So for my first baby my in laws were at the hospital the entire time I was in labor. Then we had them go into the hallway whenever they needed to check my cervix and for the actual birth. Then after the baby was born they would come to the hospital to visit us multiple times a day and stay for a while, holding the baby the entire time. They had something come up they couldn’t miss or they would’ve followed us home from the hospital, but they still came over to our house the moment they were done and every day for a couple hours the for the next week and a half. It was really overwhelming. I know they’re just excited but it was too much. Do you think it would be okay for our next one to ask that we don’t have visitors for the first 24 hours after the baby is born? Or do you think that’s rude?

Update: Thank you so much for your responses! It helps me feel a lot better. I love my in laws, it just made my birth experience not quite what I’d always pictured. We had also planned to have my mom be the first one to hold the baby after my husband and I because my mom and I are super close. But then in the hallway during the birth my father in law kept joking he calls holding the baby first. My mom is the kind who doesn’t want to upset anyone and wants to please everyone. So when we went to hand her the baby she said “No, it’s okay. They can hold the baby first. Then I will” and it upset me so much. I didn’t want to cause a scene so I gave the baby to my father in law but wanted to break down in tears. Then since they were there a lot and she could tell I was overwhelmed she was probably at the hospital the day after the baby was born for like 3 minutes total because they decided to show up again and she didn’t want to be in their way. (And while she was there she didn’t even hold the baby because she wanted to make sure I was taken care of and had food and everything I needed). It wasn’t that she didn’t want to hold the baby because she did, she just wanted to take care of her baby first. It really upset me because in that moment I needed my mom. I actually sobbed when we got home and I took my first shower because the whole thing upset me so much (and postpartum hormones haha). But it’s made me really want to be firm with the next one.