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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Going into Labor During Daycare Hours?
Miss A 05:36 AM 05-16-2016
So I have 4 months left until my due date, and I am working on my official maternity leave letter and labor during daycare hours policy. This will be sent out later this summer, I am just a planner and like to have all my ducks in a row.

As of right now, it is worded that should I go into labor parents will be contacted via their updater emergency contact sheet (Thanks, BlackCat!) And will be given 30 minutes to pick their child up. All parents work within 15 miles of my home in a rural area with no traffic. I also think that should labor start during the day, I will be calling my mom who is my back-up provider to assist me while I prepare to leave the home, get my SO called and home, and wait for parents.

Is this reasonable? What did you do when you went into labor?
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LittleScholars 06:39 AM 05-16-2016
Miss A, I'm working on the very same thing so I'm so glad you posted this. Can I ask what your maternity leave plan is? Thank you!!
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Miss A 06:48 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by LittleScholars:
Miss A, I'm working on the very same thing so I'm so glad you posted this. Can I ask what your maternity leave plan is? Thank you!!
My Maternity plan is 2 full weeks of daycare closure (Mon-Fri, 2 consecutive weeks) plus whatever spare days are left during the week I deliver if I deliver on a Wednesday or later. My mom is then coming to stay with us for 2-4 weeks and will help me run daycare so I can adjust to my new baby and their schedule, breastfeeding, and sneaking in a few naps a day.
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LittleScholars 07:20 AM 05-16-2016
That's great. I was thinking the same thing. Do you have a plan if you deliver earlier or much later than your due date? I'd love to give families concrete dates I'll be closed, but I'm not sure how to do that. Thank you again for sharing!
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JackandJill 07:41 AM 05-16-2016
I had a similar labor during the day plan. I gave all parents 30 minutes to be here, and made sure I had updated information.For dcp who couldn't keep their phone on them at work, I made sure I had a back up pick up (like grand parents or aunts) who would be able to answer a phone call anytime of day to pick up.

Thankfully I went into labor around 4 am, so I have no idea how smoothly that plan would have gone.

Congratulations on your new addition!!
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permanentvacation 08:02 AM 05-16-2016
I went into labor during daycare! I LOVE to tell my story...here it is...

As my daycare mom opened the door to get her child, I was breathing like they teach you to do in Lamaze class. She said, 'You're in labor'. I told her that I don't have time to be in labor. I'm working! I had been writing my contractions down and had already called the doctor's office. My doctor was with a patient and I was waiting for her to call me back. My younger daycare kids were still taking nap and my older ones were on their way walking home from school. And I had already called my substitute who was on her way over.

My doctor called me back and told me to go to her office so she could check me to see if I was actually in labor or having Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor). So, when the school kids arrived and my substitute arrived, I drove myself, my older daughter, her best friend (one of the school daycare kids), and the mom of that child for an hour while in labor to my doctor's office!

The doctor told me to get on the examination table and I either peed myself or my water broke. I went to the bathroom to try to finish peeing or leaking into the toilet. When I tried to get up off of the toilet, I literally could not stand up!! My water had broken and all of my muscles were pushing down. I COULD NOT stand up off of the toilet! So I started yelling for the doctor. She put her arm around me and told me that she'd help me up and get me to the hospital. I grabbed her shirt and pulled her nose to nose to me, gritted my teeth and announced 'We ain't going to no hospital!' My grammar was a bit off at the time! So her nurse put towels and pillows on the bathroom floor and told me to lay down. I laid down right there in the bathroom and pushed 3 times and the baby came out!

I tried to get up right after having her (my baby), and the doctor pushed me back down and told me to relax. When they did tell me to get up, I had blood on my one foot, so I kicked my foot into the sink and washed it off!

They had an ambulance come for the baby and me. They told me to get on the gurney and I told them that I was fine... I just lost 30 pounds! I felt great! But they made me get on. Then they wheeled me into the ambulance and HANDED ME MY BABY on the gurney! I said, 'Do you have a car seat in this thing? If not, I have about 10 in my van. I'll meet you at the hospital!' The ambulance driver looked at me like I was a horrible mother and told me that most mothers want to hold their babies. I told him that I want my baby to make it to the hospital alive if they get in an accident. So he flipped a little car seat down out of the wall of the ambulance and strapped my baby in. Then I told them, 'Okay, we can go now.' I am a horrible patient! Good mom, but horrible patient!

