We were in the exact same dilemma as you are - my son will be 22 months when this baby is born and I have no one around me that I can ask.

We looked into the private nanny scenario and asked her to be on call for us for the entire month of Feb - with a few full days prior so that my son would know who she was and asked her absolute reassurance that she'll be there when we call her - no matter what time of the day it was.

So that was one option - but I had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing especially since it meant being in our home when we weren't here (very different when you know the person). Also, while she was saying that it wouldn't be an issue to get a call at all hours of the night, I kept thinking to myself "but where would we be if she makes an excuse and can't come in AND I AM IN LABOUR - then we'll be screwed"

I then rang a babysitting / nanny agency and asked them if they could guarantee "anyone" be available if I call at 3am and they said they couldn't guarantee anyone - we would have to see on the day

SO then we looked at friends around us that had children themselves - but were out of the area.....logistically that wasn't going to work and I couldn't ask them to get out of bed at 3am when they had their own families to come to me.

We were getting desperate, started looking at the option of a Doula to keep an eye on Cooper as well as be a good general support, but being honest with myself, even if there were 10 people there in the room looking after Cooper, as his mum I would still have one eye open for him and not be able to concentrate on myself - which is what I really, really wanted to do.

SO our last option was to have my mother come out all the way from Broken Hill (we live near Newcastle NSW) - she is a midwife and we were going to have a Home Birth which suited me a bit better being that Cooper would be at home, we could have dvd's and toys all set up in another room and between my mum and DH he would be cared for.

But then I started thinking that it would still be distracting for him - he is an extremely alert and inquisitive little boy and I would have hated to feel restricted in my actions on the day in worry of scaring him - so we've now arranged my mum to look after him and go to the Birth Centre (which is the closest to being at home).

Sorry - long post I know - but these were the options we covered - hopefully one of them may help you with a decision......what about work colleagues of your DH - is there anyone he'd be comfortable asking?

What about a Doula and take your littlie into the hospital BUT kept outside with toys, pillows etc? But if your little one is anything like mine, hours there would create a monster Not sure if a Doula would be happy to be hired to stay back at your place to look after your little one (you'd have to ring around to see if this is "appropriate") benefit is you'd get the pre and post natal support of a Doula on top of a babysitter that's reliable!