[rachelalfreda]

<p>Not sure if this is in the right forum...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We are planning a home birth and want to prepare our 4 year old for the experience.  He loves to read books, any suggestions?</p>
<p>  Also, how did you prepare your kids for your home birth?  Should we watch some videos together?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Any suggestions are welcome!</p>

 

[midnightwriter]

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=motheringhud-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWelcome-Love-Jenni-Overend%2Fdp%2F0916291960%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fs%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1292388232%26sr%3D1-1" rel="norewrite" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Love-Jenni-Overend/dp/0916291960/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292388232&sr=1-1</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>A lovely, gentle book, that my kids loved.</p>

 

[rachelalfreda]

<p>I checked this one out and it looks beautiful, but it's out of print and costs $80!!  I'm looking to see if our midwives have a copy we can borrow or if our library carries it...</p>

 

[thebeljur]

<p>Here's a site with a few suggestions:  <a href="http://www.attachmentscatalog.com/gifts/bkkhb.html" target="_blank">http://www.attachmentscatalog.com/gifts/bkkhb.html</a>.  I think that <em>We're Having a Home Birth</em> book looks simple and cute.  I have that <em>Welcome, With Love</em> book and had no idea it was out of print and worth so much money until my friend saw my copy tossed under our coffee table.  She told me what people pay for it now, and I couldn't believe it!</p>
<p><br>
I think videos are always a great idea.  Just YouTube home birth or water birth.  Was your birth with him unmedicated and filmed?  If yes, you can always show him that, too, so he can see YOU in actual labor.  I don't think there's a lot of preparation to do other than read a few books, watch some videos, talk about the noises you might make, who will be there, etc.  Let him meet your midwife so she's not a total stranger to him.  My kids have all been pretty casual about the experience.  That's the benefit of being at home!  </p>

 

[RoseRedHoofbeats]

<p>I second the Youtube idea- My almost-three-year old LOVES to watch birth videos. She gets all excited and clappy when the baby starts to crown. I tell her things like, "The mama there has a BIG baby inside her. Mama only has a little baby inside her now, almost too tiny to see. But it will grow to be a healthy, beautiful baby just like that, right before it's ready to come out!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sometimes she says that the moms are "sad" when they're crying and screaming through labor. I tell her that it is very hard work to push a baby, but the really super hard part doesn't usually last very long, and that it hurts sometimes, but then it goes away once the baby's born. I point out how long it takes from crowning to birth, usually only 3-10 minutes. I tell her that we can do anything for ten minutes!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>~Rose</p>

 

[Carlyle]

<p>I think there's a new version of "Welcome with love" that has a different title (even though its' the same book).  It's VERY wonderful and worth searching for...Here it is: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=motheringhud-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHello-Baby-Jenni-Overend%2Fdp%2F0733307868%2Fref%3Dsr_1_5%3Fs%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1292673100%26sr%3D1-5%C2%A0" rel="norewrite" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Baby-Jenni-Overend/dp/0733307868/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292673100&sr=1-5 </a> "Hello Baby"</p>

 

[GOPLawyer]

<br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Carlyle</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1285578/any-book-suggestions-to-help-prepare-ds-for-a-home-birth#post_16124694"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>I think there's a new version of "Welcome with love" that has a different title (even though its' the same book).  It's VERY wonderful and worth searching for...Here it is: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=motheringhud-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHello-Baby-Jenni-Overend%2Fdp%2F0733307868%2Fref%3Dsr_1_5%3Fs%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1292673100%26sr%3D1-5" rel="norewrite" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Baby-Jenni-Overend/dp/0733307868/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292673100&sr=1-5</a>  "Hello Baby"</p>
</div>
</div>
<br><br><p>I bought this version...it is the same, just a different title and MUCH cheaper.  My kids ADORE it.  It is so beautifully written and the pictures are just perfect.  There's a natural birth, breastfeeding, cosleeping and it even shows the placenta. It was a great springboard for further discussion of what going to happen. It's one of my favorite kids books ever.</p>

 

[rachelalfreda]

