Who watches your child(ren) when you are at a birth?

Jilian · 01-19-2007, 08:35 PM

I'm just curious what everyone does for childcare while at births. I've been lucky up until now because DS's dad owns his own business and can watch DS at a moment's notice if needed. But now I'm preg with baby #2 and will not have any childcare for this babe. Of course I have a year to worry about that.

So what do you do with your child(ren) while you are at a birth?

doula Michele · 01-19-2007, 08:39 PM

LOL..I am lucky.
Mine are 16 and 18! So not an issue. Hubby works from a home office if it were an issue. He is always here to deal with any mini crisis.

jesscardona · 01-19-2007, 08:41 PM

It depends on what time etc.. but so fat it has been my mother in law..

teachinmamaof4 · 01-19-2007, 08:50 PM

My dh is my first pick. He has a pretty flexible work schedule and can take time off if he needs it.

At the birth in October it was on a Sunday and he had to go into church to work the service. Thankfully his Mom was able to come over until he got home. I do not count on the ILs for my second pick for child care though. They are really busy and not reliable last minute.

My second pick is a girl from our church. They are homeschooled so she is available during the day and her Mom can give her a ride over in the morning before my dh needed to get to work (his parents or his brother are usually available in the morning to give him a ride). Her little sister is really good friends with my oldest dds, so it would be fun for my girls because her sister could come along with her. I also told her that if it was during the day that my girls would have school work so she (and the little sister) could bring theirs over as well.

DL · 01-19-2007, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doula Michele

LOL..I am lucky.
Mine are 16 and 18! So not an issue. Hubby works from a home office if it were an issue. He is always here to deal with any mini crisis.

This is exactly what I was going to post!

(except that my youngest is still 15, for a couple more months). My dh works for his company at home in his home office, too (yay for modern technology)!

With that said, I actually did wait until my kids were older before becoming a doula because I knew that childcare would've been a big problem for me.

elang99 · 01-19-2007, 10:54 PM

So far it is my mom, who is retired and lives 10 minutes away. My DH is a long haul truck driver, so I can never plan around his schedule b/c I never know when he will be home. I think my mom will still happily do it when I have my 2nd, but we'll see!! I won't have to worry about that until September.

surrodoula · 01-20-2007, 12:28 AM

I managed to find 2 day homes, one with space only on Mon-Tues-Wed, and another only on Thurs-Fri. My DH can also take a day off here and there if needed - he gets 3 weeks of vacation a year, and usually uses up a week of vacation time staying home with the kids. My MIL works shift work, so sometimes she's available, but not very oten, and my mom has a flexible job, so she can pick up the kids at the dayhome when needed, etc.

doula Michele · 01-20-2007, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doula Lori

This is exactly what I was going to post!

(except that my youngest is still 15, for a couple more months). My dh works for his company at home in his home office, too (yay for modern technology)!

With that said, I actually did wait until my kids were older before becoming a doula because I knew that childcare would've been a big problem for me.

Do we have the same life Lori?
I did wait till mine were older as well, as I don't know if i could handle all the juggling some of you gals do. That would stress me out majorly.
Not to mention...if you have to pay a daycare or a sitter, you must be doing doula work for free by the time its all said and done?

AmandaB · 01-20-2007, 09:46 AM

I am quite lucky. My hubby is in retail and a manager, so if he needs to leave early or start alittle later, it is totally cool.

My inlaws are 17mins from our house. My MIL is at home full-time.
My dad is 20mins from our house. I also have a 19yo brother who drives.
My mom is 28mins from our house.
Even my grandma is 30mins from our house.

My ideal would be to step up childcare within the Doula community, although that is going to have to be planned out. I also have a client that is mere minutes from my house and we have discussed trade-off babysitting in the future.

tlcdoula · 01-20-2007, 12:19 PM

When I first started it was very hard because I relied on my mother and her and I have a very hot and cold relationship. When it was cold asking her to watch the kids was very hard, but now that they are all older my older once just watch the younger ones. When I leave I typically will tap the older two awake if it is in the middle of the night and will let them know I am leaving. If it is during the day my dh is home because he works 3rd shift - although all the kiddos are in school now.

syncreo · 01-20-2007, 01:34 PM

Hi,
My dh works from home and for himself so he is the one who usually watches them. My last birth he was 2 hrs out of town (which happens regularly) and I needed to get to the birth so my mom came over in the middle of the night (she lives 5 minutes away) and dh made his way back and relieved her.
Somehow it all works out - although sometimes I wonder when it will fall apart. I just keep going though assume all will be fine until proven otherwise. I guess that is why I have backup.

NakedHousewife · 01-20-2007, 01:53 PM

I have a few friends who volunteered to help, so far I have very few births scheduled, so I am not really overloading anyone. My husband has pretty well set hours, so if I have to leave in the middle of the night, I call a child care provider on base who I pay $5 an hour for both kids and he drops them off in the morning on his way to work. I'd end up paying her 55 dollars a day for a full day, so I add that to the price of my services. I may not always use the child care, (like if I ask my friends to do it) so if I don't the 55 dollars gets added to my savings for the next birth which may run two days or be volunteer. So I would hope that all evens out eventually.

heathenmamaof5 · 01-20-2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elang99

So far it is my mom, who is retired and lives 10 minutes away. My DH is a long haul truck driver, so I can never plan around his schedule b/c I never know when he will be home. I think my mom will still happily do it when I have my 2nd, but we'll see!! I won't have to worry about that until September.

Hey! I thought I was the only one with a long haul truck driver for a hubby! Whew, it makes it a little tough doesn't it?

For child care I waited until my kids were oldr like Lori. My oldest is almost 16 so she does the bulk of my child care. I also have my parent's who live less then a mile from me. Luckily they are extrtemely supportive of my calling and will transport the kids to where they need to be.

loveslabor · 01-20-2007, 02:38 PM

So far, my daughter has been with my husband or my sister-in-law. I also have my mom, my grandma and now my 2 younger sisters that are available.

UtahDoula · 01-20-2007, 03:20 PM

Los of SAHMs in my neighborhood - I have 4 who are willing to do on-call for $50 a full day for my 4 yo. They all have daughters the same age, so the only question is "which friend do you get to play with today?"