They made my daughter and me stay in the hospital that night and released us the next afternoon. The following morning, I had my dad and his girlfriend at my house to do daycare for me. At 6 in the morning, all I kept hearing was the kids telling my father, "No, mine is the blue cup", "Mine is the purple one" etc. and my father saying, "It's a cup! Drink from it!" They were already, at 6 am plucking my father's nerves about who's cup was who's. So I got up and did daycare the day after I gave birth while my husband (now ex) spent time with our baby in the bedroom.

After doing daycare that day all day, with just a little assistance from my dad and his girlfriend, I decided that I might as well just do daycare myself the next day. So, technically, I had a night and a day of maternity leave!
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Indoorvoice 08:55 AM 05-16-2016
I'm due in less than 2 weeks and still don't really have a plan. I have no idea how this will work. Hoping I give birth on a weekend!
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Miss A 09:00 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by LittleScholars:
That's great. I was thinking the same thing. Do you have a plan if you deliver earlier or much later than your due date? I'd love to give families concrete dates I'll be closed, but I'm not sure how to do that. Thank you again for sharing!
My letter states that babies come on their own time, and I asked parents to be prepared for the possibility of labor and delivery from the beginning of September to the middle of October, as I am due 9/27/16. I then wrote that it is an approximate 2 weeks, depending on what day the baby decides to come. If baby is born on a Wednesday I will be closed 12 business days, and so I asked parents to be prepared to have back up care for 10-14 days, depending on my baby's schedule. Never once have I said a concrete 2 weeks, or 10 daycare days only, as I do not want to lock myself into something I have no control over. I also stated that if I have a difficult labor, or Baby needs more time due to health issues, I will notify parents and will be closed for a longer period.

As my SO is always saying, everyone that uses our services has had a baby before, and they will understand our need for time off with our new babies. I also offered my parents a small discount for the 2 weeks after my return as a thank you for being understanding of my time off.
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Miss A 09:01 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by Indoorvoice:
I'm due in less than 2 weeks and still don't really have a plan. I have no idea how this will work. Hoping I give birth on a weekend!
Wouldn't that be ideal! I am such a planner, and it kills me that I can not plan this baby's arrival for a Friday night!

Good luck, Momma! Hoping all goes smoothly for you!
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finsup 09:05 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by Miss A:
So I have 4 months left until my due date, and I am working on my official maternity leave letter and labor during daycare hours policy. This will be sent out later this summer, I am just a planner and like to have all my ducks in a row.

As of right now, it is worded that should I go into labor parents will be contacted via their updater emergency contact sheet (Thanks, BlackCat!) And will be given 30 minutes to pick their child up. All parents work within 15 miles of my home in a rural area with no traffic. I also think that should labor start during the day, I will be calling my mom who is my back-up provider to assist me while I prepare to leave the home, get my SO called and home, and wait for parents.

Is this reasonable? What did you do when you went into labor?
That sounds fine to me! The two babies I've had during daycare were planned c sections (medically nessacary but I wasn't complaing about the convience either lol) but parents were told they would need to be prepared to lick up within half an hour if I by chance went into labor early. All were fine with it!
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LittleScholars 09:18 AM 05-16-2016
Oh, I love the discount. This is so helpful.
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spud912 09:38 AM 05-16-2016
I always deliver right by my due date or after, so that helped when giving the dates. I had a plan for parents with "likely" dates, but told them all to have a back up plan starting a month early and to have a back-up should I require more than the 2 weeks I allotted myself. I also ensured that I had my mom and dh available in case I went into labor during daycare hours. The plan stated that they had to be at my house within an hour but at the 30 minute I was leaving for the hospital with my mom present as the back-up. My labors are very quick so I didn't want to be waiting around.

