6

As professor Farnsworth would say it, "Good news, everyone; we are expecting a baby."

My problem is to find a place to leave the elder sibling during delivery. We moved to a new place, where we have no family/relatives, and are too new to the area to request help from a neighbour/friend. I am sure others have faced such situations, is there something that could be done in situations like this?

Update: Now that my daughter is born, thought I should update my question with what I actually did.
There were two services that were very helpful.
1. The website care.com allows one to register (monthly cost of ~35$) and search (quite comprehensive) for babysitting help. The site claims that all people listed are done so only after a thorough background check. It even allows one to broadcast a message to registered babysitters asking for last-minute help.
2. The second service is nannypoppins.com, which is sort of a website+call service. If you call their number when you immediately need help, they will find one from their registered on-call babysitters and help you.

Improve this question
2
  • Thanks for coming back and adding the update! That's valuable. Also, as long as you're not covertly advertising your own company, you're welcome to mention names and links - even if it's only of local/regional use, someone might benefit from it.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Sep 21, 2011 at 18:44
  • Ok @Torben, I updated the question.
    – Clark Gable
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 18:42

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Congratulations for the good news.

questions:

  • how old is the elder child?
  • are there no relatives which could visit you for those days?

For your problem:

What about a day nanny - someone who takes care of your child for the time you can not? (Maybe also for a night in this case.)

I assume you have some time left before the other baby will come, so you might "try" even different nannys and see if you and your child mix well with her. For sure it requires a lot of trust to leave your child with a stranger, but if there's not family or friends near....

Are there no grandparents which could visit you and stay with you and your child during the time you need their help?

Improve this answer
3
  • Thanks for all the information BBM. I have 9 year old son to take care of. Unfortunately, for that very time period, grandparents are not an option :-( We have at least another 2 months before our new baby, so nanny seems to be a good option; hopefully I can work out the logistics...
    – Clark Gable
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 14:38
  • 1
    Well, one of our neighbours and a friend of ours (with a daughter nearly at the same age of our son) is a day nanny and the has up to 4 additional children at home each working day. Did you already choose the hospital where the delivery shall take place (if you have a choice)? Then maybe the nanny should also live not too far from your home and the hospital. Here in Germany you can get information about local nannies at the youth welfare office.
    – BBM
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 15:53
  • 1
    another idea: maybe you can get information in the gynecological department of the hospital, which solutions there are for siblings...
    – BBM
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 17:47
6

There's usually some kind of midwives' association to guide new (and veteran) parents in all kinds of matters around childbirth. I don't imagine they've never had people in your situation before, unless you've moved to a fairly small place.

Ask your local hospital for references to such a group, and then ask both the hospital and the midwives' association what they'd recommend.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks for the insight, torbengb. That was very useful, I will check with the hospital and will update the question with what I find.
    – Clark Gable
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 14:38
  • I cannot accept both answers, +1 to you.
    – Clark Gable
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 19:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .