Getting a brother or sister.

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Some of us have siblings younger than us. Did your parents prepare you for the arrival of them?

I was 9, and all I knew was mom went to the hospital. Then there was a phone call, and I had a brother. When my mom came home, I expected a kid to come walking in the door, but instead they brought home a baby. I figured my parents were too cheap to buy a grown kid, so they got an inexpensive grown-your-own kid. My parents never did tell me what "pregnant" meant.
 

My mom lost five babies in the five years between me (first-born) and my next sister, one full-term stillbirth and four miscarriages. I have no memory about those years.

But with my sister, I can remember them telling me that Mommy had to go away for a few days but when she came home, she'd had a surprise for me. Oh, boy! I'm going to get a puppy! Instead, she brought home this little hairless puppy that yelped all the time and couldn't play with me and took up all of mom's time. Bummer! I did come to be quite fond of her, though. And all the other ones, too.
 
I'm the oldest of 4 boys.

When I was four and my brother was three, we missed Halloween because brother number three was born November 1st.

I remember sitting at the window (we were on the first floor), me dressed as Casper, and my brother dressed as a skeleton, handing out candy to all the trick or treaters. I forget what reason my mom gave, but obviously she was in labor, or having contractions, or whatever, and couldn't take us out.

We remind my brother every year that he still owes us a sack of candy. You only get so many Halloweens, you know?

Fifty seven years later... still waiting on that sack of candy.
 

I was just 14 months old when my brother was born, I have no recollection of him coming into the house, but I was sent away to live with foster parents while my mother gave birth. I have no idea how long I was gone or any recollection of seeing a new baby in the house when I returned.. however we went on to be fast friends, and neither went anywhere without the other right until our teens really...

I don't remember my mother bringing home my next sibling.. a sister 2 years later...... again I was sent away, this time for a year...

I don't remember her specifically being there when i returned.. .. but we never got on.. even to this day...

when I was almost 8... I remember my mother being pregnant with the youngest... , I remember her coming home from the hospital ( I wasn't sent away this time.. probably because I was in school ) she was such a big baby... she was born in the worst winter Scotland had for decades, with snow up to the eaves.. and we were living in a Post War Prefab they had no cot for her at first so she had to sleep in a big deep drawer... ( pulled out onto the floor)

She was so much younger than me, that I was more like a mother to her eventually, and when my mother died when she was 10.. she looked on me for mothering.. and to this day she has no recollection of our mother, because I was the one who did most of the caring of her..


In answer to the question.. no , no-one prepared us for babies coming into the home..
 
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My sister is the youngest of five of us.

One day on the porch, Dad said..."You know son, your sister was a real surprise!"

So my little sis was an 'Oops Baby'. Funny though. She's the most grounded out of all of us. She married a Lawyer and they are worth millions and have a wonderful family together.
 
I was 10 1/2 years old when my youngest sister was born and got to go to the hospital with my dad to pick them up. Mom was wheeled out to the car with a bundle in her arms. She got into the backseat with me and said, "Here is your beautiful, beautiful baby sister!" I was really expecting something great. She pulled aside the blanket and there was what I can only describe as a "peeled rat".

My sister was, frankly, one of the most unattractive newborns I've ever seen. She was bright red, and as she was quite small, she had enough skin for an 8-pounder so she looked like a hairless Shar-Pei dog. She had "baby acne" and was bald. I remember struggling for words. I couldn't think of anything to say.

Luckily, in a couple of weeks, she DID start looking beautiful and I could honestly say that to my mom. And she stayed beautiful.
 
We were all oops babies, I’m not sure that there was ever any other kind in our neighborhood.

I was the last one, no preparation needed.

It was a shock and embarrassment to my two older brothers who were both in their teens when I was born.
 

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