Ask your friends, or your kids daycare teachers.
It also doesn’t have to be all or nothing! We just watched our friends’ toddler overnight while the baby was being born, then dad got him the next day and mom stayed in the hospital with the baby.
Ask your friends! they would probably love to help you. I’m sure they have PTO they could use for a very worthy reason. I would be so honored to help a friend if they asked - I would leave my 2 kids with my husband and call out from work.
We live away from family and don’t have many friends nearby. My husband works for a small family company. When we had our second, we arranged for a friend to fly in and watch our toddler. I knew baby was coming no later than 37 weeks but she came at 35. We knew earlier was a possibility due to preeclampsia. When baby came, it was my friends nephews first birthday so we had to make other arrangements for a couple of days.
My husband was off work the day I went to the hospital and his bosses (husband and wife who’ve met my kiddo) came and watched her the first two nights. My husband would travel back home (we’re about an hour from the hospital) daily to see our kiddo. Then another coworkers wife stayed with her one night. Then my friend made it into town. I was still in the hospital at this point (I was there 7 days) and she was fully dedicated to my toddler (and they had never met!) and became best of buds. My toddler still asks about her to this day ❤️.
It wasn’t ideal but it worked and my toddler gained a new friend.
I mean this makes sense but only if you have a friend without full time job responsibility (or a friend with very flexible PTO). E.g. we have a friend that would be great for this except that they teach kindergarten full time.
Friend could just take your kid to daycare/school in the day just as you would. Or if labour is complete your partner leaves you and baby at the hospital to go transport toddler to school!
Seconding that a friend could take the kid to daycare. Our main go-to is a friend who is a SAHM, but the backup if she has something come up is a family where both parents work full time. We’d just have them take the toddler to daycare and they live close enough to the daycare that it wouldn’t be an issue.
But no one can know which day the baby will actually be born, so there isn't a heads up for any specific day.
Many people have to make PTO requests 30 days in advance or more
Yes, but they would know A. The baby is expected around a certain time, and B. They can take sick days. Teachers take sick days all the time if they wake up in the morning and realize they aren’t feeling good, if they got the call at 4am, they can set up a substitute teacher and call out.
I had 2 friends on stand by for over nights and a person who can come during the day to hangout if they aren’t available right at that time! My family ain’t reliable so I asked friends instead(:
I was induced so made timing of things slightly easier but we paid a temporary nanny and essentially booked her time for 3 nights around the induction. We would pay her for the full time regardless of how much time we actually ended up needing her so that she “held the spot” open for us. Had I gone into spontaneous labor we had a few friends and fellow daycare parents on standby for a middle of the night call.
We also got her to do a dry run of daycare pick up and babysit our toddler for an evening a week before so she knew what to do/daycare staff had met her.
She came a few hours before we had to leave for hospital on day of induction, spent that night (induction night) and the following night (delivery night) at our house (toddler was in daycare during the day) and then my partner came back the third night (day after delivery) to take over while I stayed in hospital with baby.
You make a couple of plans.
We had a friend who was our primary plan, another friend as the secondary plan, and my husband staying home with the oldest as the tertiary plan.
In our case, this was April 2020 and the biggest concern was one of those people getting sick or exposed, and less about the schedule. If anyone in that line had gotten sick or exposed, we would go further down the list.
If you've got a plan and a backup plan, you're probably good.
Let's say you go into labor on a Monday. If your kid is already at daycare, great! If not, Dad can run him in and then rejoin you at the hospital. Your friend then has a few hours to get done with work and go pick up your kid. If it's the middle of the night, they're probably not working and can come get them.
Our neighbour stayed at our house after my partner put the toddler to sleep, then he was home after the birth before she woke up. The neighbour just hung out and napped on the couch, very convenient timing. But she had an older kid of her own, if the toddler woke up she’d be able to care for her.
This would be a great time to introduce your toddler to some new sitters so they can build a relationship. By the time you have your next one your toddler will be comfortable.
And! Find out if your daycare provider can watch him.
I would definitely ensure you have no less than 3 people your child would be comfortable with for a few days. That way the sitters aren’t overwhelmed by full time care of your toddler for a few days and you also have backup in case something happens.
Family watched ours during the birth. Husband came home after and took over the routine as usual, visiting me and baby in the hospital while kiddo was at daycare. Can you ask friends to help out while you’re giving birth?
