How did you work out the delivery???

[Bigsweetie]

DH and I have a question for all of you that have children. If your DH works for an airline - how did you arrange for him to be home during the delivery? DH called me last night at midnight (when he got to his hotel) and I asked him - "If it were May and I called you right now and said i'm going into labor - how long would it take you to get home?" We figured it out and it would be at least 12 HOURS before he could make it to the hospital. [img]images/graemlins/24.gif[/img] There were no flights out of Charleston WV until 6am - and even then he would have to make a connection in Dulles in order to get to DTW.

I know that USUALLY you are in labor for a very long time with your first - but I don't like the fact that it could take him that long to get to me. [img]images/graemlins/17.gif[/img]

What did all of you do? I would love to tell DH to take the time off around the due date- but as we all know this child could be up to two weeks late!!! We can't afford for him to be gone that long before the baby even comes!!


Any Advice????

Thanks!!

Tanya

[TheWife]

Well I haven't had to worry about it yet, but if/when it happens, we will absolutely be for inducing during a stay home. And I am very against inducing unless it's very necessary, but I consider the dh being there as important as the Dr. being there. I will try all I can to do natural inducers first, before medical, and I know I will be risking a C-section, but I'd rather have dh there and have a C-sec, then have a vaginal delivery alone. Unless wherever he is working with at the time could have hime home within a few hours. BTW-the whole "first labor being long" thing is a total myth. About 40% of first timers go in less than 5 hours.

[Kristie]

I've heard that too.. both my sister and my girlfriend laura had their kids within a 12 hour labor time (that's really not that long for a first time baby)!

[MQAAord]

We induced.

It probably meant we had a longer labor time than I would have otherwise, and I had to stay in the bed all day. We'd talked it over with our doctor pretty early on, and he said he understood our situation and he'd be very willing to work with us once it got a little closer. We didn't actually get our date set until about a week prior, but this let the doc make sure baby was 'cooked' enough. My due date was 21 July, we induced on 10 July. I was 38 weeks, I'd had a complication-free pregnancy, and there were no other medical issues involved.

We'll see if we have to induce again this time, Bill's got vacation (bid long before expecting baby) in March, and we will probably just let it go unless it looks like his vacation is nearing being over and no sign of baby's arrival has happened.

But should his vacation time dwindle, we'll induce again in a heartbeat in order to have him there. I DO NOT want him to have to do the cross-country-scramble to *maybe* arrive in time! When I was working I saw it several times, poor guys looking so anxious, knowing their baby is being born and they're not there, flight doesn't leave for an hour..... Then throw in heavy loads or weather and it becomes a horribly stressful situation for everyone.

[av8rwyf]

For our first, our doctor wouldnt induce. My husband had let Piedmont know ahead of time that he was planning on taking FML (family medical leave). As soon as labor began, he called the company and that's when it (FMLA) kicked in. Luckily, I had one night of "false labor" and DH called in sick for a 3-day or something like that. So he was already off when the real stuff began.

We ended up having to have a C/S w/ #1 one so I opted for a C/S w/ number 2. Planning was much easier the 2nd time around obviously!

Good luck!

[lucky81698]

My DH told the chief pilot ahead of time about the situation. He got 4 emergency days off with pay and then they let him move his vacation. That comnbined with days off, he was home for a little over 2 weeks. Have your DH look into the emergency leave policy at his company, FMLA (unpaid), try to bid his days off around your due date, bid vacation (if he has any) for that time as well. Just make sure he lets the chief pilot know, they seem to be very understanding (at leaset my DH's have been). Of course babies don't always come when they are expected! Unless you want to be induced, then just plan the best you can. Do you have anyone else that would be able to be there in case he can't get there in time? It doesn't always take that long...my water broke at 7:10 pm and my son was born at 11:50 pm. Good luck. [img]images/graemlins/0712.gif[/img]

[ILoveMyPilot]

My DH told the company that if I called before he took off that he would be going back to the gate. he bid high speeds also that helped knowing he would be gone at 7pm and back by 8am. (Oh.... he did come home twice before the big day. I called him before his flight and said he needs to come home now because I had labor for 3+ weeks with this baby.I made up my mind I was NOT going one more day. He came home and we called a OB (we had a midwife) and he was shocked I did not deliver in Feb. he said come in now and we will induce you. March 16 Derrick was born weighing over 10 pounds!)
I wish you the best!

Cher

[jamauk]

Hey Tanya,
I wasn't around much when you first asked this question...but I'll still go ahead and chime in!

I was due March 17 and DH bid his vacation to start that day. He also bid his schedule to give him the 5 days prior to that off. He had scheduled March 12 - 31 off. I had false labor once during his last scheduled trip, so he came home early. He ended up being off from March 10 until the end of the month.

Being the stinker that he is, Ben didn't show up on his own. I was a week late (and that's as long as my OB would let me go), so I was induced. Ben was born March 24 and Jason went back to work April 2...but he was working a high speed (aka continuous duty) line, so he left each night at 9pm and would be home by 8 am the next morning. (just like what Cher's husband did...considering they were at the same company! [img]images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

My best advice is to talk to your Dr. My dr. was able to tell me as my date got closer that my baby wasn't ready yet and he wasn't coming any time soon....I knew about two weeks before my due date that there was a good chance I would need to induce. I also took my mom to the birthing classes with me (and DH) just in case he wasn't there when I went into labor...I would still have a "coach" with me.

Good Luck!

[Lurker]

What about an elective c-section? That way you can choose your date way in advance and organise things accordingly. My sister isn't with a pilot but runs a significant sized company and arranged her surgery months beforehand so she could schedule arrangements...it makes a lot of sense and will absolutely be the way I would go.

As my sister got to pick the day of the birth, she even consulted a fung shui master who chose an auspicious day!

[jamauk]

I wouldn't recommend elective c-section. Its major surgery and comes with all of the potential for complications.

I had a c-section (not elective) and while the recovery wasn't really that bad, a friend of mine had a vaginal delivery 12 hours later (just a few rooms down) and we walked down to her room for a "playdate" and she was up and running all over the room, fully recovered just a few hours after birth. I was shuffling along like Tim...crap I can't remember his last name...from the Carol Burnett show!..I wasn't even allowed to bend over and pick my child up for a week.

I will have a scheduled c-section with my next child only to reduce the chance of erruption with a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section)....but having a c-section without it being medically necessary, IMHO, may not be the best way to go. Besides...you can do all of the planning in the world, but if that baby wants out early.....its coming whether you are ready or not! [img]images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]