Home birth w/kids

[Princess81]

No one ever said anything to me (thankfully for them). My mum breastfed, my ex’s mum didn’t and was so desperate for me to give my son a bottle :-/ goodness help anyone who ever tries tackling me in public
My oh now is from a family of breastfeeders thankfully! My mil-to-be bf’d both boys for a year

 

[Jamie.d]

It's so much nicer when you get the support from home!
I got so much hassle! I was literally flopping it out anywhere though.. everyone thought I was an exhibitionist but the way I see it, it'll never be normalised unless we expose people to it.. I got asked to cover up in a restaurant and when I was working in a nursery the manager told me I mustn't feed in full view of the parents in case a dad saw me!!! What?! Hahaha!

 

[Diamond18]

I've been at a good few home births that have happened whilst they've had children there and honestly it wasn't that big of a deal for them. They carried on as normal and tried to help mum with water, ice, food, tummy rubs etc. Some older children are engrossed in seeing everything and younger ones just don't seem to care. I've never seen a child freak out, a lot hold their mums hand or cuddle their dad\grandparent when things get a bit more primal.

I think it's a normal as you make it. Even in an emergency situation, it doesn't have to traumatic.

I've personally had a home birth with a child at home, she was quite young and just kept playing with me through contractions and got my birthing ball for me - eventually she just went to bed and didn't wake up until the next day, haha!

Hope this helps.

 

[Jamie.d]

it does! thank you!
I need the positive stories! I just want to make the right decision for my babies...they already say they want to see the baby being born but obviously being so young they don't have a clue what this entails (Yet!!!)
My plan is to educate through the pregnancy and see how they react

 

[Jamie.d]

met my mother today for the first time in over a year!
We took the kids out to a play centre and my eldest told my mum 'the baby has a placenta to get her food from and the umbilical cord gets it to her bellybutton'
She also knows the baby swallows the amniotic fluid now and it's in the amniotic sac, I'm amazed they've learned all these terms in such a short space of time and that they're so interested..

I thought it was adorable but my mum was horrified! (she's a midwife too!) told me to stop treating her like she's 12 and more like she's 5. Did not expect that haha
I've also shown her and my son (3yo) home birth videos and shared pregnancy books with them and they're fascinated I'm actually quite proud they're learning something factual instead of 'babies come from a stork' which is what their dad has told them!

 

[Shanivy]

Aw Jamie I think that's great she's so clever! Dd is four and she asks and I answer. It's not like they're asking sex questions or something, it's only pregnancy. Xx

Diamond that's amazing ! Xx

 

[Jamie.d]

yes, that's what I thought? besides at some point they're going to have to learn it..it seems odd that you'd change it from stork to tell them actually...I lied
My son was a bit emotional when the baby came out on the videos, and cried when I read him a book about birth he didn't know why when I asked him he just said he was sad because the baby and mummy were crying because they wanted a cuddle! SO CUTE and kept asking to see more!

 

[BunnyN]

I haven't read this whole thread. When I was looking into home birth I remember seeing other articles written by that woman on the net, all of them quite disturbing. She claims to be an OB. If she is then I would be horrified to have her as my doctor at a hospital birth because she seems to have no regard for evidence, reason, or even mothers and babies, only her own ego. She clearly wants to be the star at any birth she is at . Anyway enough about her.

I have had 3 home births. Our 20 month old daughter was there for the 2nd . All 3 were lovely births. I felt there were advantages and disadvantages to having her there. On the whole I am glad she was there. She was not traumatised by it at all and has always been super close to her brother. One of my favourite pictures of all time is of her holding her brother just minutes after he was born.

 

[Jamie.d]

that's lovely!
I'm hoping for a similar experience however I'm not going to get too hung up on it as they need to be comfortable so at the moment testing the waters...my daughter is now umming and ahhing about it but my son is adamant he wants to be there!

 

[BunnyN]

Something that helped a lot was putting together a plastic tote box with stuff to entertain her. Stickers, crayons, some kiddie jewellery, a handbag and silly glasses anything cheep and cheerful that I could think of that would keep her busy for a few minutes and didn't need too much supervision. I got it out of the cupboard just as labour started to get more intense. I gave her some stuff out of the box and at some point someone must have put it on the floor and she started to help herself after that. I have a picture of me in advanced labour wearing bunny ears and silly glasses that came out of the box. I think ever one had their turn wearing them including the MW . I did another box with easy snacks like crisps, dried fruit and juice boxes etc.

My 3rd labour I had the boxes ready but the kids didn't end up staying. They were still dead handy in the first few days of having two toddlers and a newborn at home.

 

[BunnyN]

I was a bit worried about scaring her with noise but she wasn't bothered by it at all. I told her it helped me push the baby down and made a silly game out of it earlier on in labour getting her to help me make noises. The only bit she was more worried about is baby being all covered in mank and slime. And OH ended up taking her out of the room after a few minutes cus she was getting a little worked up but she was fine again after a couple mins break.