Who was at your birth and why? Options

[Raelene]

AJ - hubby, one MW, one just qualified MW for delivery and then the registrar, resident and obs on duty post delivery. Also had shift change during clean up time so a third MW. Didn't want mum there and we were public so had whatever staff were on duty

GP - hubby, 2 MWs, Obs arrived 15+ mins after she was born. Private hospital and how it was done

SB - Hubby, mum and me Big sisters arrived before MW Planned HB that ended up being FB. Should have had MW and trainee MW in attendance as well

[~ela~]

Megs you didn't answer your own question!

Can I be nosey and ask what you are planning this time around?

[hearts_in_asia]

At Emi's actual entrance there were five people, including me and Emi Aside from me and her, there was DH and two midwives. During labour two other midwives popped in and out occasionally to keep an eye on us (I think they were senior/supervisor type people.)
Shortly after Emi was born they brought in a doctor because I was bleeding too much and needed attending to (Synto shot), she also stitched me back up afterwards.
So depending on your POV there were 3-8 other people at any given time.

[Kookies]

At Emi's actual entrance there were five people, including me and Emi

Thank you!! You post just reminded me who the 14th person in the room was... the star of the show of course!

[**** Sarah and Adam ****]

When pregnant with Hamish we asked my mum to attend the birth. She is a nurse and trained midwife and so it seemed fitting, plus I wanted her there anyway. Chris felt that if something went wrong her experience/knowledge and support would be vital as he didn't know how he would cope. We also knew that if I had a long labour Chris might need a rest during it etc.
With Angus we wanted the same team, t he midwife who had most of my care for Hamish cared for me again and was there for my labour/birth once again!!!

I love who was there, I want another already and wnat the same team again!

[Bronwyn]

At each birth I had 2 midwives, 1 student midwife (a different one at each), my OB and my DH.

[MsGems]

Besides myself and Penny, there were three others in the delivery room:

My housemate - she & her bf took me up to the hospital originally, then I asked her to stay with me. We didn't anticipate that we'd end up in the delivery room though!
Midwife - Tracey.
Doctor - no idea what his name was

HM was in there because I didn't want to give birth with only strangers around me.
Midwife & doctor were in there because I was giving birth & we needed some medical professionals in there

Apparently quite a few other people came in and out of the room to talk to the doctor and midwife while I was giving birth, but I was too focussed to notice.

Oh, another midwife/nurse/I don't know what came and got Penny shortly after she was born to whisk her off to the ICN.

[LindyLoo]

There was just DH and I for most of my labour, with one gorgeous midwife (Jeanette) popping in and out.

My Obs left to run an errand, so at the business end it was just Jeanette, an extra midwife (didn't even catch her name) and the stand-in Obs (who was called to give me an episiotomy).

Everything was calm and beautiful - wouldn't have wished it any other way.

[***Jo***]

My husband and my mum where present during my labour. It was fantastic having them both there as they where able to relieve each other when one needed a break and considering my birth took around 3 days, breaks where needed!

As Liam was born by emergency c section, it ended up being about 15 people in the room when it happened.

As long as my husband was there, that was all that mattered!

[-Megs-]

Megs you didn't answer your own question!

Can I be nosey and ask what you are planning this time around?

Course you can, we're planning a homebirth, potentially with a cast of thousands the way I'm going So many people I want to be part of such a special event (my mum, sister and BFF) plus our 2 glorious doulas Have much time to nut out what I want

Jack: DH, my mum, my sister, 2 midwives, 2 paeds/or paed and nurse not sure

Lewis: Was in the resus room of the emergency department DH, 2 midwives, several emergency room nurses and a doctor who stuck his head round the curtain to find out what all the noise was about (I don't birth quietly ).

[Reserge]

We had DH, Mum and midwife.

DH was there for obvious reasons and he was amazing!!!!

We asked Mum for many reasons.
She is a nurse and has neo natal experience.
She grounds me - DH is good at sympethising and pampering me, Mum is good at saying "righto, suck it up and get on with it".
We had a water birth in our own inflatable pool, so Mum was there to support me while DH blew it up.
Mum was also handy when we realised we hadn't taken items that we were supposed to for the water birth. She nipped home and collected stuff which was handy as I wasn't in any position to .
Also I wrote a prgnancy diary. I had been writing in it during my 2 earlier days of labour and mum took over from when we got to hospital. It is soooo cool to read - she mentions heart rate, and all the technical stuff, but then is talking to the baby in some parts and in other parts she is writing about how she is feeling about her daughter being in pain etc. It is the best momento of the day.
She was at the business end while DH supported me in the pool. It is pretty empowering having your mum say "come on Bec, I can see the head" with so much excitement .

Our midwife was fab too. The thing I appreciated the most was that she never touched Molly until well after she had been born. I was the first one to touch/hold my girl, then Simon.

[~Melissa~]

Our midwife was fab too. The thing I appreciated the most was that she never touched Molly until well after she had been born. I was the first one to touch/hold my girl, then Simon.

I loved that about Angus' birth as well. Especially as lots of others had held, washed and looked after Will before me.

[Cole29*]

During labour it was me, hubby and the midwife Joanne. When it came to his birth we had another midwife join us, purely because you have to have 2 midwives when bub arrives. Our midwife was lovely and encouraging (though several times when she was telling me "you can push again Nicole, come on, you can get another push in" I really wanted to yell at her ha ha ha. Hubby was good too, taking his cues from Joanne a lot given he has no previous experience I certainly would never have wanted to do it without him.

Afterwards 2 doctors came in to stitch me up - I had a complete 3rd degree tear and ended up crying uncontrollably as the doctors were hurting me A LOT and their bedside manner was crap (clearly they were 2 women who had never been through this themselves). I ended up needing to go to theatre and having the repair done under a general.

I had thought I would have my mum too, but I went into labour at 10pm 2.5 weeks early and it all happened very quickly from there and I couldn't even get my head around ringing anyone to let them know what was happening so instead mum got a call from me at 6am to say "we have some news - we have a son", it was all very exciting.

[alemona]

Me, obviously
Husband
Midwives (2 because that's the way they roll)
Doula
Student midwife/friend

Trystan and my Mum (to care for T if needed) were also in the house but Trystan slept through it all and Mum didn't come out of her room until she was invited to do so (as S was born).

I had a large support team as that was what I felt I would need (based on zero support last time), but given I didn't call for any of them until transition I don't think I needed them all there now. No one got in the way though, and they were all invited into my space, and I knew I could send any of them away if I wanted to. I think it can be a good idea to have many you can call on and then just see how you feel.

Next time I'll probably just have me, Rob, my boys plus a support person for them, and a birth servant. If I can get my IM off the grid I will


ETA - just realised I responded for Sylar and not for Trystan... started with me, DH and 1 MW, shift change to another MW, then transfer to OB care and another MW, then another OB, and another... then surgery with a room full of people. Yuck.

[Champagne]

I had my DH, our doula and two midwifes.

We hardly saw the midwives, they came in for the delivery and that is about all. I did have a reasonably quick birth and was quite happy to be left alone with our doula and husband until it became showtime.