i was at my younger brothers' births when i was 2.5, 5.5, and 8. i only kind of remember the first two, but i vividly remember the 3rd. the first one, i peed on my g-ma when my brother came out, the second i was more scared about the "incredible hulk" show that my older brother was watching in the other room, and the third i was old enough to understand and was just in awe of my mom. i remember when i was 8 just staying out of her way but kind of following her around. we all thought the last was going to be a girl and i did not want to miss the birth of my long awaited sister. needless to say it was a boy instead. i was next to my mom when he was born and i immediatly started crying and the first thing my mom says is, "i'm sorry, but that is the last one".
then, she gave me the baby before she even held him, and i totally fell in love with him. i have always been his second mommy. i think that since i was there and held him and saw it i was able to get over my diasppointment about him not being a girl.
my older brother always could never really be bothered to watch, but he always made it in there right before the baby came.
i think that it really helped with sibling rivalry and making us a very tight clan of 5.
of course, my g-ma was always there to help take care of us if we needed to leave the room.
also, since i grew up with this being the way to birth, it was never a question for me about how i wanted to have a baby. even with all of the tv shows and societal views, i have never waivered in my belief in hb. even when dh and i were dating, we had a specific convo about the births of our future kids. if he had not agreed about hb we would not have gotten married. luckily he also comes from a hb family, so he understands.
i am planning to have my 2.5 y.o. dd there when i push, but not necessarily when i labor. my mom and dad are coming over to play with her and make cupcakes for the baby while i labor. i think that would be too much for her and i need to be able to focus on labor.
but i want her to see the actual pushing.
rachel