Moms of Toddlers - what's your plan if you go into labor in the middle of the night?

meli1025

I was thinking about this yesterday...since my water broke unexpectedly with DS, what if that happens again with this one in the middle of the night?  It's not like we can just yank DS out of bed and bring him to the hospital.  I would be going right into surgery for my c-section which is something he obviously can't attend.  My doc wants me to go in right away if my water breaks so I need to come up with a plan.  My mom lives a good 40 minutes away, I would be panicking if I had to wait for her to get up and dressed and to my house.  Anyone else think of this happening and what they would do?

tjkdlhb

The hospital is 1.5 hours away... and my parents live mid-way between my house and the hospital, so we`d drop her off along the way.  If I needed an ambulance, my husband would drive behind it with DD and drop her off.

typeset

We will be yanking him out of bed and driving to the hospital, yes. He'll wait with my husband until my in-laws can get there to pick him up since kids under twelve aren't allowed on our L&D unit. 

runningyogimama

We still need to discuss details with our parents, but the ILs only live 5 mins away, so assuming we can get a hold of them, we would either have them come over or get DD up and drop her off over there. Backup plan would be to have my mom meet us at the hospital with DD, since she lives 45 mins from here but 20 from the hospital, and have her just take DD back to our house.

ns1

Our nearest family is 4 hours away. In our town we know one family well enough to trust them with DD. It's my boss who has 3 girls, one of them who babysits for DD. They're our go to people and my boss has gladly agreed to send his daughter (s) over in the middle of the night or to let us drop her off at their place if not when I go into labor.

If you can think of anyone nearby you'd trust with your kiddo until your parents got there that'd be my plan. Having another kid does make thinking about labor this time around more interesting!

Miles2Go

Another for the yank out of bed camp. She'll fall back asleep in the car. Birthing center is over an hour away and I'd call my mom to meet us there. Then they can either hang there (the family waiting area is absurdly nice and comfortable) or they can go to a hotel. I won't care at that point.

meli1025

Hmm, well since the hospital is halfway between my house and my mom's I guess I can just have her meet us there and pick DS up.  I need to talk to her about it.  I hated the idea of pulling DS out of bed but it looks like I really won't have a choice. 

pistolpackinmomma

Do you have a neighbor you would trust? My mom is 20 minutes away and will come right over. When my mom went into labor with my brother (I was almost 5) she pulled me out of bed and took me to my aunt's house who lived along the way. Maybe ask the L&D dept what they would suggest?

whitehousem

We have talked to a few close friends who live relatively close who would be willing to come over in the MOTN. My cousin lives about an hour and a half away, so she would rush up to relieve our friends. We don't have any other family nearby, so our options are limited.

meli1025

No neighbors that I'm close enough with or friends that live close by.  I think I'm just going to talk to my mom about meeting us at the hospital to pick up DS.  Thanks for the suggestions!  : )

MrsT2008

My plan is the same regardless - tell my mom that her cell phone better be within arm's reach at all times and not on vibrate!  She lives half an hour away and teaches 10 minutes away.  If it happens to be the middle of the night, she'd better be ready to get up here ASAP!

MrsT2008

As a backup, I may talk to a good friend who lives close-by if I can call her to come over and wait for my parents.

MrsT2008

Oh, and yes, if all else fails, we'll just take DD out of bed and tell my parents to meet us at the hospital.  Not ideal, but better than giving birth on the side of the road!

IBackBevo

Well, I am hoping to be in labor long enough for in laws to get here. They live 2 hours away. If not, I guess ds will be coming to the hospital with us.

CMDR513

DS is 5. Our hospital is 30 minutes away and ILs live 40 minutes in the opposite direction. We will have to take DS with us. 

CMDR513

Just remembered that BIL now lives 10 minutes so he can be our plan. 

Riley&sweetpea

Thankfully my mom lives with us so he will stay with grandma

sisterjanet

I can't remember where I picked up the knowledge, but I have heard that it's more usual for women to go into labor at night so it's good to think about what you need to do ahead of time.

