What are your plans for older sibling(s) when you go into labor?

[rolypoly27]

Have you lined up people to stay with your older DC if you go into labor? If you have no family/friends nearby or you are unable to reach them, do you plan on taking your other DC to the hospital with you?

I'm due any day now and I don't have this figured out....

[♥ms.pacman♥]

i'm not preggo but i can answer for when i was preg with DD. i lined up two different people (regular sitter plus a friend who wasn't working) to watch DS (then 14 months old) when i went into labor. as luck would have it, i went into labor in the middle of the night (1am) and could not reach them by their cell phone..turns out one had her phone out of the room, the other was taking meds for a health condition that made her in super-deep sleep and she iddn't hear the ring. in a panic we just brought DS with us to the hospital. he actually did ok, inspite of being woken up in the middle of the night...but what sucked was i had to labor a lone a lot bc DH was walkin DS around in the Vista trying to get him to go back to sleep (LOL).

closest family we had (ILs) were 5 hours away and it wasn't till we got to the hospital that we called. they hit traffic though so it took them about 7 hours to arive.

Our hospital has a rule that no children under a certain age 4 or something are allowed in the delivery room. so in the insanity of the moment dh & i agreed that if nobody showed up before it came time to push, we would just strap DS in the Vista ad wheel it in the (attached) restroom and let DS hang out in there and then we would immediately get him afterwards. LOL.

luckily our sitter around 8am saw the messages and came over to the hospital and took care of DS...i hadn't given birth yet thankfullly. and then MIL arrived soon after, and so did my other friend. i was so gratefu we didn't have to lock DS in the bathroom, lol.

anyway, based on my experience i would line up at least 3 people to call. preferably SAHMs, esp those who have friends/family in town to watch their kids if it's during the day. and it's great to have more than one so people can take "shifts" if the labor is really long and it goes from the middle of the night to daytime. unfortunately i didn't have my moms group back then otherwise i could have totally relied on them!!

[boogiemomz]

We're hoping to get some family in town, but the timing is always tricky for that kind of thing. I imagine I will recruit a few friends to pinch hit until someone could get here. It shouldn't take that long, I hope; both my mom and DH's mom will probably be on standby ready to jump on the next plane as soon as they get the word from us.

[georgiegirl]

When I was pregnant with DS, we had the ILs come to visit 2.5 weeks before I was due. Everything worked out fine. I don't think we had a contingency plan. This time, the ILs live just a few miles away, And they will watch the kids when this baby decides to make his appearance. I've already instructed DD (7) on the whole bedtime routine (since the ILs are foreign and at her age, DD is best to be in charge.). If we could get a hold of them for whatever reason, or if the baby decided to come super fast, I guess I'd just bring the kids and my iPad to the hospital.

[wendibird22]

Luckily my folks and ILs are nearby. With DD2 it was dead of winter and we worried about a snow storm delaying grandparents so we had a neighbor as back up until a grandparent could arrive. This was also our plan for middle of the night. Turns out we didn't need it as I went into labor during a weekday/work day so Dd1 was at daycare. I delivered before the end of the daycare day so DH was able to go pick her up and bring her to the hospital to meet Dd2.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have lots of family close. But, I was #1 on my friend's call list as she has no family around. We kept their son for 3 days. She went into labor at 11pm and I was there by 1am.

I was a few down on a few other friends' lists but wasn't needed.

I was totally happy to help.

[ncat]

I was happy that my parents were able to come - but they couldn't come until I was 39 weeks and DS2 was 11 days late! The grandparents had a long, boring wait. We lined up some friends of DD's in case DS2 arrived early.

[sarahsthreads]

Good question - I've been putting this off, so I'm glad you asked so I could actually think about my own plan!

My first on-call people would be my parents, although both sets of my grandparents are having their own medical issues at the moment, so there's a pretty good chance my parents will be unavailable. DH's parents are a good 6-7 hour drive away, so while I'm sure they'll be here as soon as they can, it won't be in time to watch the kids. My brothers are local but are in and out on (far away) vacations for the rest of this month, so it's kind of hit or miss whether they'd be available.

Next on the list would be a couple of close friends, followed by a few less-close friends who have offered. But with it being summer, everyone's been kind of hard to get a hold of in general, so...

My last, desperate measure (before just bringing the kids along and hoping someone returns my call and comes to retrieve them from the hospital) is that one of the teachers from the preschool both DDs attended lives a couple doors down the street from us. I'm contemplating calling her and asking if she'd be willing. (I'm actually pretty sure she'd be willing, just kind of feel awkward asking, kwim?)

I should probably sit down and make a physical list, though, with home and cell numbers in the order I'd call people, just so I don't have to go searching out that information while in labor!

Sarah :)

[AnnieW625]

I had my sister near us and she didn't go more than 90 minutes away and was always at our home by 6 pm in case I went into labor at night, which I did 11:30 pm) DH went home the day DD2 was born around 4 pm and picked up DD1 from daycare (DD2 had been born at 8:30 am and I had a fairly restful labor so I was okay on my own by then).

[BabyBearsMom]

We had my parents lined up to take DD1. I went into labor at 3am, DH dropped DD1 off at daycare that morning and my parents picked her up that afternoon

[Mommy_Mea]

Our plan was for my mom to drive 2.5 hours to take care of DS1 while I was in the hospital with DS2.

While my mom was on her way, my sister (who lives about 30 minutes away) was going to meet us at the hospital and take DS1 home with her. She has two kids of her own, so couldn't be the one to be home with ds1. My mom would meet her at her house, and take DS1 to our house.

If my sister couldn't make it for some reason, my best friend was on call as well.

[schrocat]

I am flying my sister in from overseas slightly over 3 weeks before my due date to be on standby to watch the kids. We'll hang out and go shopping until the baby decides to come.

[bostonsmama]

We're delivering out of town, so DH and I are taking DD with us to the hotel where I'll stay until I go into labor spontaneously. I had a 5hr labor from start to finish last time (although I did have early, sparse ctx). The plan is for my mom's 70 yr-old cousin to drive into the city (she lives 1.5hrs away--but she is our ONLY option) and meet us at the labor ward until my mom can drive the 5 hours up the children's hospital. My mom had a 1-hr second delivery, so I'm expecting another fast delivery. I suppose if I don't go into labor by 39.5 weeks, they'll talk induction anyways, and then I'll just have my mom drive up the night before and stay w/ DD at the hotel. DD won't be able to come visit the baby in the cardiac ICU, but she will be able to come see me for the 2-4 days I'll be admitted. My mom mentioned wanting to visit our son in the CICU, so we'll just have my DH trade off with her, taking care of DD in the family waiting rooms while my mom goes in with me to meet her grandchild.

I *really* hope it all works out. It could get VERY interesting, esp since DD doesn't know my mom's cousin and has been very clingy recently.