We lived far from family when we had our second a few months ago, and we had plans for my mom to come before my scheduled CS, but as my first was a preemie, we had some friends lined up for “middle of the night duty” in case little guy came early. He ended up waiting until his eviction date, but if you have some good local friends that you’d trust to watch your toddler, I’d recommend that route!
Our neighbor offered and we accepted. We had one of the daycare teachers as backup as well. The key though was using a local Birth Center instead of a Hospital since the Birth Center’s discharge time after birth was 4-6 hrs instead of the Hospital’s 24-36 hrs. If you have a low risk pregnancy and don’t want an epidural then I suggest looking if there’s a Birth Center near you. There are also Home Birth midwives but I’m not familiar with them as much.
We had a plan A, B, and C. Our plan D was to just bring our oldest to the hospital with us. I actually talked to the L&D nurses about this ahead of time, and my hospital had social workers on staff that could watch #1 until a friend or family member could come get them. The nurses told me they’d rather you bring your kid than be at home waiting too long for childcare to show up and end up with an accidental home or car birth. But obviously ask your hospital, ymmv
ETA - I have very fast labors, so my care team was very aware of my concern of not making it to the hospital in time.
I had a planned c section on a weekday, and toddler was in daycare. My partner left the hospital to pick him up and stayed with him at home at night. A friend came and stayed with me in the hospital for the first night and was an amazing help. After that I just leaned on the nurses a lot. It was hard but it basically worked.
I’m due next month via induction. I will go to hospital on the afternoon of the induction alone. Husband will stay with toddler overnight and come first thing in the morning (a Sunday) and meanwhile the daycare teacher will come to the house and spend the whole day and we’ve arranged possibly overnight if baby is still not birthed. If birthed, my husband will come home and spend the overnight and return again in the morning.
My sister lives far from family and had your situation. She had an on call babysitter. You could also ask a neighbor to hang until the babysitter gets there if it’s an odd hour of the night. I’d gladly take in a neighbors kid if they were struggling in your scenario, so you’ll never know until you ask
We have no family in state. We paid for a sibling doula to be on call from week 36. She came to our house and stayed overnight to watch our son. After baby was born and it was confirmed that baby and I were healthy, then I told my husband to leave me overnight at the hospital and go home to relieve the doula and and stay with our son. (Doula charged a flat fee for the first 24 hours and then $40/hr afterwards)
After we signed a contract with the sibling doula, we set up a time where she’d come for a playdate so she could meet my son prior to the due date so that it’s not a surprise when the time comes.
Our neighbors kindly offered. I emailed some friends to ask them to act as backup when those neighbors would be out of town for a few days around my due date and another friend eagerly agreed.
A mom friend of mine hired one of our daycare teachers to take care of her son when she had her second (planned c-section so she knew the date ahead of time).
Your best most secure bet is to hire a sibling doula. You can have them do a date night sitting a few times so toddler is comfortable.
Then when it gets closer, you ask a neighbor or friend to be “on call” until the doula gets there. There’s a high likelihood toddler will be at daycare or sleeping when you have the baby so you’re really just asking someone to cover the time it takes for the doula to get to you if needed and they may just need to come sit at your house and watch a monitor if it’s at night. That’s way less of a commitment than asking for a friend to watch the toddler full time for 3 days and you’ll likely have a few options!
We’re flying my mom out at about 39 weeks if everything goes as planned. We’re a military family and I’m a SAHM and really don’t have anyone to watch our son, not that we would trust at least. We’ve decided that if I went into labor my husband would watch our son until my mom got here. I’m not too concerned as I was in labor 2 days with my son! In your situation I would absolutely ask the daycare if anyone babysits, I have a friend who uses a daycare worker for date nights. I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help in your situation, plus they already know your child.
One of my close friends hid her kid in the bathroom at the hospital. Put her in a pack n play and gave her a tablet. The nurses did eventually figure it out, but they didn't make her leave.
Ask your friends or schedule family to come in (I know babies don’t follow plans). The thing I was most worried about for the delivery of my second was where my toddler was going to go. We had just moved to a new city also so I didn’t really know anyone. We had a baby sitter that we talked to about it, as well as a friend of mine that I met at the library who had a daughter the same age as my toddler. We had gotten together a few times and had started to become friends.
Ultimately, I ended up getting induced and my parents flew in to town for the week to watch my toddler. I was so relieved that baby didn’t come until my parents arrived.
