How long to register birth and get American/british passports?

It's still very early days, but I am due in November with my first baby. DH and I usually go to the USA for 2 weeks at the start of December for "early" Christmas with my family. Obviously I can't do that this year if things all go successfully with this pregnancy, but DH needs to put in his request for his winter leave already. I'm just not sure when to have him do it for, as I'm not sure on how long the process of registering the birth, then getting the British passport, and the American passport all sorted and in hand after birth. I'd like it to happen as soon as possible, but I realize it could very well be months for all I know. But if anyone could share their experiences I'd be grateful!

Have you looked at this thread yet?

Consular Notification thingy of Birth Abroad
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=4481.0

There's 12 pages of it, but you could look at the later pages for more recent info.

or this one?

My not-so-great experience at the Embassy in London
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=66641.msg934493#msg934493

There's ton of info on this site, but sometimes you have to search for it! 

I had a blonde moment! I tried to search up there earlier and it took me to google search lol. Now I figured out how to search within the forum. Whoops! Thanks!

We are registering little man on Tuesday, I can let you know what my experience is like and how long it takes for his passport to arrive.

That'd be awesome, thank you

We'll be making an appointment soon (I'm due today) so I'll let you know our timings as well.  I know with my daughter we got both passports back quite quick, within 2 weeks I think. Think I posted in the consular notification thread linked above.  Granted that was in 2008 when they handed you the certificate of birth abroad on the day.

Just in case it's not mentioned in the thread posted above, you can book the appointment at the embassy before the birth of the child just using the name "Baby Smith" etc.  It took me a call to the embassy to figure that out.  As appointments are limited, this helps you get in quickly after the birth.

In 2009 we had travel plans for 8 weeks after she was born and we had both the US and UK passports in our hands by about 6 weeks.  UK took a little longer than US.  I had a plan all written out for DH to follow in case I was stuck in hospital or couldn't get out after birth.  He had to go to the Town Hall and get the right copies of birth certificates, go to the post office etc.  If you are trying to leave really quickly, have as many of your ducks in a row as possible. 

ooh thanks Karin I didn't realise you could book before the birth.  Might go see what the appointment dates are like.

Holy Moley!  Loads of appointments open in March and April, there's even one available this thursday! 

Don't think I'll bother booking one under "baby Dunlop" though as we've got no plans to travel anytime soon.

Thanks for the offers on sharing your stories-really looking forward to them!

Good luck with your birth SlicesMissus!

And Karin, thanks for the tip. That's going to be a big help!

DS was born in July and when we first attempted to make his appointment, there are a 3 months wait.  We got an appointment in September but ended up cancelling since my mom was coming into town on the same day and we couldn't be in 2 places at once.  We re-made the appointment for December and every day from November-January had several appointments available (except closed holidays, obviously).  I think summers tend to be a lot more busy than winter months so if the birth is in November, you should be able to get in fairly quickly. 

It took us 3 weeks to get the US passport (which included Christmas and New Years holidays plus delays due to snow).  UK passport was mailed off last Friday but *should* be here within 2 weeks or so.