting!

How quick was her no 1? Mine was 2 hrs, and ds2 was under 15 mins.

M/w said afterwards that if quick rarely any complications.

I had a quick first labour (2 hours 20 mins) and am planning a homebirth this time. My midwife did a session about BBAs (birth before arrival of midwife).

Basically don't panic (if it's coming that quick it's likely everything is fine cos usually problems slow things down). Try to get the mother to kneel, put a towel under her between her legs, don't let baby fall on the floor and then keep them both warm afterwards (wrap them both in towels).

I'd second the keep them both warm. It was freezing on the bathroom floor - the heating had gone off a couple of hours earlier and all the heat had gone out of the bathroom as the door was open during the chaos. Consequently, we had to take DS into hospital as his temperature was too low. It quickly rose after being under the "sun lamp" though.