Visitors after the Baby arrives

[snsb]

How are you all going to handle visitors after the baby arrives? I am having a hospital birth and usually while we are there (this is no. 3) we have a lot of visitors and then we can relax at home for a few days before the next wave hits. Because of the flu children are not allowed to visit at the hosp. The majority of our friends and fam. have children. So I fear we will be swamped as soon as we get home. What do you all do to keep it sane and get some rest? Thanks!

[mamatolevi]

If you're not worried baout children visiting, you can ask that folks limit how long they stay. say, 15-30 mins unless these are the kinds of friends and family that will cook, clean or do some laundry for you.

Also, I know there are meal scheduling websites that are used to coordinate when folks are dropping off meals for families. It would not surprise me if there are sites for scheduling when folks come to visit. That would allow you to make sure there is adequate rest time between visits. Maybe a yahoo or google calendar would work? you could open it up to anyone on your contact list and they would be able to see when you're available and book a slot.

[StrawberryFields]

Since our children will likely not be allowed to visit us in the hospital, I am choosing not to have any visitors at all until I get home. I don't feel right hosting grandparents, aunts, friends, etc. when my own children haven't even been there to meet their new brother or sister.

Dh will likely be the one to come and pick me and the baby up, so at that time dd and ds will need to be with grandparents. So because of that, our kids and our parents will meet the baby when we get home.

The next day we will start to host aunts/uncles and friends. They usually come in groups of 2 or 3 at the most.

My past two births (one hospital, one home) I haven't had any problems with too many people coming and overwhelming us, so I don't anticipate any problems this time either.

[oliesmama]

We aren't allowed any visitors at the hospital - well, grandparents are allowed, but ours don't live near us, so won't be here. Our plan is to get out of the hospital as soon as we can so our son can meet his new sibling.

As for friends, neighbors, etc. - this is where I really rely on my husband. He will be the gatekeeper and check with me to see if I'm up for visitors. Last time, everyone called to arrange visits - if they came over, they brought food (I wasn't shy about letting them know that..haha).

If anyone drops by - I can just choose to answer the door or not. If anyone shows up sick, I will ask them to come back when they are well - and we'll be vigilant about handwashing.

[camprunner]

(I'm not pregnant). Last time people total took advantage. I had one woman walk into everyroom of my house and was going to visit with me in MY BEDROOM because that is where I was when my husband let her in. Next time, no visitors fo a month. Family included as long as DH is still working at home at the time.

[Belle]

Our local hospital has a temporary flu policy of NO visitors. Not just children under 18. Mom is limited to one or two support people during labor.

One thing we did was to have one of our over-zealous relatives throw us a welcome-baby party. We got all the visiting over in a couple hours and kept our privacy at home. We did this when she was about 2 weeks old. I didn't pass her around a lot though. She staying in her sling for most of the party, but people got to peek in and see her.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I am going to tell them to go away

Ok, not ALL of the, but a lot of them. Luckily we live in the middle of nowhere so unannounced guests aren't going to happen - it's a 45 minute drive for the visitors who would be most likely to drop in otherwise.

First things first - we're not telling anyone when I go into labour this time, other than whoever looks after DD, and won't be calling anyone to tell them about the birth until we're good and ready for visitors. We had people come to visit us as the hospital, outside of hours, with no announcement, last time and I was furious. This time those people won't be told until we're home and comfy. Do you think a week after the birth is excessive? LOL

Otherwise, we want a day's notice, and we'll make it clear that visits will be short (15-20 minutes).

The other thing we're doing is not going visiting - I exhausted myself last time going out to visit people when DD was brand new. I think I wanted to show what a supermom I was. Well, I'm not this time