Hi all, jus wondering what other people have done aout this. I have my section booked for next week and I know I will be in for about 3 days. I have a 2 year old and my hubby and I are were trying to decide what to to do about visiting and stuff. On the day I have bubba, my toddler will be with my parents and then they will bring him to the hospital to meet his sib!! Then I think my son will stay with us for a few hours before going home with hubby who will give him inner put him to bed then come back later on and my parents will babysit again. But for the next couple of days I'm not sure where is best for him Tto be, I don't think he will be able to stay with me for more than an hour at most as he is so active and I don't want him disturbing the other women. I wnder if he will get upset about leaving though in which case I guess he is best off at home with my hubby but then I want hubby with me t help me and to bond with baby. If my son is really upset however I would rather he is just at home with hubby as at least I know he will be comforted by him. So hard!

Are your parents available to babysit more/longer? What about another friend or family member?

When we had my daughter. My husband and I both stayed in the hospital for 3 or 4 days. My mother stayed at our home to care for our older son. She brought a suitcase and stayed the whole time we were at the hospital. She brought him by the first day to visit his new baby sister. And we called to say "hi" and "goodnight" on the other days.

If my mom's still up to it that's what we'll do again when our new one comes in October. She'll stay at the house w/ the older kids.

Thanks for your reply. My parents have said they can have him as much as we like, I'm jus thinking he might feel a bit pushed out if he knows we are a the hospital all day with baby whilst he isnt there. He loves being with my parents but I'm worried he will miss us. My hubby won't be staying at hospital with me, as they don't that in the UK so it's just daytimes. I don't need my husband with me the whole time I think it's jus gettin the balance right

Hi. I'll (hopefully) be in your situation soon. I'm TTC and I have a two month old, so he'll be almost a toddler, or a toddler when I have my section, God willing I'm blessed with another baby.

It's hard though b/c I agree that if he knows you are in the hospital with Lo and DH, he may be hurt...but I really think he'll be fine! He's still little. Two year old children are quite easy to distract/redirect. I think that your LO will be fine visiting for an hour or so a day. I really do. It sounds like your parents will care for him well, so he'll be okay.

Thank you . It's weird as I am not an over protective parent at all, and rarely worry about anything but it has just hit me today that I will soon be havin mother baby and whilst I am so excited, I feel so sad for my little guy as he is so used to having us to himself. I know it will be fine in the end but I feel like cryin at the moment! X

You'll do great...you'll still be able to give your LO so much love.

My visiting hours at hosp are all day for daddys, 2-4 for family/friends and 7-8 for family/friends. My mum is having Layla whilst I actually have baby(hoping for morning so that Layla can come to 2-4 visiting that day) then my hubby will take her home and will visit each day im in with her 2-4 which means my family/friends will visit in evening each day to keep me company as my husband will be at home putting Layla to bed. He is hoping to spend some quality time with her during the day while im in hospital with new baby. It'll kill me just seeing her for 2hours a day but am hoping to only have a 3 day hosp stay this time

Thanks for our post. In our hospital partners and siblings can visit 8am- 10pm, then family visits are roughly the same as yours. So you will only see OH for 2 hours each day, between 2-4? I could do that, but I remember last time needing help with things like getting out of bed and my OH looked after bab while I had baths and I thnki want him there more than 2 hours ?BUT I also agree with you and want him to be with Oliver as I think he needs that more.I guess Oliver needs his daddy more than I do, hmmm. Oh god!

Hi hun,

I had this same situation when my 2nd was born just recently.My first is 2. I had planned a homebirth so wasnt expecting to be in hosp at all to be honest so to then have a section and have to stay for 2 nights i was panicing! My parents kept my 2yo the whole time I was in and he visiting for about half an hour the day after my 2nd was born. When I came home he remained with my parents just so OH and I could settle a bit and then he came home. He wasnt in the least bit bothered and bonded with the new baby beautifully x

My main reason is because Layla has never spent time away from me, other than recently for scans etc so for like an hour at a time, if that! I think it'll be such a strange time for her that she will need her Daddy and to be at home to feel most at ease! So i'll just have hubby for 2 hours a day unless I need him to come up then im sure he will arrange to drop her at my mums for an hour to come up to me but i hoping i wont need him too much. while i was in hospital last time after my section my husband actually went to work in the day so he could have more time off when we got home so i did all the getting in and out of bed bath etc on my own or with help of a mw! Different this time though because he need the time off to have Layla. Its the scariest thing for me this time- leaving Layla at home for few days, silly isnt it! x