What to do if kids wake up in the middle of homebirth?

[Nyn]

This is the one thing I have no plan for

I'm guessing it must have happened before... and what to do if it does?

I guess the obvious answer is that OH will have to take them back upstairs and if he misses the birth, then so be it but I have this image of myself making noise and waking them up and them walking in on everything.

Which wouldn't bother me if I knew they would be ok and not freaked out at all.. but that's an unknown too!!

The plan is for them to go to my Mum's house, but if things happen quickly in th night that might not be a possibility...

thanks for any words of wisdom or advice!!

 

[moomin_troll]

i had my sister here incase zane woke up, he didnt and labour n birth was over in 4 hours lol

would ur mum not just come round and wait just incase ur lo woke up?

 

[ljo1984]

imogen will be almost 2 so if she ends up watching it i think she should be fine, she'll probably be too busy playing with toys or having a tantrum cause she wants to swim in the pool lol! but at her age too she should sleep through any noise, she usually does, but she can also be a bad sleeper and wake in the early hours anyway (Still!)
im hoping to have my mum here as well to be her carer and she would love to see one of her grand babies born, but if it all happens over night i dont know. i suppose i'll have to talk to her about it if she would still want to come around. probably would haha.

 

[Nyn]

Thanks ladies

Well, the thing with my Mum is she had such traumatic births with me and my sis that she basically hates pregnancy and birth.. which is a shame as I can't really share anything with her about it so she really wouldn't want to be here... she would of course come and get the kids if I called, but I'm just imagining the time to call being at like 3 am and it making me nervous

my boys are 5 and 3... I don't know, I hope I'm worrying over nothing but can't help it!

 

[moomin_troll]

my mum almost died while giving birth to me but that never stopped her being my birthing partner and she almost delievered corey herself lol so its a real shame ur mum feels that way.
i didnt want zane to see me in labour at all, he would of been all over me and then worried when he saw me in pain so i was so happy that he slept thru it, but that i had my sister there for just incase.

would ur sister come round just incase the kids wake up?
if not im sure caling ur mum soon as contractions start for her to get the boys would be fine....just dont wait too long to call because my homebirth happened so fast

 

[Nyn]

Thanks moomin. It is a shame she feels this way I'm always jealous when I hear people getting exciting with their mums about pregnancy and birth ah well..

My sis lives in the UK so it's only my Mum I have for family here.. I think I will do as you say though and call as soon as I think it might be labor.

I don't want my boys there while I'm laboring either.. my OH doesn't get it, but I'm sure it will put me off and I'll be worried about them being worried and that wouldn't help labor at all!

 

[moomin_troll]

soon as i had my first contractions i waited for another 2 and then thought yes this is it and called my mum to get her ass round here lol so yeah call her soon as possible and then u dont have to worry as she will get there n get the kids in enough time for them to be off.

my mum is the sort of person who thinks giving birth=being in hospital with all the drugs u can get, so she thought i was mad for having a homebirth but was amazed at how easy it all was.

is this ur first homebirth?

 

[Nyn]

thanks hun

Yes, it's my first homebirth!

Last time I labored at home and then went to the hospital which was such a waste really... should have stayed at home!

Luckily it was early evening when I realized I was in labor so mum could come and get ds1. I guess I'm more anxious as it is a home birth and I'm just thinking of the boys coming downstairs during transition/birth and that not being a good thing!

I'm going to do as you say and call as soon as I think it might be it.. better that and it's a false alarm than the alternative! x

 

[moomin_troll]

its weird but i really couldnt tell when i went into transition with corey, i was able to talk perfectly fine all the way thru...it was just the next second i was like omg i NEED to push lol next thing i knew i was crowning and the mw wasnt even there yet....took the cow a hour to get here n she was 10 mins up the road.

u never no, being at home knowing u dont need to go hospital u might have a really fast, easy birth.

i ended up going to the hospital after to be stitched up but oh well lol
i love homebirths

 

[Nyn]

thanks hun, you're giving me an extra boost of confidence

 

[moomin_troll]

i was just so amazed how easy my birth was so i like to share it lol with my first...a horrible hospital birth i never forgot the pain and it scared me but with corey ive actualy forgot the pain and i dont look back and think that was awful.

im just happy corey was smaller then zane lol

 

[madasa]

This is the one thing I have no plan for

I'm guessing it must have happened before... and what to do if it does?

