Traveling to the baby shower...
SissynJitters
member
I feel like I read a post about this before - but haven't been able to find it. It's a ten hour drive to my hometown. My mom really wants to throw me a shower in January, and I am so thankful for her offer. However, I feel that riding 10 hours in the car when I'm 30 weeks pregnant is going to be awful. Plus, we are planning on going up there for Christmas just a few weeks beforehand. My mom said that she doesn't mind having it right before the Christmas, but I think that will just be too crazy and too much. I told my mom not to worry about it ( I really don't want her to stress out over this) but she really wants to plan one for me.
Is 26-30 weeks too early to have a shower? Is anyone else dealing with long distance travel for their baby shower? Do you know when it is planned for?
Re: Traveling to the baby shower...
It's earlier than it might usually be, but I think it's not a BAD time to have a shower. I'd be more concerned about finding a time during the holiday rush that people could actually attend. However, if there are plenty of people who know you, I'm sure they'd make time and understand that making the long trip again in your 3rd trimester would just be too much to ask of you and your poor swollen belly and compressed bladder.
At 26 weeks, you'll have a very strong idea about the gender, a proper shirt can emphasize your baby belly so everyone can ooh and aww over it, and then you kind of get a head start in knowing what you have from the shower and what you'll need before the baby's born. :-)
Because we live far away and wont be able to take a lot of stuff home with us I am making an online registry and my mom is planning on getting a bunch of people together to chip in towards the stroller. I am really excited for this as it is my home town and a bunch of people there truly care about us and are looking forward to our babies arrival.
I don't think it's too early- when I was pg with DS my due date was March 23rd and my 1st baby shower was a few days after Christmas (I was 26wks). We planned it for my friends and family that live out of town who were going to be in town because of Christmas. It was actually really nice and didn't seem rushed or stressful even being close to Christmas. I was feeling good and wasn't uncomfortable yet in my pregnancy (i.e. could still bend over to open gifts and help load up the car afterward lol)
In retrospect, I was *really* glad my friend scheduled it early. I had a follow up u/s a week later and wasn't allowed to leave the hospital. My baby had stopped growing and they immediately admitted me into the hospital on strict bedrest and I stayed in that hospital in bed for the next 10 weeks until I was induced. We knew the baby had been measuring behind but we didn't realize how bad it was and how no idea that any of that would happen. I was SO happy that I got to have a "normal" baby shower. My other side of the family that is all local had planned on throwing me one also, which we convinced my dr's to let them still do but it was in a nurses lounge on the OB floor of my hospital (my SIL is a L&D nurse and pulled some strings to bring people in haha). It was much smaller and more awkward b/c there was minimal decorating that they could do and I was only allowed to participate for 2 hours (the maximum my dr's wanted me out of bed and off my side).
Obviously, this is a really unusual circumstance but I am so glad that I had at least 1 shower earlier and got to enjoy it without feeling sick, scared, etc. I am thankful for the other shower since I really needed the company by that point (they did it the wknd before we thought I was going to be induced- 8 weeks into my 10 week stay). Since I had the experience I did, I am always a proponent of doing early showers :-) Moms also usually do feel better, clothes still fit nicely and mom isn't so uncomfortable that she doesnt feel like moving. I say if your mom wants to do it- do it!
I came to post since i was so excited that my SIL and DHs aunt offered to throw me a shower. We picked out the weekend of December 8/9. I'll be 28 weeks. We thought about early January, but my work schedule may be hectic, so we went with before Christmas.
i don't have to travel too far for this, but it is in the US (I'm Canadian). So, I have to get started on a US registry ASAP.
I'm in a similar situation, except it's my DH family's year for Christmas, so I won't even be home at Christmastime. The last time I'll be home is Thanksgiving, so we are doing a shower that weekend. I'll be 24 weeks. Not my "perfect timing" but as good as it's going to get. People understand these things...and if they don't, I'm not going to waste my worries on them.
Plus, I'll have another shower where I currently live in late Jan/early Feb...more of a normal timetable.
We live in NC at Christmas time, we take about a week and travel to MA, through MD, to visit with family. My family is throwing us a shower in MD the weekend after Christmas, as we will be traveling back through MD at that time on our way back down to NC.
I *think* MIL is planning a shower for us in MA, which would probably be the weekend before Christmas, if it happens at all.
If she really wants to throw you a shower, I'd suggest the weekend after Christmas (29/30). It isn't New Year's Eve an MOST people have finished their family celebrations at that point. That way you could have a shower, but you wouldn't have to make two trips.
I appreciate my family's generosity, but also really appreciate that they understand that making a long trip like that after Christmas would be really difficult, uncomfortable, and expensive.
I'm in the same boat... My family lives in ST. Louis and we live in NC. I didn't want to drive being that pregnant- it can be a 15 hour drive! and I didn't want to travel in January that late in pregnancy.
Soo we are flying in for the shower, its going to be Dec 1 ( a little early but with all the holidays that works out best) I am registering on Amazon and I hope people just ship stuff to me!