For those who won't be glued to FB while pushing....how and when will you update your friends and family? How often? What will you say and what won't you say?
I don't really want a ton of visitors waiting in the waiting room for baby to arrive....so we were thinking we'd wait until baby was here before calling anyone. But what about our parents and our siblings? Should they wait in the waiting room if they wanted to? That's 16 people! To me, that's a ton! I don't know where or how to draw the line. DH is no help, he wants to shout from the rooftops so he wants EVERYONE there. We haven't really discussed it lately b/c we disagree on it all.
You?
Re: S/O updating during labor
Maybe have just your parents waiting in the waiting room and open it to sibs later?
Thankfully we have a small family so they are welcome in the waiting area and if all comes who I think will it will only be 6 people.
We will tell friends after the delivery.
We'll do the same thing we did the last time: called our parents & my BFF once we were admitted to the hospital. Both sets of parents came to the hospital (mine only live 40 minutes away, but DH's parents are 5 hours away) once we called. So my parents & IL's were in & out of the room while I was in labor, but everyone left once I started to push, then came back in to meet Jake a little while after he was born.
Our siblings were both in school at the time & didn't come until that weekend, once we were home.
Other than that, we called a few close friends after he was born with the news. I wasn't on facebook at the time, so I didn't have to worry about updating there
Photos from Libby Hilf Photography
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
With family we'll probably keep them updated, but there are only 4 that live in town. We certainly won't encourage them to come sit in the waiting room all day, but I'm not going to tell them not to. It's their choice whether they want to sit and be bored or just come up when we tell them the baby is here.
We'll let friends know after delivery.
My DH, Doula and Midwife will know when I am in labor. I am not planning on telling people until LO is here. I don't want to be bugged about "Is he here yet... " etc. I think I'll be less stressed out this way. Once LO is here then we will let family members know and then most likely do a FB status update soon after that. (Most of all my family and his family is on there.)
Edit: Also the hospital is pretty local to all family members so once LO is here they don't have to drive far to get to see us.
Proud Cloth Diapering, Babywearing Mommy to Desmond (5.30.2011) and Evangeline (2.26.2014)
Loving wife, best friend and teammate to Babywearing Daddy, Kelly (7.27.2000)
Volunteer Babywearing Educator at Babywearing International of South Central Pennsylvania
Most likely my Dad and MIL will be in the waiting room. Maybe FIL.
As far as updating, I have most of my Family back home in Florida so will most likely post updates on FB. I'll post when we are on the way to the hospital, we have a while to go, shes almost here and shes here. Stuff like that. I know these messages will be relayed to my Grandparents and Godmother by cousins and aunts so we won't be bombarded with calls...or should I say my Mom wont.
BLOG
My parents will be 7 hours away so after I go to the hospital and it is confirmed that I will be having a baby that day one way or another DH will text them and maybe his parents who are about 1 hour away.
After delivery I will probably text close friends and then maybe the next day do a FB update. My dad and step mom won't be coming until early July so I will probably text him when I text my mom since I know there isn't any chance of him waiting around in the waiting room.
I have no plans to update facebook during labor. I've had friend/their husbands post things like "epidurals are wonderful" or "it's almost time for splashdown." That was a little too much for me. I'll let the hubs post something AFTER the little guy is here, but I think we'll stay away from facespace for a while.
As far as notifying family, once I'm for sure in labor I need to call my parents so they can get on the road. They live seven hours away and come hell or high water, my mother will want to be here ASAP. My sister and the in-laws live in town, so I'll probably just give them a heads up that labor is a go, but to keep doing their normal routine. Once we go to the hospital I'm sure MIL and my sister will want to be there. Other family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) will find out via text, though I only plan on telling one of my cousins when I'm in the labor. The rest will probably find out after he's born.
We'll let our parents know when we go in and have them tell everyone the baby is on the way but not to come until he's here. Both of our brothers live OOT so they won't come in until they can arrange it but SIL is in town and will have a newborn herself so I don't imagine anyone other than parents being in the waiting room.
We'll also let some friends know he's on his way as well but we wouldn't expect anyone in the waiting room since you never know how long things will take!
I am in the same boat you are..on my side alone will have 16 people and then my Husbands side is like 10 more people.. we have decided that my parents are going to be incharge of delagating between my family on who is coming and going at what time so we dont have 50 millon people at the hospital. what is good is both my mom and dad will be in the delivery room with my DH and me so they will be there the whole time to make sure that we arent overwhelmed. As for my DH's side they are more the call before they come type so my Husband will just tell them if its a good time or not most likely they will wait to come until after the baby get here. As for going about telling people i said to my husband, my parents and him are the only important people i need to notify (my Dh's parents passed away a couple years ago.) So of course my husband can notify his family since there really is no one else to do it and my mom will notify my family. I told my mom there will be one call on that morning (or night) and that is to my mom anyone else she can call. I already told my family that they can come and visit they have to call and check with my mom first (of course during the labor process).. My cell phone will NOT be near me in labor. My family knows who is allowed in the actual pushing part and that NO ONE is allowed to try a sneak in. I only want DH, my mom and my dad in anyone else will be kicked out.
Its not my job to make sure that everyone is notified or to delegate when people can come, my main job is to squeeze the watermelon out of my vajayjay.
my dh,my momand dad will know when im in labor my mom and dh will be in the room my dad will most likely be watching my kids oh and cant forget my bff she will know..........dh's family is NOT allowed to know until i say so which may very well be a week after baby is born ( I ABSOLUTELY WITH OUT A DOUBT HATE AND CANT STAND THEM, this dh knows and agrees with my reasons for feeling this way towards them) and dh will be allowed to update through my fb only whenever he pleases.we will skype my brother (he is 13 and will be in australia on a student embassadorship program) after baby is born!
for those of you wondering why i may wait a week w/ my inlaws it is because when i was in labor with my second son mil wanted to make fun of me b&m about everything and make everything about her and then when it came time to push only my mom and dh were allowed in the room well she through a huge tantrum tried to fight my mom bc she got to stay and then after baby was born she wouldnt let anyone see my son except her and fil and then my bil and his kids came while i was in the bath after and i find my 4 yo neice holding my brand new baby by herself!?!?! my inlaws should be commited to a nut house literally and dh has even said so himself so they are not allowed until i say!
my inlaws dont even know when my due date is and they never will all they know is june.and to be i b itch we will not be telling them the gender either simply because i know it'll piss them off which i deserve to do after everything i have put up with
mil even told me when she found out i was pg that SHE WOULD BE IN THE ROOM NOT MY MOTHER ....hahaha B ITCH better think again
sorry this turned into a rant
Make a pregnancy ticker
The only people that will know I went into the hospital is one my BFF so she can watch DD and the dogs for me and 2 my boss since I wont be into work. I think DH will want to tell people I am admitted to the hospital cause he is excited but I will not allow anyone to come visit. I am sure DH will text his BFF and my BFF to let them know my progress and luckily DH is not internet savvy so no way that it will be posted on FB. I don't want him telling his family what is going on so they don't drop by unwelcomed which I know they will do.
Once I'm admitted to the hospital, we'll be calling our parents first. Mine live 3000 miles away, so they won't be here, but my IL's are about 40 minutes away, so if they want to come to the waiting room, they can. Only DH will be in the room, though.
Everyone else will be texted as we have time, but we've already made it abundantly clear that, even if they show up at the hospital, we're not welcoming visitors immediately after the birth, aside from my IL's.
And Then There Were Three...
Married: 08/14/10
Baby #1 Born: 06/18/11
June Moms Blog