In a PP someone mentioned that they were upset with relatives for not having visited in the hospital. I personally hated the hospital visitors. I just wanted time for c-section to heal, to learn to BF and for DH and I to bond with the baby. I ended up crying in the bathroom completely exhausted after we had 10+ visitors in my room from 8am to 8pm every single day. DD was born between xmas and New Years, so everyone had vacation days and thought that they should just hang out for hours. I promised myself I would NEVER EVER visit anyone in the hospital ever again (except my sister), because I don't want to inflict that kind of suffering. Maybe if my birth had been easier.
So, that got me wondering........
[Poll]
Re: Visitors in Hospital - Poll
I really liked having visitors. BUT... I wish they would've waited until the next day. Ryan was born at 4:04pm and we had visitors all that evening. I was recovering from a horrible emergency c/s experience and just wanted some time to learn to BF and bond with my baby!
Other. All are welcome once I've given the all clear for visitors. SO P.I.S.S.E.D. that my parents ignored what I asked them to do 100 times and came to the hospital before I invited them. Not only was I screaming for 4 hours straight, but I knew they could hear me, it was a nightmare. I will never forgive them for that, and the next time I have a baby they won't get to find out I'm in labor till after the baby is born.
We had great nurses that would totally be the bad guys if we wanted them to. At one point I just wanted to pump in peace without my mom in there telling me what to do, touching me, etc... so I told the nurse "Do not let my mom in here, please!!" They were awesome about it, but laughed when I let my dad in.
I felt the same as you.
I enjoyed seeing everyone so happy and excited, but it was WAY too much- and everyone came at the same time and I honestly don't know how I didn't lose it.
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We had an awesome nurse who would do this for us. Unfortunately she did it when my mom and sisters were there, who I actually wanted to see. They just happened to be there after a full day of visitors coming in and out. I still really appreciated the nurse looking out for me.
I liked close family being there, but anyone else can wait until we're settled at home. Also if someone decided not to visit in the hospital for whatever reason, I wouldn't hold it against them. There's so much going on, I probably wouldn't even notice. Plus some people have qualms about hospitals or don't want to intrude.
Baby Boy #1 born 1/15/2010
Babies #2 & #3 arriving Spring 2014 (EDD June 18)
Immediate family only.
Every time I stoop up, I had blood gush out. The result was I never got out of bed when we had company(which was constant). It also stressed me out as a new BFer to have to try to plan around my guests or to kick them out so I could BF.
I voted other -- we live 800+ miles from family, so the only family visitors that we had were my parents, and even they didn't arrive until the day after DS was born. We do have many close friends nearby, though, and we happily welcomed them for short visits. I was a nurse working in the hospital where I delivered, so I had several of my close co-workers stop in to see me before/after their shifts. But I wouldn't want a steady stream of people coming and staying for hours at a time, either.
I was pretty fine with the amount I had. I didn't have anyone come during labor because I told DH that I didn't want anyone other than immediate family to know until after the baby was born so that no one would just show up. (There were some people that clearly don't care about personal boundaries that even after I made my wishes known about visitors not coming till after he was born, said they would show up anyway, so I felt we had to keep it secret. People are stupid.)
I told DH that the first day I wanted Grandparents and his brother, SIL etc to be the first to visit before anyone else. That was what happened until late that night when aforementioned boundriless person came, which at that point I didn't care much b/c the people that were supposed to meet him first did.
Then the next days I had probably about 3 visitors a day or so. It wasn't a constant party in my room, I had enough time to rest etc. Plus my c-sec recovery went really well from the start so that part of it didn't bother me.
I voted close family. Before dd1, i didn't think I wanted anyone in the room other than nurse/drs and dh until afterwards. My labor with dd1 was really really long. I was happy when my parents came by and gave dh a break. He hadn't slept, ate, showered since we got to the hospital. My mom stayed with me and rubbed my back and head while the boys went out to eat.
After baby, I was fine with short visits from close friends and family. The hospital had a strict visitiing hours period of 4 hours, but no one really stayed longer than half an hour except my sister who brought my 2 yr old. They stayed for a while, but it was really for dd1. She needed her mommy.