What to do with kids at night?

[Mommy2anangel]

So what do you do with your kids if you go into labor at night? We are a co-sleeping family and the pool is going to be in our room, and it's pretty open with the bathroom having no door, in case i want to shower potty etc. And I am pretty loud in labor. 

My DH's suggestion is to take them into the other room (which we have a full sized bed, but don't use, unless for guests) and have them go back to sleep there, but I'm worried that they won't go back to bed, and my DD usually needs to nurse to fall back asleep. 

If I go into labor in the daytime, I'm not worried, my SIL will most likely be coming over or my mom will be here.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions would be appreciated :)

[amandasemele]

I am worried about this also. My dd is almost 3 and sleeps with us. Afraid she won't go back to sleep!

[IdentityCrisisMama]

That's a tough one...

I have a few thoughts.  First, I feel like this is advice that is very hard to take (I never take this kind of advice so feel free to just ignore me) but I wonder if it makes more sense to not over-think this problem.  I mean, you may be in that loud stage during your child's waking hours, or they may wake and be totally cool with the situation, or they may sleep through.  Am I being like Captain Obvious or what?  :-)  

Ok...all that said, have either of you considered setting up another space to birth in outside of the family bed and leaving your child in the bed they're used to?  At first I was totally attached to birthing in my big wonderful bed and decided kind of last minute to birth in the spare room so I could have a birth pool.  In the end, it was a bit sad to not have given birth in our room, but OTOH, it was AWESOME to get into our nice clean bed in a room that wasn't all disheveled from birth.  

I had this big plan for my DC at the birth and ended up going into labor JUST at her bed time.  She woke when I was in transition and ended up not being all that into the whole scene.  Sigh...

[Mommy2anangel]

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 

That's a tough one...

I have a few thoughts.  First, I feel like this is advice that is very hard to take (I never take this kind of advice so feel free to just ignore me) but I wonder if it makes more sense to not over-think this problem.  I mean, you may be in that loud stage during your child's waking hours, or they may wake and be totally cool with the situation, or they may sleep through.  Am I being like Captain Obvious or what?  :-)  

Ok...all that said, have either of you considered setting up another space to birth in outside of the family bed and leaving your child in the bed they're used to?  At first I was totally attached to birthing in my big wonderful bed and decided kind of last minute to birth in the spare room so I could have a birth pool.  In the end, it was a bit sad to not have given birth in our room, but OTOH, it was AWESOME to get into our nice clean bed in a room that wasn't all disheveled from birth.  

I had this big plan for my DC at the birth and ended up going into labor JUST at her bed time.  She woke when I was in transition and ended up not being all that into the whole scene.  Sigh...

See, I was wondering if I was overthinking it too... lol. I have really fast labors too, so it may not end up being too much of an issue in the end. My dd was born at 8:30 in the morning, and DS was watching cartoons... lol. I honestly don't want to birth out of our bedroom. I just don't feel comfortable birthing in any other room kwim? Especially if my SIL is there. I really want the privacy of our bedroom.

But you're right, I'll probably just stop thinking overly about this... just figure out a few options and work with it as it comes.. :)

[meesh933]

My plan is to not blow up the pool until early labor, because we live in a tiny apartment. If it's daytime, I'll put it up in the bedroom. If the kids are sleeping, I'll put it up in the playroom, and use the bathroom at that end of the house. Either way, it's a tiny space, and if I get loud, the kids will be up. DS nurses back to sleep, too, so if he wakes up while I'm in hard labor (and he probably will if it's the middle of hte night), things are gonna be rough.

Like a PP said, I'm trying not to over-think it. If the kids get woken up, or DS can't get back to sleep, or things are weird for whatever reason, it's just one day/night. There's nothing I can do to control it, so I'm just gonna wing it.