For those of you with other children

[just_jen_e]

tonight my 4 year old asked me if she can be in the room when I have the baby.  Now normally I would shun the idea immediately -as a matter of fact when she was born I had my mom watch my then 4 year old and called her and specifically asked her to keep her away because my ribs were visibly being pushed out with each contraction and it was pretty

Comments

[biggerstaff]

I have no idea how a 4 year old would take it -- I haven't been around a kid that age in years, so I really have no frame of reference for it.

We're considering making Pete's daughter come in the room for it -- she's 14 -- because right now she's in the "being pregnant must be AWESOME! I WANT A BABY" stage, and we want to scare the living shit out of her. Maybe I'm mean, but I want her to see some of the reality, not just the fun poking-the-belly, cute baby stuff. I want her to change diapers and see water break and see the placenta, all the gross stuff.

[mrsmdub]

slightly relevant, but my best friend wants a baby badly (just went through a divorce) and so she lives vicariously through my pregnancies.
She's living closer this time and so she wants to be around for the birth. Yesterday she was visiting and I started describing the fishnet panties for "holding everything in" afterwards and that she could play with my placenta if she wanted…
I think she turned green, poor thing. I think her and DD might be in the waiting room together.

[lukakai]

My 2.5 year old is coming to the birth center but has his own support person. I'm fine with him in the room- but we'll play it by ear.

[boudoir]

No one knows your child better than you do! If you think she can handle it, she probably can. Worst case scenario, she could sit up by your head and not be down where the gore is going on! :P

[panic_absent]

I think it'd depend a lot on the kids themselves? I've read birth stories where kids as young as 4 have been in the room; others where the mother didn't want the distraction of older kids watching/talking/etc.

We wouldn't have G's older kids regardless, since their mother would have a fit over it, but I don't think I'd want them there. That said, this is my first birth (and the birth centre wouldn't allow it). If they're with us when I go into labour, I expect they'll be around for a little bit, since it'll take a while to get them to whoever will be caring for them, but that should be fine. They have a basic understanding of how the baby will come out, since they've all been told their own birth stories, more or less. One of the first questions I got was "will you have the baby from your vagina or from your tummy?"

[robinanderson]

My son (who is almost 5) is very attatched to me and gets upset when I have to go to the doctor, so I don't want him watching me labor as I think it would upset him. But it probably depends on the kid.