What's it like having your baby born around Christmas?

[melham74]

I have December full of b'days. DS on th 10th DH on the 16th FIL 18th nephew on the 21st and DS1 on the 29th and then my freinds son on the 30th. My DS wa due on the 21st same as my nephew, but I was induced on the 29th they wanted to induce me new yrs eve but that would have been the change over to 2000 and I wasnt going into all that hype LOL. I find Christmas we tend to have my family Christmas about 2 weeks before christmas at the beach mainly because we are all with partners ect and my sisters kids go to their dad every second christmas we all celebrate my sisters birthday and my nephews then as well. With DS1 we have a small party just us and my best friend and her children. DS2 in actually the 19 th JAn their is 13mnths between them so we pick a date between the end of Dec and the 19th Jan and have a party for the two of them where all the family come ect then on the 19th we again have a small party for DS2. I found with school that we werent going to keep him back another year and sent him to grade 1 but after the first term he wasnt coping and we put him back to preschool, my freind also did the same with her Dec bub, the preschool teacher told us that was more common for boys born late in the year as girls seem to cope alright.

[DiannaQ]

I have a Jan 7 baby and my niece is 23 Dec and if we (God Willing) fall this month it will be a mid-December baby - I'm sure you will make a big deal about Bubba's birthday regardless and for the people around you who don't - then I just wouldn't worry myself about them at all - afterall a blessing is a blessing regardless of what time of year it is - and I'm sure you feel the same good luck

PS - DS was due on Australia Day (26/1) and decided to come early, I never had any comments about a Xmas baby but that might be because he wasn't due for another month - also weather wise - well it was hot and DS lived in a nappy and singlet ONLY for the first couple of weeks but it made feeding and changing very easy and his immune system was nice and strong by winter

[Shanti]

Thanks everyone for your stories like someone said, it's a total blessing if we get a baby and it doesnt' matter what the due date is....

I guess the only thing I would be worried about is going into labour on Christmas day and there being skeleton staff on in the hospital so noone really around to help!!! lol does that happen??? oh and yes being away from your family around Xmas!! although as long as you have your hubby and baby with you then that's all you need anyway

[curl]

My DD2 was due 18/12/05 but was stubborn and I was induced on Christmas Day instead and she was born on Boxing Day. So far she hasn't felt the impact of being a Christmas baby but I know its early days. Her sister's birthday is in July so it is nicely spaced out while Charlotte will get confused about presents and what came from whom and for what reason. Her first Christmas was a bit of a disaster as everyone kept shoving presents in her little hands to open and she was overwhelmed by the whole thing and cried. Even I couldn't tell you who gave her what and for what reason as it was all a jumble. I have thought a lot about the impact of Char's birthday in the future and there are several things I plan on implementing to hopefully help feel important and special... she won't be ignored. She will start school when she's ready, either when she turns 5 or 6 either way, I don't mind. We, as a family will always celebrate her birthday on her birthday but for parties I plan on bringing things forward a month so she can have parties full of friends from school in November. And under no circumstances are there to be only one present to represent both Christmas and her birthday. They are separate occassions and should be celebrated as such. How unfair is it that other family members get a present at Christmas and on their birthday and Charlotte doesn't. Well, I see I've ranted long enough but I'm sure you can tell its been niggling at me. Some people do already ignore her birthday altogether and it irritates me.

[curl]

Renstar, I must have been still typing while you were posting. As I wrote in my really long post, I was induced on Christmas Day. The reason for this is the doctors didn't want a surprise delivery and I was already overdue. The staff were wonderful, if a little distracted by Christmas but the level of care was still there. The only interaction with actual doctors I had was to insert the gel against my cervix and to help deliver the placenta, the rest was the midwives. My point, you will be in the best of care regardless of the time of year.

[melham74]

on bringing things forward a month so she can have parties full of friends from school in November.

we also do this on the last weekend of school have their birthday party, my sisters and Hubby's idea as they both always missed out

[Snacks]

Hey Ren, Natalie was born on the 27th, which is also her daddy's birthday. DH hated that his birthday was so close to Christmas, but what can you do?
I've decided to give her a few gifts in the middle of the year so she has something to break it up... (I tried just putting things away, but I couldn't help myself!) I think it's a good idea to buy things through the year and save them up for Christmas and birthday too, so that its not as expensive.
I know that DH will always make a big deal out of her birthday because he doesn't want her to miss out. So I'm not worried about the future. I reckon we might have an early birthday party for her in the school years, maybe every other year, so she doesn't miss out on that either.
In terms of the pregnancy, I didn't get annoyed by the questions. If you're pregnant you always get asked the same questions by everyone anyway, so what's one more? And in terms of staff, we had no complaints. Natalie was due on the 20th, and we began to talk about induction. If she hadn't have come on her own, we would've had to wait until New Years to be induced because of all the public holidays, etc. But that didn't bother me.
Hope it happens soon for you!

[Shanti]

Curl - yeah we must have been typing same time perhaps? not sure but thanks so much for your story! thats great to know the hospital care is the same on xmas day as it is any other day of the year, as i suspected it would and should be anyway!!

Thanks everyone for your stories!!! There's many positives to having a baby iN December! and a few other sides to the story aswell lol but i guess it's just a matter of working around it hey...? Anyway it was nice to hear of experiences with babies born around xmas time just incase that is what will happen for our baby.... whatever happens, a healthy baby is all that matters and it's birth date is only a small part of the important stuff :P (does that make sense?!? lol)sorry bit tired... what im saying is that i can't be fussy with the baby's due date, whatever we are blessed with is what we will be more than happy with!! as we want a baby more than anything! as you all can relate to.

** thats a great idea what someone said about having the childs birthday pushed forward 1mth earlier so they can have a kids party etc before everyone goes on holidays etc