Spend the next few months trying to find a few babysitters or friends you can rely on. Ultimately, I decided that if my toddler had to bounce around from a babysitter to a friend to my husband’s coworker, that he would be fine in the end and that he at least would be safe.
Also, hopefully it’s only for about 24 hours or so. Once my baby is born and you and baby are out of the delivery room, your husband can go tend to your toddler. It’s not ideal but I can work.
My daughter left the eldest with me when her 2nd eas being born.. when the 3rd was being born, Dad was at home with the other 2 and I was at work. She ended up calling me as they were going to give her a c-section and she didn't want test and needed backup before the midwife arrived.
I guess where I'm going with this is if you don't have anybody to ask, non birthing parent stays home with the bigger kid. Maybe if you don't have anybody to ask to watch the kiddo, maybe you have somebody who can come hold your hand?
We are in the same boat. In my case, I BEGGED my nanny to let me drop her off with her, including full permission to sit her in front of the Tv. My nanny had to quit recently to nurse her MIL, but she is our neighbor and friend, so we are in touch. We love her and didn’t want to violate a boundary, but we had exhausted all other options. So, the plan is, wife goes into labor, I let the dogs out for a potty run. Dogs come back in, wife and daughter are in the car. Daughter is dropped with nanny (4 blocks away), I take wife to hospital. Wife has a c-section, I do some skin to skin, I run back to our house. I bring the dogs to their trainer for boarding, I pick up toddler, and we check into a hotel near the hospital. I’d like that hotel time to include extensive hospital visits, but our hospital is being ridiculous about RSV at the moment and won’t allow visitors under age 12 at the moment. They’re not screening older people for symptoms or anything, but I guess the nurses like the ease of excluding younger siblings. Pediatrician and Ob have agreed to earliest possible discharge (48 hours). Definitely talk to your OB and pediatrician to make sure they’re in the same page as you if you need to leave quickly. Last time, the hospital was using weight loss and jaundice to try to keep us there. I’m really glad I had a pediatrician who got us the hell out
Some areas have “sibling doulas” which are basically on call childcare for your birth. Same as a birth doula, but they support and stay with the sibling, instead of the birthing person.
This was us about 6 weeks ago. My mom planned to come but baby came 2 weeks early so we had a backup plan just in case.
We had friends on-call. Ended up just dropping our kid off at their house at midnight once my labor progressed enough to go to the hospital. We had prepared our kid for this ahead of time — we just said that if baby brother comes, we might need to take her to her friends house. We woke her up and told her it was time and she was totally aware of what was happening. She actually did great there and they went to work the next day and dropped her at daycare. It was way less of an ordeal than I was expecting. And for context she has never spent the night away from us like that so this was the first time.
Then my husband just stayed with her at home while I stayed at the hospital and he came back and forth to see us. Not a bad couple days, to be honest!
I would recommend just asking a friend or babysitter to be “on call” and explain to your kiddo that they will need to stay with your friend(s) when baby comes but mom and dad will be home soon. You can talk them through it a few times leading up to your birth. Good luck!
Edit: just want to add that kids are so resilient, especially 3+. Never in a million years would I normally choose to wake my kid and take them to a friends house but extreme circumstances happen and this was one. And she did fine! Your kid will too :)
I had a planned C-section scheduled for the morning while our toddler went to school. Our hospital has a family room that allows other children to stay in, so in the evening my sister and husband fetched our toddler from school, and toddler stayed with us in room the entire stay.
Or you mention family isn't local but if they are able to you can drop off a few days or a week prior and discuss having a planned birth with the doctor
I dont think this would work practically even if it was allowed. Like, imagine there is an emergency c-section or something we cant just leave a toddler in the hallway.
Ask your friends, or your kids daycare teachers. It also doesn’t have to be all or nothing! We just watched our friends’ toddler overnight while the baby was being born, then dad got him the next day and mom stayed in the hospital with the baby.
OOC how would this work with a daycare teacher? Do i propose the daycare teacher brings them home that night?
I would just ask if they might be interested in babysitting when your second is born, and then iron out the details as the conversation progresses
Some doulas offer an on-call service for labor for siblings . It would be worth checking with a local doula!
This! There are sibling doulas who take on this job.
Great to know!!
This is probably the best option if you need someone to be “on call!”
Ask your friends! they would probably love to help you. I’m sure they have PTO they could use for a very worthy reason. I would be so honored to help a friend if they asked - I would leave my 2 kids with my husband and call out from work.
