STM: who will watch your child(ren)?

purtz · January 2014

Second or third + time moms: who will watch your child when LO arrives? We have a 2.5 year old and are planning a scheduled c section. We do not have family that lives in state. Not sure who to ask to watch our DD? DH is particularly worried if I go into labor early, in the middle of the night or over the weekend and we don't have daycare or our occasional babysitter who can watch DD. Was happy when our dr gave us the option to schedule a date today- but now I am stressing out over the details! TIA.

Gigi8212 · January 2014

My parents will most likely take dd to their house, although my sister could always stay at our place and watch her. Chances are it will be planned long in advance because I am having a RCS.

KeyLime81 · January 2014

I will more than likely have an RCS. Thankfully, both my parents and DH's parents live within 10 minutes of us, so if for some reason I go into labor early, they are available.

If you end up scheduling a c/s, will you be able to arrange for family to come stay with you? As for going into labor early...do you have a neighbor that you trust? What about friends in the area? Are you involved in a local mom's group? Most people are happy to help out a mama in labor, and wouldn't mind being part of someone's back up plan. When I was 2.5, I was at a friends birthday party at Chuck E Cheese when my mom went into labor. The family had to me take me home with them, LOL.

ncbelle · January 2014

Our parents are 12 and 24 hours away so ... we'll have some local friends on call. We did that when my second was born (which was late at night) and it worked well. As soon as baby is born and we are settled, DH will go get the kids and stay with them.

MamaTree17 · January 2014

I'm trying not to stress about this but kind of am. The closest family to us is 4+ hours away and my family isn't even driving distance. We love our daycare provider and she has offered to take DD when I go into labor but I just can't imagine myself making that call at 2am. We also have several friends who may be a little clueless caring for her for an extended time period but they are definitely capable and we trust them. However, since there are a million different situations that could play out, and no way to plan for them all, I'm trying to go with the "well figure it out when we get there" deal. A little stressful but honestly one of those things you just can't do anything about.

ktwils2010 · January 2014

We have a few local friends who offered to keep my 2 yr old dd. We are a military family and fortunately our community is very supportive - lots of us don't have family nearby. My good friend has a dd the same age so I'm sure it will be a fun "sleepover" when the time comes! And then I have two others on the list as "back up"

nunzchucks · January 2014

We are lucky that my parents are 20 min away. In a pinch, our neighbors would help. I hope you find someone!

hollygb22 · January 2014

not sure yet. We live about 35 minutes from the hospital. My father and stepmom are about an hr away. We'll have to come up with something. I'd prefer to have her stay at home and someone stay over our \house

nunzchucks · January 2014

@purtz, do you have close friends nearby that you could ask or that would offer? The more I thought about this, I would absolutely offer for a close friend. Middle of the night would not bother me knowing I am helping them out.

Cherylwang · January 2014

I went into labor on my own at 38 weeks both times. My husband dropped our son off at my parents since it was at night. So my parents will do it. They work full time so I do worry a little but hopefully they can leave early or take off.

justme04 · January 2014

When DA2 was born my mom and sister alternated staying with us. Since his then my sister and an aunt have moved to the area. So probably anyone if the three of them.

aravis121 · January 2014

I'm a 2nd time mom who has moved in the interim. We just moved here and have no family here and only play-group type friends. I'm a SAHM mom and none of my DH's coworkers have children. Both our families live over 1000+ miles away. I'm also freaking out! I think we'll ask DH's mom to come when I'm 39 weeks and just hope that nothing happens before. We do have a drop-off babysitting service that operates from 5am until midnight where we could drop our DD if need be, and then my husband's work offers an (expensive) in-home emergency childcare for overnight, but I HATE the idea of leaving my two-year-old with a stranger.

KristaU831 · January 2014

we are military so don't live near family. i plan to have a friend take my DD when i go into labor. and she will keep her until I'm out of the hospital.

tbmadeamistake · January 2014

My ILs live a half hour away. We're pretty much banking on them, but we haven't actually talked to them about it yet...oops! The second night in the hospital, if I stay that long, I'll probably send DH home to be with her in order to try and keep her normal as much as possible. It's a lot of change for a 2 year old as it is without adding sleep overs into the mix too much. If it's week days it's easy, she'll be at daycare all day per usual. If it's the weekend, relatives will take over where we can't. If we didn't have anyone around...I'd probably have my mom fly in.

Lynnja616 · January 2014

With DD I had a girlfriend who volunteered to be first responder, and another who was our back-up (and my boss's wife offered to be back-up back-up

Thankfully it all worked out and my parents and ILs are "only" a 3 hour drive away.

MNOpea · January 2014

I have no idea. We aren't even sure where we will be living at this point so.. If we live in a state with no friends or family we are hoping to fly my mom or my mil in and just hope we have a good guess as to when baby will arrive.

Rosebud2587 · January 2014

I'm already having serious anxiety about this. We have no family nearby and all my friend's have little kids, 2 and under. Some have already offered to look after DD but we'd have to drop DD off at their house. The biggest problem with that is that they live 20 mins in the opposite direction of the hospital and the hospital is already a 25 min drive from my house.

We still have time to figure it all out but I'm already stressing about it all.

lucreciac · January 2014

I'm really worried about this. We are in NJ but my family is in Florida and ILs are in London so we don't have any close family. I have one friend who could take him but she's 30 min away so I'm hoping I don't go into labor in the middle of the night or something. I better figure it out!

Mztwilson · January 2014

I haven't even thought about that part yet. I'm assuming either my mom or my mil depending on when baby comes.

pcourtade · January 2014

We have to schedule a c section too. I think my MIL will watch our son. Out of all of our relatives, he knows her best.

tdf2010 · January 2014

My sister will be watching DD. She lives in the same town as us and works at the daycare that DD attends. So if I go into labor in the middle of the day, she will just bring her home when her shift is done. Honestly, before my sister moved here, I was very worried about finding someone to be watch her at the drop of a hat.

TS&2xLS · February 2014

I have a 3 yo and a 1 yo and I'm due in June! I have a scheduled c section for 39 weeks in which my sister will come and stay with the kids for a few days.. I guess even if I went into spontaneous labour she would still be the one I call! And then I guess when I get home from the hospital she will probably take my 3 year old son for a few sleepovers in the following week

SecondTimeinMSU · February 2014

The plan is to call my parents and they will come over and stay at our house. We just bought new bedroom furniture so that we can now have a real guest room so they can just stay with DS at our house and not have to tote his stuff around. If it was a super emergency I could call my sister who lives even closer but I am thinking we'll be fine until my parents get there. Do you have any close friends with kids that could help out in a pinch?