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Northern California Babies
Kids in the Delivery Room
I want to know what people's thoughts are on this. I've seen several episodes of birth shows where the couple's other children are in the room while the baby is being born. Sometimes they are older kids, like 7 or 8, but sometimes they are younger, 3 or 4. Would you ever do it? Why or why not?
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Re: Kids in the Delivery Room
I'm open to it, but it really depends on what is going on in the moment. I plan to have a plan in place both for him being there and not.
I've had a lot of friends who had home births and had their older children (3 year olds) present. A couple were even in the birthing tub with them while their sibling was born. I think that is a beautiful thing!
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
I got very emotional about laboring in front of Ty. I didn't want him to see me like that...in so much pain. I didn't have a choice. Ty was with us until about 9 pm when my mom got there and then took him home. My DH hung with him until my FIL got to the hospital and then FIL took over Ty duty so DH could be with me.
For me, it wasn't as though I could really "enjoy" his presence and at just barely two he couldn't comprehend what was going on. It was hard for me to not be able to "be there" for him. If we had family closer we would have dropped him off on the way to the hospital.
What do the kids think about it? Were they worried about their mom or did they understand what was going on?
I think I would draw a lot of strength from having Eve there with me if I'm lucky enough to have another one. I just worry about how she would deal with it.
No. Maybe if the kid was a teenage I would but not a young child.
I think it would make me uncomfortable to have my kid there, I'd be distracted and concerned with them not being traumatized etc.
Well, I don't hide pain well so I think it would totally traumatize her, and I'm like Mrs.C - I don't even want to be there myself.
we chose not to & im so glad we did - I was in too much pain and I know it wouldve scared the crap out of K. She was shaken up just from seeing me on the ride to the hospital. My cousin came & sat with her in the waiting room & took her down to the cafeteria so she would be the first one in there to see her new sister when she was born but missed out on the screaming(cussing) and fluids.?
in fact my iv popped open in front of her and blood spurted out and she started BAWLING. Thats when I knew we made a good choice. Some kids wouldnt be?phased?by it im sure but my lina is?sensitive.?;)?
It was a positive experience for all involved, in all cases. (*edit* probably not ALL cases, but the most recent couple were) One of the most recent ones was a waterbirth, using hypnobirth. The midwife said that she could tell my friend was in Transition because she got more irritable, but it sounds like aside from that, she wasn't showing any outward signs of pain. Because of this I don't think the other children were concerned or scared.
Maybe i'll do a poll on my facebook and you can get some input from my friends who have experienced it.
The Blog | BirthbyKellyM
My kids are too curious and their attentions span is too short. I couldn't risk having them (almost 4 and 22mos) in the hospital room with us as I gave birth to D last week. They would have been everywhere, touching everything, pulling wires and pushing any button that they could reach.
Even when they got there the next morning, they were exploring the room and touching everything they could and only glanced at the baby before continuing on in their curious ways.
LMAO. I think I may feel differently about it if I had a little boy.
That would be awesome. Thanks!
I definitely think it depends on the kid. And the family. My dad and stepmom had my first of many siblings my summer going into 4th grade...whatever age you are then. I wasn't traumatized at all and even got to cut the umbilical cord.....I continued to do that for a few more of them (I had 5 brothers and a sister. My brother that came first passed of sids). It was amazing to watch and be a part of and it's something I will never forget...in a good way. Needless to say I could care less when it came time to watch the birthing video in health class later down the road in school. lol I think most of my siblings stayed outside the room for the others. Probably just because they were boys and maybe in the way? I don't remember.
Not sure how this posted without a response. Anyway, I also think this would be common with younger ones therefore I'd likely not have them in the room around that age for the exact reasons as PP
some of my mom's most favorite photos of her kids are the photos taken w/in an hr of my baby sister being born as she's being held by me, then my younger sister and lastly my brother.
we had a sitter while she delivered but once mom and baby were deemed ok, dad picked us kids up and brought us to meet our new sister in the room mom delivered it. i was 6, my sister 4 and my brother 3. given the chaos of that night (not only did my mom deliver that night/morning but the senior pastor of my dad's church was admitted that night for chest pains so while my mom labored, my dad was working on his sermon .. naturally this was a saturday night
) it was a good thing we weren't there.
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