Hellobee Boards

We have no family nearby and didn't have many close friends as we had only been living here for a year when LO2 was due. I asked around and found 3 different people to be "on call" to take care of DS. One was my neighbor, one was a friend with a child close in age to LO1 and one was the cleaning lady. Luckily, my water broke in the afternoon on a Saturday, so it was easy to get in touch with the friend. My DH took LO1 by taxi to the friend's house and then joined me at the hospital (I went by ambulance since it's standard protocol here). Be sure to have a bag packed for C in the weeks before you are due so it will be easier to drop her off if you have to take her somewhere.

We had a few options. Call MIL was the main one. Also, my friends with kids all offered to come help (DH had some work travel at 37 weeks) or take me to the hospital, and our neighbor offered to help any time, even in the middle of the night, if we wanted them to wait in the house for MIL to come. I ended up being induced midday, unexpectedly, so I called Daycare and ran E's overnight bag there, then called MIL and had her install her seat and pick up E from daycare. Then DH came home and we went to the hospital together

My parents are 40 minutes away so that is the plan. However, if it happens too fast my brother and SIL are just a few minutes away so they could run over until my parents get here. They all answer phones at night so that shouldn't be a problem. We called my parents at 2am when I went into labor with DS1 and they came down right away. ( to come to hospital and watch dog). Eta: my parents already have a car seat for him installed

@Foodnerd81: ah ok. Sounds like you've got a decent set up, already!

DD1 was to stay with her BFF if DD2 arrived early. She stayed put so we were able to have my parents come from the states in time for my RCS.

We moved across the country at 32 weeks. If I'd gone into labor before that, we didn't really have a plan. We moved to about 25 miles from my parents though, so we planned for them to care for DD1. I installed a car seat in my mom's car, packed a little suitcase for DD1 and wrote directions and a grab list (for myself of last minute things for her that we couldn't go without while waiting - lovey, coat, etc.) My sister lived a mile away, so the plan was to call her and have her come sit with DD while my mom was en route. She slept through my call, but my mom rushed over. Our plan had it been my sister was that we would take her car to the hospital and she would keep ours with DD's seat. When they came to visit us at the hospital, DH would switch the seat and swap back cars.

My mom lives an hour away if there's no traffic. Our plan was to call her if it looked like labor was imminent. If everything happened too fast or if she wasn't going to make it in time we would take lo1 to the hospital with us. DH would stay with him until my mom arrived. The second part of our plan was the midwife's suggestion and though not ideal a good plan!
What actually happened was I started having contractions on my due date but not painful and far apart so we took that as our warning sign and my mom came up that night after rush hour. Lo2 was born the next afternoon.

@Foodnerd81: calling MIL is the plan. BIL lives with her so if she doesn't pick up we will probably call him. She's going to come to us, it's easier to watch lo here. Also she only works part time, a few hours a week, scheduling appointments on her own schedule and working from home otherwise, so the schedule is no big deal.

My plan was my parents, who live in town. They both have a lot of autonomy in their work, though my dad is often really busy and/or traveling. But there was very little my mom couldn't drop at the last minute. They left their phones on for about a month before my due date, but backup plan was to call my. Either (who lives with them, and is attached to his phone). They also live only 7 minutes away, so in the event of was nighttime and they couldn't be reached, we could have driven LO1 over there on the way to the hospital.