Social story about new baby... bad idea?

[outthere]

Hi all,

I have a baby due at the end of November and I want to prepare my boys as much as possible. They are 3.5 and one has SN including Autistic traits.

I've written a social story about the birth. I haven't read it to them yet as I'm worried it may end up doing more harm than good. Obviously anything could happen with regard to timing which means that any one of three or four people may have to care for the boys while I'm in hospital.

I've tried to tailor the story for all eventualities (ie Someone will come to the house to play while mummy's in hospital. It could be X; it could be Y or it could be Z) with photos of each to be a clear as possible.

I'm starting to worry that I can't possibly cover every eventuality without confusing them (eg needing someone different altogether or having to go to the hosp at night etc) but at the same time I REALLY don't want to spring any surprises on them. DS2 is liable to get quite distressed if things are not as he expected...

Just looking for some advice really! Thanks x

Hi, it is a difficult one, but you have a fair bit of time yet. The way I did it with ds (ASD) he was 2 at the time and non verbal) I had opted for a home birth, which I had tried to have for the first 2... anyway I would sit and watch home/hospital births on the tv with ds, it worked well as he saw my tummy growing and the mum's on tv having babies. He was asleep when I gave birth (he would have been there if awake) my dh brought him downstairs when dd was delivered for him to see, I was still in the birthing pool with dd2 still attached. Ds took to her straight away with no confusion at all and even had a hold within an hour of her birth!

I understand that some find my approach unconventional but it worked really well for us! :)

Congrats btw!! Something else we did was to find out the babies sex, we then named her, we did choose a name he was familiar with and always referred to my bump as 'baby ***', he still calls her that now!! :)

why not put it on here and we can give our opinion. I did a wonderful social stories workshop the other week

catherinea1971 - I would have gone for a home birth too but not able to unfortunatley (medical reasons). Definitely a good call about finding out the sex - we've done that already - and as soon as we name him we'll make sure the boys know. With any luck he might actually have a name before he's born! . DS is incredibly worried that my tummy's going to "break" and I'm concerned that if I show him a birthing video he might be even more scared when he realises what actually goes on... or the complete opposite might happen and his anxiety might disappear when he knows how it's all going to "look" (he's incredibly visual)

lisad - Your opinion would be so helpful as I haven't been on the course and haven't really had much guidance at all. Sorry if it's a bit long though...:

[each page is accompanied by a simple darwing and/or photos]

Page1
This is O
and this is E.
Their mummy has a baby in her tummy.

Page2
Just before Christmas mummy's tummy will be very big and O and E's baby brother will be ready to come out.

Page3
One day mummy will feel that baby is coming and she will go and see a doctor.

Page4
Daddy will take mummy to see the doctor and someone will come over to play with O and E.

Page5
It might be Granny...
or Auntie R...
or Auntie H.

Page6
O and E will have lots of fun and later daddy will pick them up so they can go and see mummy and meet their baby brother.

Page7
O and E's baby brother will have a present for them.

Page8
Then they will all go home and everyone will be happy.

Eeek, I'm nervous now to see what you think...