March 2nd, 2019 | 4:07 pm

The birth of a new baby sibling can be a magical day for an awestruck big sister or brother. The sweet babe in this gallery happened to be born when the sun was up and so her older siblings were awake and at the ready. Alongside this family’s midwifery team, Kate and Mary of Twin Cities Midwifery, one of our Gather Doulas helped prepare and care for the siblings you see actively involved in this birth, while one of our Gather Photographers captured this family’s birth story. Thinking about including your older child(ren) in some way at your birth? We’ve put together a few ideas you might consider to help you prepare before Labor Day:

Who Will Be There to Help?

A sibling doula is becoming more and more common as families piece together their birth team. Whether you are birthing at home, in a hospital setting, or at a birth center, the primary care provider will require that all children in attendance have a designated adult caring for them throughout the entirety of the birth. If a partner or support person is in attendance, all of their attention is generally directed toward the birthing person’s needs. And so who will be with your older kiddos in early labor when they want to go to the park and you need to focus? Grandparents, close friends, and extended family can be a great option for some families. For others, they don’t live near family or their loved ones who do live nearby simply don’t have the capacity to drop everything and zip over at 3 am. And some folks would just rather not have their family in the room for many different reasons. Whatever the case is for you, you will need to find someone who can either bring the older kids along to the birth or help maintain their daily routine at home, school, and scheduled activities.

Plan A, B, C, and D

The thing about babies is we never know when they will be born. Sometimes it is during the day, like in this gallery. Other times, they choose the middle of the night for their big debut. With older siblings, it is nice to have a Plan A for these night owl babies, a Plan B for a weekday (what happens if you go into labor while your toddler is at preschool, or during a dance practice?), a Plan C for the weekend, and a Plan D-Z for anything else specific to your family’s dynamic. You might have different answers for the “Who Will Be There to Help?” question, depending on when you go into labor and how quickly labor progresses.

Read, Read, Read

One thing children of all ages can do to prepare for a sibling, whether they are present for the birth or not, is read books about this new experience! There are so many great books out there about being a big brother or sister, dealing with disappointment (when their little sibling knocks over their tower!), and what a baby will need during birth and the many days thereafter. Finding age-appropriate books is the key here. Depending on the age and developmental needs of your older kiddos, they may resonate better with some books than others. Here is a list we’ve put together for you!

Act It Out

Now, also depending on the ages and stages of your child(ren), this can look very different. It can be helpful to make your own social story, either by drawing pictures together, putting on a puppet show with their favorite stuffies, or going about it charades-style. If you’re not birthing at home, maybe you bring them along on your next checkup or tour. Go through the motions, preferably more than once. Stuffed animals and dolls are a favorite of ours when we’re working with older toddlers and preschoolers - they’re everywhere and most easily accessible when kiddos are ready and able to walk through the different scenarios and expectations. An example: you might have a birthing dino pretend to go in a tub and grunt and push and yay! Baby dino is here! And the baby dino is attached to their parent with an umbilical cord (string from the junk drawer taped to baby’s bellybutton) and then you find kiddo’s bellybutton and give a big raspberry. Make it fun! Maybe baby dino nurses for a while and then cries to get their diaper changed. Talk about all the crying. Talk about all the emotions and feelings. Act out what birth can look like, and act out what being a big sibling can look like. We know children need to hear and see and digest something many times repeatedly in order to make sense of a new transition or experience. The more you act it out, the less they will “act out” down the road. This is a big shift for them. Give them time and space to process through this big change. And ask for help so you can do the same! It takes a village, especially when you have the numbers of a small village all living under one roof! Postpartum doula support is here for just that!

Ultimately you know your kid best. What do they need to feel supported and cared for during the birth and transition to siblinghood? Scroll through the gallery below to see older siblings snuggling skin-to-skin after the birth, filled with curiosity throughout, and even catching their baby sister as she made her grand entrance into the world!

Welcome to the world, sweet girl! We’re so glad you’re here!