I ended up going into false labor 2 days before actually giving birth and had everyone come pick up their kids, only for there to be no progress at the hospital . The parents were all super understanding. Then the day before going into labor I fell down the stairs and my dh had to take over the daycare for the day because I hurt my back and my OB/GYN wanted me to get checked out at the hospital (so the second day in a row I was in L&D and no baby ). Then the next day my water broke. It ended up being on a Friday at 9 pm (I close at 5 pm), so it didn't end up affecting anyone. Monday was a holiday so I was off anyway. I took 9 additional days off.
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Ariana 09:53 AM 05-16-2016
Once labour starts you have plenty of time to get to the hospital so don't sweat it too much or go into a panic.

I did similarly to you. During the day my mom was to come up to finish the day and and then daycare was closed for three weeks. I allowed the kids to stay until the end of the day and my mom and the parents were ok with it (kids were older). I talked to every parent about this and they all had standby care ready to go. I ended up going at around 2am and my husband texted everyone to let them know that there would be no daycare in the morning. My mom came up to be with my eldest.
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lovemydaycare0912 10:14 AM 05-16-2016
If you close for 2 weeks, or whatever timeframe, is that paid or not paid? I would assume not paid but I don't want to be wrong.
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Miss A 10:41 AM 05-16-2016
Thank you everyone, you have all been so helpful!

And yes, my maternity leave is unpaid.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 10:49 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by JackandJill:
I had a similar labor during the day plan. I gave all parents 30 minutes to be here, and made sure I had updated information.For dcp who couldn't keep their phone on them at work, I made sure I had a back up pick up (like grand parents or aunts) who would be able to answer a phone call anytime of day to pick up.

Thankfully I went into labor around 4 am, so I have no idea how smoothly that plan would have gone.

Congratulations on your new addition!!
I had a similar plan (except mine was 45 minutes, I believe) and made them list a phone number I could directly reach them JUST in case they had changed their number/job/etc. Ya never know. I also had them sign it saying they would pick up as quickly as possible and if they were here more than 45 minutes later a $1/minute late fee would be added to their next bill.
I was so concerned. I ended up not opening the day I went into labor. I planned to, since I had been having false labor for more than 2 weeks at that point and thought it was occurring again, but my husband said I needed to close. So, I did and prayed that baby would come. She did later that afternoon. Hopefully you'll just "KNOW" (or someone else will!) as well when you need to close.

I had a 2 week unpaid maternity leave and needed every single day of that to get my nether regions feeling okay enough to do my job again. If you have someone helping that will be wonderful. Glad your Mom can do that for you!
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EntropyControlSpecialist 10:52 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by Miss A:
My letter states that babies come on their own time, and I asked parents to be prepared for the possibility of labor and delivery from the beginning of September to the middle of October, as I am due 9/27/16. I then wrote that it is an approximate 2 weeks, depending on what day the baby decides to come. If baby is born on a Wednesday I will be closed 12 business days, and so I asked parents to be prepared to have back up care for 10-14 days, depending on my baby's schedule. Never once have I said a concrete 2 weeks, or 10 daycare days only, as I do not want to lock myself into something I have no control over. I also stated that if I have a difficult labor, or Baby needs more time due to health issues, I will notify parents and will be closed for a longer period.

As my SO is always saying, everyone that uses our services has had a baby before, and they will understand our need for time off with our new babies. I also offered my parents a small discount for the 2 weeks after my return as a thank you for being understanding of my time off.
What a nice idea with a small discount!
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spud912 11:02 AM 05-16-2016
Originally Posted by Ariana:
Once labour starts you have plenty of time to get to the hospital so don't sweat it too much or go into a panic.

I did similarly to you. During the day my mom was to come up to finish the day and and then daycare was closed for three weeks. I allowed the kids to stay until the end of the day and my mom and the parents were ok with it (kids were older). I talked to every parent about this and they all had standby care ready to go. I ended up going at around 2am and my husband texted everyone to let them know that there would be no daycare in the morning. My mom came up to be with my eldest.
With my second daughter (prior to doing child care), I went into labor at 2 am, my mom came at 2:30 am to watch my older daughter, got to the hospital at 2:45 and had dd at 3 am. 1 hour labor . So when I was pregnant with our 3rd and providing child care, I was so worried it was going to be the same! Luckily my water broke and they had to induce the contractions.
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AmyKidsCo 11:16 AM 05-16-2016
My labor with #4 was literally 1 hour from the time my water broke until I was holding him, so we scheduled inductions with #5 & 6, just to be sure we made it to the hospital.

