When did you have your family visit your new baby in the hospital?

Question

My mother-in-law thinks that we are going to call her as soon as I go into labor. She wants to be waiting in the hospital while I am giving birth, and is hoping to be in the room along with my husband and I during the birth. We told her we had other plans.

My husband and I agree that we will call everyone about 2 hours after the birth so we can have time to spend alone with our firstborn.

Everyone lives in the same city, so I don’t see the point in having everyone wait at the hospital when we don’t know how long I will be in labor.

When did you have your family visit your new baby in the hospital? Did you call them as soon as you went into labor? Or did you call them after the birth of your baby?

Answer 1

Our families know when we have gone to the hospital but they wait for us to call them with "the news" after our babies have been born. They ususally come visit the next day. We are lucky, they respect our privacy and give us "our time" to bond with our babies!!!!

If your mother in law doesn't give you that respect, then you just need to demand it. This is YOUR time!!!!!

Answer 2

When i went into labor with my first baby we were living with my mom so she drove us to the hospital and stayed with us for awhile, went home to sleep and shower, then came back. I was in labor for a long time so it was good having the company. I'm pretty sure my mom called family and let them know what was going on since i wasn't able to. What did annoy me was my room phone ringing when the active labor began, i made them turn it off. I had visitors while in labor but only a few and they didn't stay long at all, just to see how i was doing. Once the pushing was soon to start my mom asked if she wanted me there and i told her if we could be alone. She completely understood and didn't mind that we wanted to be alone. After i had giving birth everyone came into the delivery room, which to be honest i wasn't found of, i still felt dirty from the delivery.
Once i was in my new room i felt better about people visiting.
I think you and your husband are doing the right thing be keeping everyone out until things settle down.
Labor can be very dramatic at times so i don't see why they would want to be in there anyways!

Answer 3

I had my mother there to pinch hit so the daddy-to-be could take a break to eat, go to the bathroom, etc. But I ended up having a c-section after 28 hours of labor. But he was the only one I wanted to be in the room at the time of birth. I don't have a mother in law. His mom passed away a few years ago. But I am sure we would have had her there (in the waiting room) too, if she wanted to be. Close relatives were there about 3 hours after the birth. The rest came two days later. I didn't shoo anyone away. The love and support is well worth it. Any discomfort, modesty, or whatever I thought I would feel was irrelevant when it all came down to it.

You will have PLENTY of alone time with the baby. Let the baby feel as much love as possible from everyone. I think I had about 15 visitors while in the hospital... and I don't live in the same state as our relatives. Our baby is so happy and soo good. I believe it's because he knows he is loved & protected by not only me & his father, but also by aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. Babies can feel all the love that is directed toward them.

Answer 4

My way of thinking:
This is a time for mother and father! Siblings can be brought up after mom has had a little rest and is up to the visit! But as for the rest of the family they can wait til mother and baby can come home!
Because my daughter lives 60 miles from the hospital, I took my grand daughter to see them after mom and dad had quality time with the new baby. We visited for an hour and came home!
In some hospitals, only immediate family would be allowed on the maternity floor.
Tell your family, that you appreciate their excitement over the arrival of the new baby, but this is a special time for you and your husband. And it would help you tremendously if they could visit and help out a little with house hold chores when you come home.
Your hospital stay won't be that long. Not like when I had mine(3days) or even when my mom (5 days) had hers.
Congratulations on your baby! Best wishes to you!

Answer 5

With my first, I was a single mom, so I had my mom, dad, and aunt with me throughout labor and delivery. The next day, they came by to visit. I could hardly keep up with the visit because I was so tired.

With this one, though, my husband and I decided that we will call the family when the baby is born to let them know that she's arrived, and that we will call the family again when we are ready for visiting a few days after we get home. This way, we can get to know our baby and get some much needed rest, and we'll have a chance to spend family time with the cat before the barrage of unfamiliar visitors (she's not too fond of strangers).

Answer 6

We called as we were headed to the hospital. With our first child we lived 9 hours away from our family. So just our military buddies were there. We were a little sad that our families missed out. We were young and scarred.

For our next two births the waiting rooms were full with all of our families. I was a little older and actually allowed my parents in the delivery room (I was 19) with our third I was 24 and had about 4 extra people in the room. As time goes by your views start to change on things. Our experience was great! I wouldn't change a thing. Best of luck to you and congrats on the upcoming event :)

Answer 7

I don't have children, but my siblings do. For each birth, they called right after the baby was born. We didn't know they went into labor. The only family in the delivery room were the parents of the newborn, that's it. I went to see the babies after work. Only one time was I there an hour after the birth. It's you & your husband's decision. And if your families don't like that, that's just too bad.

Answer 8

Well 1st do what YOU want to do.

But for me I plan to call everyone I know when I go into labor but only my parents and his parents will actually be at the hospital during the labor (his parents will be in the waiting room). For me I think I will have plenty of time to be alone with the baby so I want as much company as I can

Answer 9

The way my sister did it was she had only the father and my mother in the room during the labor, and then called everyone when she was ready. There's no certain time, you'll be so disoriented after the whole ordeal that you will certainly need a few hours. Just call when you feel ready. You can't expect to put time limits on stuff like this.

Answer 10

For our first child we lived out of state so that took care of that problem. Nobody even got there until a day or 2 later. Now with this pregnancy we moved back home and everyone lives in the same town. My hubby and I decided that since I am going to be having a second c-section, that we will wait a couple hours before alerting the family, until I am out of recovery so that I can see my own child before the rest of the family flocks to the hospital.

Answer 11

With my first, we called to let people know we were going to the hospital for induction. My MIL jumped right in her car and drove the eight hour drive straight through the night. My husband was down meeting her in the waiting room when I found out I had to have a c-section. She got to spend time with the baby while I was in the recovery room.

With my second, we had a planned c-section. My parents came up the day before and stayed with our 3 year old while my husband and I went to the hospital. We called them after the baby was born and they got to the hospital when she was about 2-3 hours old. My MIL and the rest of our family came the next day.

I think that if they want to wait in the waiting room then they can--its their time and they can spend it however they want. Have your husband go to the waiting room after the baby is born to let them know, then tell them you'll be ready for visitors in about 2 hours. People get excited about new babies.