What to do with my son...

[lightcola]

We've just moved to a new area with no family near by (nearest is 100 miles) and no friends around. I am due baby # 2 at Christmas and I'm starting to panic about what we will do with # 1 when I go into labour. He is 3 years old. Has anyone been in the same boat? How did it work out? I hear second labours could be over very quickly so waiting for someone to come from a distance might not be feasible. Ahhhhh!!! Can someone please calm me down.

Any chance someone can come and stay? Doula or friend or family member to be with you whilst DP stays with DC?

If it was me I'd ask a trusted relative or friend if they would be able to come and stay for a while.

it really depends on a lot of factors like where the hospital is, if your planning a home birth, do you have a dh?

Having recently been in your situation I found Giving birth alone in hospital to be a good experience. The midwives were lovely and my dh would have done very little to support me. I was much happier knowing ds was happy with family than I would have been having him looked after by a stranger.

... I'd also try to befriend a neighbour pretty quickly, in case of emergency.

I agree with others, try see if someone can stay? I had my second one a month ago, started with small twinges I ignored due to false alarms, within an hour I was in full on agonising contractions, hour later hospital went into hospital and she was here 3 hours after that, and that was 2 weeks early!
Hope it all works out well for you

100miles is about 2 hours, call when u go into labour, stay home as long as possible, go into hospital by urself (oh and ds can drop u) and then when family come ur oh can join u?

I doubt anyone will come to stay around Xmas time except maybe grandparents?

Tbh your do will have to look after dc1 whilst you have the baby. A bit crap but I can't see what else you can do really

Is he in nursery? Staff may be happy to help.

My son stayed with us and watched his sister being born. He was quite happy watching tv on the ipad, occasionally looking up and saying Mummy okay? He was also 3. He still sometimes mentions it now, a year later.

How long was your last labour? My second was exactly half the time (1.5 hours).

Thank you everyone. My DH is adamant he will be there for the birth but I think he needs to realise that our DS comes first so it may not be an option. My plan is to ring family as soon as I think it's coming to give them time, it's just bad timing with it being Christmas and party season etc. My last labour was 9 hours. I did wonder if taking DS with us as last resort was an option, but I do prefer the just do it on my own if necessary. Thank you again.

I'm fairly sure you'll not be allowed to have ds there for a hospital birth!

I was in a similar situation with DS2, DS1's childminder offered to have him regardless of time and made it clear she would not accept any payment for supporting us. There are some lovely people out there.

Contact a local childminding group and ask if anyone can do emergency childcare.