Tell me about having your children at the birth - 4yo wants to be there - Page 2

[pollyanna123]

I asked my 4yo DD today if she wants to be at the birth or if she wants to go to Grandma and Grandpa's with her brother.... she chose Grandma and Grandpa's. Well, I'm not due for 6 months so maybe she'll change her mind!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

My dd was 4 when ds was born she had the option of staying in the room with me or being out with the grandpa's it worked great. She didnt see the actual birth because she was to busy playing with grandpa's but had she wanted to I wouldnt have minded.

[ElliesMomma]

my daughter was also born in 04/06 and she attended her brother's birth in 09/09. granted, she was asleep for most of it (he was born at 12:55 am) but she was THERE and heard him cry when he first came out, and that woke her up! it was golden!

now, i labored at home all the way to 7 cm. it was about 10 pm when we got to the hospital, and she had fallen asleep in the car on the way there. she was still strapped in her carseat, sacked out, and came into my labor and delivery room in a wheelchair! my mom was in charge of watching her.

she was out pretty good, but had she woken up, my mom would have been responsible for taking care of her, whatever she needed, during the hard, hard parts of the last stages of the labor for my natural birth. as it turned out, she just slept right through that!

but she did nurse through pregnancy, and when her brother was born, and i got him on my breast, she joined him in a celebratory first "tandem nurse."

also she was able to stay with me through our entire hospital time. we wound up being there 2 and a half days, and neither of my children ever left my side (well, DH and my mom took DD to the cafeteria and the gift shop once or twice). but still.

it was a great experience!!

[Mama2Kayla]

My dd was 2.5 when her brother was born. My mom was there to help during the birth and took her out of the room for mini breaks so nothing overwhelmed her. She was actually watching when he came out and she had no problem with it. She was happy and asked if she could have a popsicle now since her brother was here--lol. Despite all of that, she doesn't remember anymore. I do think it helped her feel closer to him for those first few weeks

Now I am due with #3. My dd will be a few weeks away from 6yrs old and my son is almost 3.5. I plan to have them there again--if they are home from school and/or awake when things go down.

[Qbear'smama]

I love all these great stories!! Thanks everyone so much! I have discussed it quite a bit over the last few days with DD and at this point she rolls her eyes and says "I won't be scared, mom there's nothing to be scared of!" We'll keep watching birth videos and talking about it and I think it will be great for her to see her brother born! Yesterday after watching the videos that lynsage recommended, DD got very excited and tried to convince me to have the baby now: "come on, mama, just push a little bit, just try, and see what happens" so clearly no sense of the timeline of things...it's going to be a looooooong wait to December!

[Chavelamomela]

My ds1 was 4.5 when ds2 was born. We were completely open to the possibility of having him there for the birth (a homebirth). We watched videos together, talked about it, prepared him for it.

In the end though, he wasn't - as I was getting into the birth tub and about to start to push, dh asked me if I wanted ds1 there (he was in the playground with my MIL, and he had been in school during the bulk of the labor). I said "no" - (he asked me again, to make sure - as he knew it was my initial desire to have him there for the birth). I guess I was really engaged with the rhythm of my contractions and I just didn't want to do anything to change that rhythm (ds2 was born 30 minutes later).

A couple of minutes after the baby was born, ds1 was there, able to greet his baby brother while I was still in the birth tub. As ds1 walked in, he saw the tub and announced "Hold on everyone, I'm going to get into my bathing suit!" (he obviously hadn't seen the bloody water and such...). My midwife quickly distracted him and he got to cut the cord!

ds1 is now 5, and the baby is 10 months. Last week, ds1 said to me: "Mom, when you're birthing again, and you're in the birth tub, I want to be there when the baby comes out." We've watched our birth-story many times since with ds1 and he has many special memories about the experience, even though he wasn't there for the actual birth.

You can see our birth online (we were on "A Baby Story) (but those tidbits I just described were not included in the final cut of the show) :

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLyOyfHkZY

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux9xlvqGuUY&feature=channel

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur5Ur...eature=channel

part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15J77...eature=channel

Part 5 (Bonus) (out-takes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVoPHJwq7RI&feature=channel