<p>Thanks for all the suggestions!! </p>
<p>Our library *might* have a copy of Welcome W/ Love, so I've requested a copy of it and we'll see!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm due in Feb/Mar, and DS seems excited about it.  We haven't watched any video's yet, DH seems to think it might be too graphic/scary for him (I roll my eyes when he says this, because he will sit DS on his lap and play Halo, but a birthing video is too graphic!!  )  anyway, i'll let the midwives confirm the suggestion at our next visit and he'll be on board.  We'll also see what kind of toys/books/suggestions they have. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thanks again for everyone's advice!</p>

 

[Climbergirl]

<p>We read Baby on the Way and substituted names for the characters.  DS1 totally rocked the birth.  He woke up at 3:45 and asked me if I was ok.  I had woken him up making so much noise.  I told him I was fine and that daddy needed help in the kitchen.  When he got back upstairs, I was on the bed and the baby was almost crowning.  He watched with DH and when the baby was born he said, "Baby came out Mama's butt!".  It was super cute and he spent the rest of the morning hanging out and watching movies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We would just randomly discuss the baby during the whole time and we watched BOBB a couple of times.  That was all we did....</p>

 

[northcountrymamma]

<p>We have "Waiting for the Sun", "Hello Baby" and "Having a Homebirth"...all are nice but Hello Baby (formerly Welcome with Love) is our favourite. We bought all three online, but our library has the first two also. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We have looked online at birth videos and just simply googling homebirth videos has given us some great options. We've even watched a few that mamma's posted in Birth Stories right here on MDC that were quite wonderful. I just went into the Birth Stories forum, searched video and found a great selection. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I just know that dd is going to be amazing at this birth! She is so prepared and sooo excited to be a part of things. She has a small list of jobs and is so on top of them, even now before I'm in labour she has started helping out with things. We gave her this list of things that we thought she could do and it was totally thrilling for her. </p>
<p>Things like: fill mamma's waterbottle, bake a birth-day cake with her aunt, give the dogs some treats from time to time, pick up things as they are out of place (since she is the one person in the house other than dp and I who knows where everything goes), shovel the walkway if it's snowy...etc.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Also, helpful along the way was having her very involved in all our MW appts. If the MW's didn't involve her, I found a way to do so. They had her holding the measuring tape, squeezing the blood pressure cuff, feeling the baby, listening to the heartbeat with the fetoscope....it's been so great for her. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Best of luck finding some of the books suggested...</p>

 

[smeep]

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=motheringhud-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FMom-Dad-Are-Having-Baby%2Fdp%2F0937604038" rel="norewrite" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Mom-Dad-Are-Having-Baby/dp/0937604038</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>DS (who is 5) and I just read this book a couple weeks ago. My midwife had it in her library and suggested we read it so we did and he really enjoyed it! The nice thing about it is that it's got the the "simple" read on the page with the pictures with just a sentence or two so it's not overwhelming information for a little one, and then the next page is much more detailed about that specific part. So it works for both smaller and not-so-small kiddos. And it goes over things that the author found tend to be the more scary, unexpected things for kids (like the tools, blood, noise, etc.). My only real con is that it talks about mom and dad and I'm a single mama, but DS is really intuitive and understanding so it doesn't confuse him. Plus there aren't many books that cater to "alternative" families (single parents, gay/lesbian parents, etc.), so I can't fault them for that. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I definitely cast another vote for the YouTube videos! DS absolutely loooooves the YouTube birth videos. Some days he's not so interested but on the days he's in the mood he really gets into watching them. The labour part kind of bores him (I know it bored me at my niece's birth when I was 14!) so I just play that part a bit and then skip to the baby actually coming out since that's what interests him. I've shown him homebirth and waterbirth videos. On the rare occasion I watch one of those annoying "delivery" shows on TV, I have to do quite a bit of explaining. He gets pretty bored with those...I suppose the medical emergency thing just isn't interesting to him since he knows this baby's birth will be nothing like that. Haha.</p>

 

[ReginaPhalange]

<p>I think the book suggestions have all been covered </p>
<p> </p>
<p>For videos my son loved watching Birth Day. I think a lot of midwives and doulas have a copy of this, so it's probably worth asking. It shows a home water birth with two older brothers present and is really beautiful and sweet. This site also has some nice videos:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mybirth.tv/" target="_blank">http://www.mybirth.tv/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Our son was almost 3 when we had our homebirth and it was wonderful.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>

 

[rachelalfreda]

<p>Thanks!  These video's are much better than the ones on uTube - better quality so you can see what's actually happening!  Thanks for the suggestion!</p>