But I believe with #3 & 4 I had a similar arrangement - I had my back-up lined up and the parents had a plan to pick their children up during the day.

But except for the 2 inductions all my labors started at night so it wasn't ever an issue.
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Ariana 11:27 AM 05-16-2016
haha! Yes I am not sure if this was her first or second child. With my first it was 17 hours and with my second it was 6 hours!!

I guess having the mom come up asap is most important just in case.
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wonderfullisa 12:04 PM 05-16-2016
I did very similiarly to Miss A. They all knew my due date, but I emphasized that it could be sooner or later. My plan was also for 2 weeks off, unpaid. I'd have liked longer, but didn't want them leaving permanently!
My previous labor had been very, very quick. They all knew this, as well, and that when I called/texted to come pick up, it needed to be right then if they didn't want their child attending the homebirth!
Fortunately, I woke to my water breaking at 5am, so everyone had plenty of notice for the day and no one arrived during my labor.
Best of luck, mommas!
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Crazy8 12:08 PM 05-16-2016
Sounds like a good plan! I had a neighbor that could have come to wait for parents if I REALLY had to leave before they could pick up. But I ended up with one a scheduled induction and the other labor started late at night so wasn't a problem!
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Miss A 12:50 PM 05-16-2016
Every single one of you is so great! My mom said usually labor starts during the night or early morning, and so while I would love to bank on that, I know I can't.

I also chose to offer the discount as a way to thank my families for understanding my time off, and as a small I surance policy that they will return. I figure the 2 weeks at discounted price as well as paying an assistant is a better wage loss than losing families permanently and trying to replace while also caring for a new baby.
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Unregistered 04:15 PM 05-21-2016
Originally Posted by Miss A:
So I have 4 months left until my due date, and I am working on my official maternity leave letter and labor during daycare hours policy. This will be sent out later this summer, I am just a planner and like to have all my ducks in a row.

As of right now, it is worded that should I go into labor parents will be contacted via their updater emergency contact sheet (Thanks, BlackCat!) And will be given 30 minutes to pick their child up. All parents work within 15 miles of my home in a rural area with no traffic. I also think that should labor start during the day, I will be calling my mom who is my back-up provider to assist me while I prepare to leave the home, get my SO called and home, and wait for parents.

Is this reasonable? What did you do when you went into labor?
When i was prego w twins and went into labor at 35 weeks, I left the kids at home, with hubby, and they stopped labor that morning and sent me back home. I called all parents and said pick up by 4 bc dr needed me back by 5 due to a foot breech baby and wanted to make sure 1. I wasn't dilating 2. In labor bc i couldn't feel it AND lived far and 3. BC we knew i would need a C sec immediately if any chance the labor returned.

Do u think a single soul got there on time? They ALL knew in advance that this would probably happen though we expected later, and we had a plan. So 430 came, i texted the parents their kids would come with me (i had every1s signed transportation agreements), loaded all the kids and went to dr. The parents got stuck coming there allll the way up north to get kids. They were mad bc of the travel time, but oh well, they were late AND it was an urgent situation. My dds foot was bulging from cervix, and it became an emergency!

All but one family quit on me while I was being wheeled into delivery via text.

All to say....that plans may not matter. Just do your best to communicate the plans you make asap.
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Mike 04:39 PM 05-21-2016
Originally Posted by permanentvacation:
I went into labor during daycare! I LOVE to tell my story...here it is...

... After doing daycare that day all day, with just a little assistance from my dad and his girlfriend, I decided that I might as well just do daycare myself the next day. So, technically, I had a night and a day of maternity leave!
You're dedicated to your job.

Nice delivery too. Just get it over with. Sometimes I'm glad God gave that job to women. Men probably couldn't handle it.
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Mike 04:43 PM 05-21-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
All but one family quit on me while I was being wheeled into delivery via text.
You would think they can understand the situation. I'm not even a woman and I know if I was one of the parents, I would have understood. Hopefully you ended up getting better families.
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