Mum and Dad are in NZ, and I told them from day dot I wanted Mum to be here, maybe not for the birth, but for a couple of weeks afterwards.

We never booked tickets (luckily its easy to get relatively cheap flights from NZ ast the last minute) and decided that Mum wouldn't try and arrive for the birth as realisitcally, how can you pick it!

As time went on, it was increasingly apparent I was going to be late, so I told MUm that if I hadn't had the baby by term+5 days, she should just come over. So she came over at 41wks. It was lovely having her there for a couple of days before the birth, specially since it ended up being an induction. I was going through alot of pain before the event with false labour, and Mum looked after me really well. We went out for lunch, breakfast and shopping, and then had naps in the afternoon. It was a really good distraction. I was induced at term+11 days, and delivered that night.

She stayed for 2 weeks in total, was there for most of the labour, and actually held the baby before me as I was getting stiched up. It was an amazing experience for us, and having her there afterwards was wonderful too, draining, but then so good cause we got really good meals cooked for us every day.

HTH
Fi