I guess the obvious answer is that OH will have to take them back upstairs and if he misses the birth, then so be it but I have this image of myself making noise and waking them up and them walking in on everything.

Which wouldn't bother me if I knew they would be ok and not freaked out at all.. but that's an unknown too!!

The plan is for them to go to my Mum's house, but if things happen quickly in th night that might not be a possibility...

thanks for any words of wisdom or advice!!

I had my mum there. One of her jobs was just to be on stand by in case my toddler woke up and needed anything (a drink, reassurance, distracting, whatever). He slept through it

Don't sweat it. It will all work out fine, honest. Trust

 

[diz]

Hi Nyn, I'm sure everything will be fine, but if it is worrying you I would make arrangements for your Mum to collect your other two as soon as you are in labour. My MW and I were discussing Noah being about for the birth and she said if I'm worried about it at all then it's probably best to make arrangements for him to stay with a friend or family member as it can really slow down your labour. The only thing I'm worried about is if I go into labour during the day and Noah wants to get in the pool with me (which he will). If this happens and I can't relax properly into the birth I'll get a friend to come and get him. If I go into labour during the night then he can stay at home as he probably won't wake up xxx

 

[xxembobxx]

I have a similar worry but it's more what will I do during the day!
My OH works away so even though I will call him straight away the chances of him making it are slim. Mum agreed to be here with me (more for LO than me as I'll be in my own little world!) but she gave up on retirement and has got herself a job.
I've heard stories of children your age being quite ok with mum labouring but I understand your worries as my LO will be 18 months and I don't want to have to worry about how to cuddle him or have him in the pool while I'm pushing!
I'm lucky I have 2 teenage DD's so hopefully it's a time they are actually at home.
I figure that although I have fairly quick labours I will still have about 4 hours notice to think through my options and panic call everyone lol.

 

[chuck]

Would your Mum be on call anyway - she doesn't have to be your birth partner at all but to come around and stay out of they way in case she's needed?

My mum was around (she would have been in there baby catching and cord cutting given the chance) but I told her if I tell you to leave the room do it and she knew if Dewi woke up she'd have to go and deal with him.

I'm sure your Mum wouldn't be opposed to being there for you without having to be part of the labour or birth.

 

[Rebaby]

We hoped our toddler would sleep through the night, since he usually does...unfortunately he had other ideas!

I started contracting regularly at 9.30pm and he woke up at midnight and OH couldn't get him to settle back to sleep. Fortunately we had a close friend on standby who came over and sat upstairs with him until baby was born and then he came straight downstairs to meet his baby brother

In the lead up to the birth i was very worried about how he would react to seeing me in labour but he actually handled it very well.

I agree with moomin_troll in that a home birth is such a different experience, i didn't notice transition with Rudy either, unlike with Toby (hospital birth) where i DEFINITELY noticed transition! With Rudy i briefly felt hot/cold and asked OH to put the bucket near the sofa in case i was sick (but i wasn't) and the next thing i knew i wanted to push! It all happened very quickly and he was born 10 minutes after the mw's arrived!

 

[ljo1984]

yeh imogen will be the same age as toby when im due. i think she'll just look at me like "what the hells wrong with you!" ha ha. then go off and play, unless the pool is up then im in for some fun! x

 

[lesbianlove]

my 2 boys r almost 4 and 7 so im hoping if its through the day they mybe at school or nursery or up in their rooms playing for the birth lol, or during the night they should sleep fine, we dont have anyone to come over and watch them

 

[Nyn]

Thanks for all the input ladies.. helps a lot!

My Mum was just round today and has assured me that any time of day or night I can call and she'll be round. She asked if I would want her to stay and take care of the boys or take them back to her place. I was quite shocked as I didn't think she'd want to be in the house (good shocked I mean!) and I said I'll see how I feel, and thank you but thinking about it, I think it would make me very uncomfortable having her here, even upstairs... which sux, but I can't change the way I feel... so I'll ask her to take them home.

I just hope that I've got warning and she's not at the door during a difficult phase..

Tomorrow I'm getting a bag packed for the boys to keep next to the door though so she can get them and go back home quickly.

Am still hoping that I go into labor when they're at school then I can just call and ask her to pick them up and take them back to hers...

Guess there's no telling!! we'll see what happens!

Thanks again ladies x

 

[moomin_troll]

i didnt think id want to give birth infront of my mum but i did, and my poor little sister saw it all lol

thats great she offered to stay if u wanted