This is THE million dollar question isn't it LOL.

Both my older kids have a pretty good understanding of the situation cause a lot of questions where asked when their Aunt had her baby in March, plus I didn't want them to hear school yard tales of events.

I have told them that when the baby decides to arrive, the mummy's tummy starts to squeeze the baby out, so Mummy has to go to hospital. Then, when the baby is ready, it will come out of the Mummy's mare-mare (our name for vagina). But, (as was the case with my SIL) some babies can't come out that way and so the doctor has to do an operation to get the baby to come out of the Mummy's tummy.

Now, I know this answer will not be to everyone's liking, but I felt it was the right thing to tell my children. I feel that if the question is glossed over with cabbage patch stories then that will leave them unsatisfied and they will ask more questions about it. I think that we undermine our children's abilities to understand such a complex thing, but I have had no problem with it and they haven't asked anymore questions about it.