Who to have as your support person/people and why it's important!

One of the first question's family seem to ask you when you announce your pregnancy is who are you going to have in the birthing suite with you, My answer is always simple, My Husband and that's all! They ask why I am not having my Mum in there, another simple answer, She wouldn't cope with seeing me in that sort of pain unless she really had too.

It got me thinking about how to choose the people you want to support you.
Being my second pregnancy I kind of know what to expect this time around in the labour room but with saying that every pregnancy is different and this time I don't need to have the doctor in my room the whole time as I am on the low risk scale.
You can't prepare yourself for any complications that might occur during labour but you can have someone there that you know will be your biggest support during that scary yet beautiful experience that not everyone is lucky enough to go through.

My list of things to think about when I was choosing who to have with me was:

• Who will support me and my wishes the best?
• Who will listen and do what I ask them?
• Who will be able to reassure me when I start to fall apart?
• Who will encourage me and tell me I am doing a good job?
• Who will not freak out when I start to push?
• Who will put up with my choice to have the epidural when I said I wanted drug free?
• Who will be able to read my needs without me yelling at them?  

That is just a few of the criteria (I guess that's what you call it) that I thought about when I was deciding if I would ask my Mum or if I would just have my Husband! 
Later on Jarryd and I decided that we want this all to be about us and only have the two of us in the birthing room with the professionals, this was a very important time for us in our lives, It's not every day that you get to welcome your first born child into the world.

a few hours old

I now know why I made the decision I did and I am so grateful that Jarryd knew me well enough to know not to disagree with me or talk to me when I was having contractions.
He knew what my wishes were and agreed with all of them, we talked about how long we wanted to spend with our child before we called my parents to tell them it was ok for them to come up.
Toby was born at 7.52pm and Mum and Dad wait until 10pm to come and visit their first grandchild, Dad had managed to send a message to 40 people by 8pm to let everyone know that he had a grandson.

A few days old

  
This time around I asked Mum if she wanted to come and be in the room with Baby #2, she declined my offer as she didn't think she could see me in that sort of pain being her "little girl" 
Once again it will be Jarryd and I, I am completely at ease with that and will have the best support I know and it will be another special family moment for us!