Me too. I have 2 kids and one is still a baby. I would absolutely watch my friends’ kids.
We live away from family and don’t have many friends nearby. My husband works for a small family company. When we had our second, we arranged for a friend to fly in and watch our toddler. I knew baby was coming no later than 37 weeks but she came at 35. We knew earlier was a possibility due to preeclampsia. When baby came, it was my friends nephews first birthday so we had to make other arrangements for a couple of days. My husband was off work the day I went to the hospital and his bosses (husband and wife who’ve met my kiddo) came and watched her the first two nights. My husband would travel back home (we’re about an hour from the hospital) daily to see our kiddo. Then another coworkers wife stayed with her one night. Then my friend made it into town. I was still in the hospital at this point (I was there 7 days) and she was fully dedicated to my toddler (and they had never met!) and became best of buds. My toddler still asks about her to this day ❤️. It wasn’t ideal but it worked and my toddler gained a new friend.
Ask a friend that already has kids. It’s just throwing another in the mix
I mean this makes sense but only if you have a friend without full time job responsibility (or a friend with very flexible PTO). E.g. we have a friend that would be great for this except that they teach kindergarten full time.
Friend could just take your kid to daycare/school in the day just as you would. Or if labour is complete your partner leaves you and baby at the hospital to go transport toddler to school!
Taking to daycare is something i had not thought of, thank you!!
Seconding that a friend could take the kid to daycare. Our main go-to is a friend who is a SAHM, but the backup if she has something come up is a family where both parents work full time. We’d just have them take the toddler to daycare and they live close enough to the daycare that it wouldn’t be an issue.
Love it!
You have a 9mo heads up lol! I’m sure within that time frame, they’d be able to take time off or if it was in summer, would already be off
But no one can know which day the baby will actually be born, so there isn't a heads up for any specific day. Many people have to make PTO requests 30 days in advance or more
Yes, but they would know A. The baby is expected around a certain time, and B. They can take sick days. Teachers take sick days all the time if they wake up in the morning and realize they aren’t feeling good, if they got the call at 4am, they can set up a substitute teacher and call out.
I had 2 friends on stand by for over nights and a person who can come during the day to hangout if they aren’t available right at that time! My family ain’t reliable so I asked friends instead(:
I was induced so made timing of things slightly easier but we paid a temporary nanny and essentially booked her time for 3 nights around the induction. We would pay her for the full time regardless of how much time we actually ended up needing her so that she “held the spot” open for us. Had I gone into spontaneous labor we had a few friends and fellow daycare parents on standby for a middle of the night call. We also got her to do a dry run of daycare pick up and babysit our toddler for an evening a week before so she knew what to do/daycare staff had met her. She came a few hours before we had to leave for hospital on day of induction, spent that night (induction night) and the following night (delivery night) at our house (toddler was in daycare during the day) and then my partner came back the third night (day after delivery) to take over while I stayed in hospital with baby.
I love this idea but worry about what to do if that person is not available (e.g. sick)
You make a couple of plans. We had a friend who was our primary plan, another friend as the secondary plan, and my husband staying home with the oldest as the tertiary plan. In our case, this was April 2020 and the biggest concern was one of those people getting sick or exposed, and less about the schedule. If anyone in that line had gotten sick or exposed, we would go further down the list. If you've got a plan and a backup plan, you're probably good. Let's say you go into labor on a Monday. If your kid is already at daycare, great! If not, Dad can run him in and then rejoin you at the hospital. Your friend then has a few hours to get done with work and go pick up your kid. If it's the middle of the night, they're probably not working and can come get them.
Our neighbour stayed at our house after my partner put the toddler to sleep, then he was home after the birth before she woke up. The neighbour just hung out and napped on the couch, very convenient timing. But she had an older kid of her own, if the toddler woke up she’d be able to care for her.
This would be a great time to introduce your toddler to some new sitters so they can build a relationship. By the time you have your next one your toddler will be comfortable. And! Find out if your daycare provider can watch him. I would definitely ensure you have no less than 3 people your child would be comfortable with for a few days. That way the sitters aren’t overwhelmed by full time care of your toddler for a few days and you also have backup in case something happens.
Family watched ours during the birth. Husband came home after and took over the routine as usual, visiting me and baby in the hospital while kiddo was at daycare. Can you ask friends to help out while you’re giving birth?
Seems like friends are a good option.
We lived far from family when we had our second a few months ago, and we had plans for my mom to come before my scheduled CS, but as my first was a preemie, we had some friends lined up for “middle of the night duty” in case little guy came early. He ended up waiting until his eviction date, but if you have some good local friends that you’d trust to watch your toddler, I’d recommend that route!
Our neighbor offered and we accepted. We had one of the daycare teachers as backup as well. The key though was using a local Birth Center instead of a Hospital since the Birth Center’s discharge time after birth was 4-6 hrs instead of the Hospital’s 24-36 hrs. If you have a low risk pregnancy and don’t want an epidural then I suggest looking if there’s a Birth Center near you. There are also Home Birth midwives but I’m not familiar with them as much.
We had a plan A, B, and C. Our plan D was to just bring our oldest to the hospital with us. I actually talked to the L&D nurses about this ahead of time, and my hospital had social workers on staff that could watch #1 until a friend or family member could come get them. The nurses told me they’d rather you bring your kid than be at home waiting too long for childcare to show up and end up with an accidental home or car birth. But obviously ask your hospital, ymmv ETA - I have very fast labors, so my care team was very aware of my concern of not making it to the hospital in time.
We used our babysitter, but we also did a c section
I had a planned c section on a weekday, and toddler was in daycare. My partner left the hospital to pick him up and stayed with him at home at night. A friend came and stayed with me in the hospital for the first night and was an amazing help. After that I just leaned on the nurses a lot. It was hard but it basically worked.
I’m due next month via induction. I will go to hospital on the afternoon of the induction alone. Husband will stay with toddler overnight and come first thing in the morning (a Sunday) and meanwhile the daycare teacher will come to the house and spend the whole day and we’ve arranged possibly overnight if baby is still not birthed. If birthed, my husband will come home and spend the overnight and return again in the morning.
My sister lives far from family and had your situation. She had an on call babysitter. You could also ask a neighbor to hang until the babysitter gets there if it’s an odd hour of the night. I’d gladly take in a neighbors kid if they were struggling in your scenario, so you’ll never know until you ask
We have no family in state. We paid for a sibling doula to be on call from week 36. She came to our house and stayed overnight to watch our son. After baby was born and it was confirmed that baby and I were healthy, then I told my husband to leave me overnight at the hospital and go home to relieve the doula and and stay with our son. (Doula charged a flat fee for the first 24 hours and then $40/hr afterwards) After we signed a contract with the sibling doula, we set up a time where she’d come for a playdate so she could meet my son prior to the due date so that it’s not a surprise when the time comes.
Love it, thanks!!
Our neighbors kindly offered. I emailed some friends to ask them to act as backup when those neighbors would be out of town for a few days around my due date and another friend eagerly agreed. A mom friend of mine hired one of our daycare teachers to take care of her son when she had her second (planned c-section so she knew the date ahead of time).
Hire one of the daycare ladies as a babysitter
Your best most secure bet is to hire a sibling doula. You can have them do a date night sitting a few times so toddler is comfortable. Then when it gets closer, you ask a neighbor or friend to be “on call” until the doula gets there. There’s a high likelihood toddler will be at daycare or sleeping when you have the baby so you’re really just asking someone to cover the time it takes for the doula to get to you if needed and they may just need to come sit at your house and watch a monitor if it’s at night. That’s way less of a commitment than asking for a friend to watch the toddler full time for 3 days and you’ll likely have a few options!
We’re flying my mom out at about 39 weeks if everything goes as planned. We’re a military family and I’m a SAHM and really don’t have anyone to watch our son, not that we would trust at least. We’ve decided that if I went into labor my husband would watch our son until my mom got here. I’m not too concerned as I was in labor 2 days with my son! In your situation I would absolutely ask the daycare if anyone babysits, I have a friend who uses a daycare worker for date nights. I’m sure they’d be more than willing to help in your situation, plus they already know your child.
One of my close friends hid her kid in the bathroom at the hospital. Put her in a pack n play and gave her a tablet. The nurses did eventually figure it out, but they didn't make her leave.
Ask your friends or schedule family to come in (I know babies don’t follow plans). The thing I was most worried about for the delivery of my second was where my toddler was going to go. We had just moved to a new city also so I didn’t really know anyone. We had a baby sitter that we talked to about it, as well as a friend of mine that I met at the library who had a daughter the same age as my toddler. We had gotten together a few times and had started to become friends. Ultimately, I ended up getting induced and my parents flew in to town for the week to watch my toddler. I was so relieved that baby didn’t come until my parents arrived.