My plan is to pray my labor doesn't go super fast since my mom lives two hours away and I don't know anyone else well enough yet to feel comfortable leaving my son with them.  I'm hoping to do more of the first stage at home this time since I had no problems with it last time, and I can lay on my side concentrating on relaxing as well at home as in the hospital.  If it seems like it's going fast, I guess I'll be delivering the baby by myself while DH watches Benjamin and waits for my mom to arrive.  (Maybe I can convince DH we need a doula because of this concern.  He was a rock or an anchor or some similar metaphor for an amazing person for me the first time.)

If I go as late as I did with Benjamin, my mom will be camping.  She actually called and told me she had checked the maps already and made sure she knew how to get here from there, and that it's the same distance, so if I go late I'd add a prayer that the camp has cell reception and that at least one of my parents isn't a deep sleeper. 

CamrynnsMommy

Thankfully my mom lives 5 minutes away and she'll stay with the girls until my Grandma gets here, or she'll just stay with them.  I live 10 minutes from the hospital, so NBD here.  

chillypenguin

My parents live about 5 minutes away, but my mom was going to be in the delivery room. I'm hoping that my mom can watch her for most of while I am in labor, and then my dad or one of my sisters can watch her while I deliver so my mom can be there. But it will all depend on what time of day I go into labor.

jjones59

My sister works nights and so does my dad....so right now its calling one of them so they can leave work. My dad can get here within a half an hour and my sister is about the same. 

MissLadyTay

Um, plan? I have to say I'm mortified because I never even really considered this. In all my imaginings I had plenty of time to labor at home so the in laws would come stay with him (they are an hour away). But if things are moving quickly in the middle of the night I would probably take a cab to the hospital by myself and MH would join me when the in laws arrived.

christieep

MrsT2008 said:

Oh, and yes, if all else fails, we'll just take DD out of bed and tell my parents to meet us at the hospital.  Not ideal, but better than giving birth on the side of the road!

I like this idea.  My mom is supposed to be the one to take DS when we go to the hospital, but she lives like 20 minutes away.  Hopefully we could manage to wait that long, but if not, I like the idea of her meeting us at the hospital.  DH's parents live 5 minutes away from us, but I would rather have my baby in my bed than rely on them.

TheBeeCharmer

Going into labor on my own? Doubtful... BUT we do have my MIL on call. She's about 20 minutes away and my hospital is only about 5 minutes away. 

ns1

kitchencolors said:

We'd probably call my parents and ask them to come stay with DD if it was super early labor, if it felt like real regular real contractions, then we'd take DD to the hospital and have my parents meet us there to pick her up. I'm worried about going fast, so I don't want to risk staying home too long.

How is it possible that it just dawned on me that I need to have a bag packed for her too?  I mean really... I hadn't even thought of that.

I just thought of that bag thing last night too! I really need to get my butt in gear!

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danabsd

My parents are 5 minutes away. We haven't discussed a plan with them but I am pretty sure they know they'll be on call.

Mikki62

My parents and in laws are both within 10 minutes of my house and both are willing to come stay with DD at any time. We haven't come up with a set plan yet but DH works out of town 2 weeks of the month so it will also depend on if he is in town when I go into labor.

MrsT2008

Carpenter627 said:

I'm embarrassed to say I'm lurking to get ideas for my dog. My mom lives about 30 min away and has offered to keep her while we're in the hospital, and fortunately we can leave her at home alone, but I'm worried about her getting forgotten in all the excitement...

We had to worry about my cat last time.  He was diabetic and needed twice daily injections.  I had emailed our normal sitter to let her know that at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas we may need her for a few days!  I almost forgot to email her the day I was in labor.  We'd probably been at the hospital for 4 hours by the time I remembered to email her and let her know that she needed to go feed him that night (we fed him in the morning before we left)

MrsT2008

ns1 said:

We'd probably call my parents and ask them to come stay with DD if it was super early labor, if it felt like real regular real contractions, then we'd take DD to the hospital and have my parents meet us there to pick her up. I'm worried about going fast, so I don't want to risk staying home too long.

