One reason some women choose to give birth at home is the ability to have other family members present. This includes the baby’s older siblings. These women tend to view birth as an experience to be shared by the whole family. While siblings can be present at some hospital births, it is easier to accommodate them at a home birth.
Your older children may feel more comfortable attending a birth at home. The hospital can seem like a big, scary place to children. They feel comfortable and safe in their homes, so it makes sense that they would feel more comfortable attending a birth there. In addition, the children will learn to see child birth as a natural part of life when it is witnessed in the comfort of home as it has been since the beginning of human history.
At home, your children have all their toys and can go into another room if they get bored or scared at any time during labor. They can choose to come and go as they please throughout the process of labor and delivery. If labor starts in the middle of the night, they will remain tucked snugly in their beds and won’t even know it’s happening until they wake up in the morning.
If you have older children who will be attending the birth, you may want to have another adult present as well. This could be a grandmother, aunt or uncle. This person can be responsible for feeding the kids and attending to their needs throughout the day. If the kids get bored, the other adult can take them in another room to play a game or hang out until it’s time for the baby to be born.
How much the child will be involved will depend on the age of the child, the child’s preferences and your preferences. Some families just have the kids watch in the room. Others get the kids more involved. Siblings can help catch the baby or help cut the umbilical cord when the baby is born. Talk to your older children about the role they hope to play in the birth.
It’s important to spend some time preparing your child for what will happen. There are books you can read to help prepare them. Videos of births are a good idea, if they’ve never seen a birth before. Your midwife can suggest good videos for children. She may even have one or two that you can borrow. This will help them know what to expect and make them feel less nervous about the birth.
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