Will you have family waiting in the delivery area when you give birth?

Question

So our L&D rooms are small and they only allow two additional people in the room during birth, but my husband and I discussed it and only he and I will be in the room. Directly after birth there is be 1 hour of skin to skin. Then the next hour he will get his first bath and we will both be checked by drs. This is the plan obviously if everything goes smoothly. Then we will be checked into our recovery room. So when do you have people come and see the baby?? My in laws said they would be waiting in the waiting room the entire time.... but idk why? They live 20 min from the hospital so why can’t we text you when we go up to recovery. My parents live 8 hrs away and probably won’t start driving down until the baby is born so they know everything is fine and the plan. This is our first and maybe I’m just jealous his parents get to see the baby first, but I also want to be selfish and spend as much time with the baby and my husband by ourselves before family comes and bombards us- I just don’t feel two hours is enough at first. What is everyone else doing??

Answer

We decided it would only be me and my husband in labor and delivery. We won’t tell anyone that the baby has arrived until we are ready for them to come. We are thinking of at least 6 hours of just the three of us but will play it by ear. We just want some private time with her before all the madness (we have a large immediate family). We haven’t told anyone that we are going to do this bc we don’t want opinions or push back.

Answer

I’m having a c section and don’t want his family holding baby before I get to (his family has no boundaries and will not respect ANY of my wishes), we have agreed that his parents will be told the c section is the day after the actual c section and once we’ve had time to bond as a family we will tell them surprise and they can come up.

Answer

Honestly I think it depends on what time you have the baby. I had my daughter at 5:43pm, only my husband and I were in room. We didn't get up to our room until close to 9pm. We told people weeks before we didn't want anyone to come until we announce birth and to text before they'd like to come for permission. My dad came toward the end of my delivery anyway(still secretly happy he did). He texted when he was there and said I don't have to see any of you or meet baby, I just wanna be here in case emergency. Of course I let him meet and hold her once we were cleaned up but he only stayed for maybe 5min. He knew we were exhausted and wanted to bond. 
Stand your ground. Tell your nurses your plan. Most maternity floora you have to buzz in and you can tell nurses desk you're not ready for visitors if you have people who try and show up and overstep. Also if you have lingering people and are afraid to kick them out use your nurses for that too. 
Good luck!

Answer

Nope, my family can visit baby when invited, not a second before.
I won't have anyone 'waiting', that'd stress me out

Answer

Girl this is your baby and birth! It can go exactly how u want it and no one should eat upset because it’s not about them. Whatever you say just blame it on the hospital and say they told you when is best for visitors to visit you in ur postpartum room. What if u have him in the middle of the night why would anyone come and wait in the waiting room? Better just have them come visit the next day afternoon.

Answer

We’ve just been clear with our friends and family that we don’t want visitors at the hospital until after the birth and once we are in our recovery room. My sister in law wasn’t happy about it, but it’s not about her, it’s about us.
Our hospital doesn’t offer a waiting area for the L&D unit so there isn’t anywhere for people to hang around waiting anyways. Plus with a normal delivery we would be spending less than 24hrs at the hospital before being discharged so doesn’t really make sense for anyone to come visit us there.

Answer

People are crazy. I’d let them sit for 24 hours if you wanted. I was so SO tired but also kind of overwhelmed afterwards and there are so many exams and checks (like every hour) and you have to feed your baby every hour! With my last I told people no one could visit us at the hospital and I would text them to let them know if I changed my mind (we did, but not until the next day when we had a couple hours to sleep and time to settle etc).

Answer

If I let anyone at the hospital, it will probably be the last day we are there. Its sweet everyone wants to see the baby and offer support but this is a medical procedure lol. I find it very oldschool for people to disregard someone's feelings who are actually going through it. I also find it an odd tradition to be at the hospital anyways whether its birth or surgery. Maybe it started due to things often not going well back in the "good ole days". 🤷🏼‍♀️ Either way and regardless of what others think, this is your experience and your choice.

Answer

Only my parents, in-laws, sister and SIL are welcome to visit at the hospital. They’ll probably be there for the birth, in the waiting room, and just wait until they can come back. I don’t mind them being there so soon after baby’s birth but definitely not the rest of our families. WAY too much. 
I’ve told everyone else to wait until we’re home and ready for visitors.

Answer

We are not telling anyone except our moms and my sister when we go into labor. My sister is watching our son. I don’t want anyone in the waiting room because I want some privacy. Our moms will be there but they will not hold baby until both my husband and I have had an hour skin to skin. Then our moms can hold the baby but no one else will until our son meets his baby brother. We both have big families and everyone is local, so we are setting boundaries early

Will you have family waiting in the delivery area when you give birth?

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