How is it possible that it just dawned on me that I need to have a bag packed for her too?  I mean really... I hadn't even thought of that.

I just thought of that bag thing last night too! I really need to get my butt in gear!

crap, I probably should have a little bag for DD, just in case we do need to bring her to the hospital with us! 

eghulse

My parents and ils are 35-45 minutes away, but the hospital is only 5 minutes away. If my water breaks, I'll call my mom and have her come get ds, or stay here till he wakes up and take him to her house. If things start moving too quickly for me to be comfortable waiting for her, I have good friends from church who live close who would come stay till my mom gets here. 

I'm hoping I ease into labor and can anticipate when I need to pass off DS to the grandparents, or have to schedule an induction if it comes down to it, but who knows.  I'm not brave enough to take him to the hospital with us.  

flutepharm87

We talked to DH's grandma, who lives 10 minutes away from us. If I go into labor in the middle of the night, she's going to get dressed and come over here to watch the boys and then take them to daycare in the morning to keep their schedules as normal as possible. Otherwise, if it happens during the day, she'd either pick them up at daycare or we'd drop them off at her house before heading to the hospital. We're super fortunate that we have family close by that's able to help.

Funnygirl34

If I go into labor before my mom gets here then we will be dropping DS off at my best friend's house who lives 5 minutes from the hospital.  But the negative nancy in me says there's no way I'm going in to labor before my due date (which is the only way for me to have a VBAC).

annabeanybee

This is the one time where living with the ILs is actually a good thing that I'm super thankful for. But if we didn't, I'd have a friend or neighbor on call. I thought about the bag thing the other day, too. I think I'm just going to have my regular diaper bag ready with snacks and activities.

shaunamw

My parents are about 30 minutes away but they both really want to be at the hospital so we have asked our nanny. She greatfully accepted and she only lives five minutes from us. Hoping it's not in the middle if the night but with my luck it will be.

mmks

I'm planning on laboring at home as long as possible, so I'm not really worried about it at this point.  Considering I was in labor for THREE DAYS before my son came, I figure I'll have plenty of time to get someone here or drop my son off before we have to get to the hospital.  We also have wonderful next door neighbors who adore our son, so if I luck into a fast labor, we will probably have them watch him until reinforcements can arrive!

spinsoffresonance

Crap, I totally didn't consider this might happen. I have a scheduled csection at 38w because I can't go into labor. So I guess if I went in labor earlier than that I would have to rush to the hospital for an emergency csection and DH would stay home with DD. Unless I can ask my neighbor to stay with DD, but I don't think we're close enough for me to even ask.

Chellbell20

We are planning a home birth, so ideally DD would sleep if it's the middle of the night. My mom will be "on call" though to get her should we need it and I plan to have a bag with a few outfits (because the weather can vary so much in May in Ohio), diapers, wipes, etc. either ready to go or already at my parents house. She'll stay with them during the day, or go to daycare and they will pick her up if I'm in labor during the day. Should we end up at the hospital, they will get her and she will stay with them.

mrt

Luckily my parents and in-laws live about 15 minutes from the hospital. We live about 20. We would get my son out of bed and depending on the urgency, either drop him off or ask one of them to meet us at the hospital.

JoelleOK

Adding packing a bag for DS to my to do list.
Right now there are so many variables I have no idea how this will work. Hopefully my MIL will have arrived so she can be with DS. They can both be at the birth center. It just occurred to me that I might not be able to have DH's undivided attention and support like I did last time.
*just keep swimming, just keep swimming*

meli1025

Looks like I need to add packing a bag for DS to the list as well, and I completely forgot about my dog!  I really hope everything goes as planned and on schedule, but with my luck I will be scrambling in the middle of the night.