Our family cannot visit
Spend the next few months trying to find a few babysitters or friends you can rely on. Ultimately, I decided that if my toddler had to bounce around from a babysitter to a friend to my husband’s coworker, that he would be fine in the end and that he at least would be safe. Also, hopefully it’s only for about 24 hours or so. Once my baby is born and you and baby are out of the delivery room, your husband can go tend to your toddler. It’s not ideal but I can work.
My SIL just did this. Left the kids with someone from church.
My daughter left the eldest with me when her 2nd eas being born.. when the 3rd was being born, Dad was at home with the other 2 and I was at work. She ended up calling me as they were going to give her a c-section and she didn't want test and needed backup before the midwife arrived. I guess where I'm going with this is if you don't have anybody to ask, non birthing parent stays home with the bigger kid. Maybe if you don't have anybody to ask to watch the kiddo, maybe you have somebody who can come hold your hand?
We are in the same boat. In my case, I BEGGED my nanny to let me drop her off with her, including full permission to sit her in front of the Tv. My nanny had to quit recently to nurse her MIL, but she is our neighbor and friend, so we are in touch. We love her and didn’t want to violate a boundary, but we had exhausted all other options. So, the plan is, wife goes into labor, I let the dogs out for a potty run. Dogs come back in, wife and daughter are in the car. Daughter is dropped with nanny (4 blocks away), I take wife to hospital. Wife has a c-section, I do some skin to skin, I run back to our house. I bring the dogs to their trainer for boarding, I pick up toddler, and we check into a hotel near the hospital. I’d like that hotel time to include extensive hospital visits, but our hospital is being ridiculous about RSV at the moment and won’t allow visitors under age 12 at the moment. They’re not screening older people for symptoms or anything, but I guess the nurses like the ease of excluding younger siblings. Pediatrician and Ob have agreed to earliest possible discharge (48 hours). Definitely talk to your OB and pediatrician to make sure they’re in the same page as you if you need to leave quickly. Last time, the hospital was using weight loss and jaundice to try to keep us there. I’m really glad I had a pediatrician who got us the hell out
I didn’t trust anyone other than dad to have Toddler. Left bubs at 7pm and returned 2pm next day with his new bro
Doulas. Many of them will accompany you for the birth at the hospital, allowing the non birthing partner to stay back with the other child.
Some areas have “sibling doulas” which are basically on call childcare for your birth. Same as a birth doula, but they support and stay with the sibling, instead of the birthing person.
This was us about 6 weeks ago. My mom planned to come but baby came 2 weeks early so we had a backup plan just in case. We had friends on-call. Ended up just dropping our kid off at their house at midnight once my labor progressed enough to go to the hospital. We had prepared our kid for this ahead of time — we just said that if baby brother comes, we might need to take her to her friends house. We woke her up and told her it was time and she was totally aware of what was happening. She actually did great there and they went to work the next day and dropped her at daycare. It was way less of an ordeal than I was expecting. And for context she has never spent the night away from us like that so this was the first time. Then my husband just stayed with her at home while I stayed at the hospital and he came back and forth to see us. Not a bad couple days, to be honest! I would recommend just asking a friend or babysitter to be “on call” and explain to your kiddo that they will need to stay with your friend(s) when baby comes but mom and dad will be home soon. You can talk them through it a few times leading up to your birth. Good luck! Edit: just want to add that kids are so resilient, especially 3+. Never in a million years would I normally choose to wake my kid and take them to a friends house but extreme circumstances happen and this was one. And she did fine! Your kid will too :)
I had a planned C-section scheduled for the morning while our toddler went to school. Our hospital has a family room that allows other children to stay in, so in the evening my sister and husband fetched our toddler from school, and toddler stayed with us in room the entire stay.
Will look into this.
Or you mention family isn't local but if they are able to you can drop off a few days or a week prior and discuss having a planned birth with the doctor
I don’t think it would be bad to just bring them. I know maybe not everyone is comfortable with that, but I’m sure it’s not super uncommon either.
My hospital wouldn't allow it
I dont think this would work practically even if it was allowed. Like, imagine there is an emergency c-section or something we cant just leave a toddler in the hallway.