A welcome home party...or no?

[MissRhead]

I voted other as ill be with my parents and my son. x

 

[AP]

Going home and having the luxury to laze about with baby, chill in my pjs and snooze when I could-well, that was awesome. No way would I want anyone around for the first few days.

 

[DrMum]

Last time I had my mum and dad at our house and my mum had made a lovely lunch of gorgeous soft cheese, and pate and wine to celebrate not being pregnant any more! She's a midwife so she totally gets it they stayed with us an hour or so then without any awkward moments left us to it and had booked into a nearby hotel. The next morning they came over and made breakfast and we all sat in the garden etc it was really lovely, but they totally gave us space as well to be our little family on our own.
This time round we don't have any family in the country so we will be coming home and just nesting. I am actually a bit more afraid that this time we will have hundreds of un scheduled drop ins so I might just be "in bed asleep" and baby napping and not answer the door unless it's arranged! That sounds terrible doesn't it!? I'm looking forward to just being home and our son getting to know the new baby.

Definitely this time round if people do come by, I will not be shy to point them toward the kitchen and let them look after their own coffee etc. last time around the 2 week mark I did waaaay too much waitressing while people passed around MY new baby!

 

[Sqwidge]

Last time we were living at the in laws so it was the whole of the in law family! Which was obviously how it had to be, no choice. I love my in laws so it wasn't a problem and because there was no other option I didn't think about it.

This time my mum will be here looking after josh, and she will be here when we come home - ideally I would like her to leave once we've had dinner, as we would like the first night just us, but it's not something I've talked to her about yet. I guess it all depends on what time we get discharged from hospital, as I wouldn't want her driving home too late. Thing is we will most likely have builders in the house the next few days still as I can't see the extension fully finished! So it's not going to be the most ideal first week!!

I love the idea of you leaving as a family of two and coming home as a family of three, hopefully you can get that xxx

 

[Kate7590]

My parents are going to be here I think. They are going to come to the house when we go to the hospital to look after our dogs while we are away so it would be a bit off if we told them to leave before we arrived back home with the baby lol

 

[Celesse]

Just my family. The children need time to adjust to their new sibling before having a load of visitors.

 

[StarlitHome]

I'm hoping my mom will be here - she arrived the day my daughter was born last time and her help (cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, breastfeeding support) was SUCH a blessing to us. My husband was unable to take any time off from work and I don't think I would have done well totally alone.
This time my MIL is planning to take some time for the specific purpose of helping with our toddler - my mom will hopefully be here - AND my husband is taking time off.

 

[baileybubs]

For me I appreciated people popping over for an hour or so to help out was great, but most of the time I just wanted me, df and dd because I was emotional, exhausted and trying to recover. Personally I don't like loads of people fussing and I just wanted to be left to recover and enjoy my little family, but it depends how you are as a person when it comes to stuff like that.
I do remember that I told df no visitors for the first few days but he was so excited that when his brother, SIL and kids asked if they could come and see her on the day we got home I burst into tears because the thought of having people round was just to much! I managed ok but you really do need that time yourself to recover, and I think it's easy for our OHs to forget what we have just been through physically and that we will be completely drained!! Although it's understandable that they are excited and just want to show their baby to the world lol!

This time it will be just me, df and the children, I have said no visitors at home for the first couple of days unless anyone wants to literally "pop in". But it may depend how long we are in hospital because last time we were there for 3 days after EMCS and everyone had already been to see her at visiting times, whereas if I get my vbac I am gonna be asking to leave ASAP so people might be more insistant on visiting us at home!

 

[Bex84]

Just dh, me, my little girl and new baby. My family and dh family welcome to see baby in hospital if i am in long enough. Its easier to establish breast feeding without people popping over. I will be cooking and freezing food we can just heat up before and plan to have house sorted before. With midwife visiting day after its busy enough and i just wanted to rest having my first lo. My established labor was only 7 hrs but it was overnight so i missed a whole nights sleep. It was lovely with lo to come back ti a quiet house where wasent expected to entertain. With in laws when they came over they were expecting cups of tea etc and complaining when i was breast feeding

 

[Rachie004]

We've agreed that we want the first two weeks to ourselves, no visitors at all - I can't imagine anything worse than having a heap of people over but then we don't really like our families and they wouldn't be helpful

We want the time to bond, just the three of us rather than feel like we need to 'entertain' people and have the baby passed round like a doll.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

No one but my OH and kids really. My mum picked me up but she left after 5mins. xx

 

[cait]

My mum visited me and DD in hospital, then I went home with just OH and MIL came to visit later that day for about an hour. Nice and relaxed - I was knackered so was glad not to be overwhelmed!

Then the next day my sis and SIL both visited with their families, again short visits. By this time I was much more ready after a night in my own bed and with OH there fulltime to help.

 

[BigLegEmma]

DH thought it would be helpful to have his mom there to help with the baby while I recovered. I told him I didn't want anyone there. I said those first few days are going to be rough - me in pain and recovering and also us trying to figure out how to suddenly become parents.

If anything, I'd have MY mom come over so she could help if I needed it. Like with BF'ing or helping me with pain.

Yeah, I want my mum there for similar reasons, plus she's MY mum and I can tell her and ask her anything - I don't have the same level of intimacy with his mother. OH is happy for my mum to come and stay too as we live abroad and I don't have a well-established support network here yet, though I'm sure friends would help out if asked.

 

[BigAl]

I don't really want visitors, it's such a hard and special time. I could not imagine making anyone drinks in those first few weeks!
However if you have nice family nearby that are willing to pop round, do some cleaning and cooking, and leave you with a cup of tea, then honestly that is the best thing.

 

[mara16jade]

I don't really want visitors, it's such a hard and special time. I could not imagine making anyone drinks in those first few weeks!
However if you have nice family nearby that are willing to pop round, do some cleaning and cooking, and leave you with a cup of tea, then honestly that is the best thing.

Oh yeah, for sure. I just want that first day or two to ourselves. After that, I'm sure we'll appreciate the help. Maybe I'm too sentimental, but I just really, really want that first moment of walking in the door to our house to be with our new little family.

Plus, we have three little dogs that I will not have seen for a few days, and we'll need to introduce them to the baby slowly. And with visitors there, that would be so chaotic!!

 

[lozzy21]

My mum took us home since we don't drive, she stayed for a cup of tea and them went home.

 

[Buttercup84]

I wouldn't want anyone other than OH and DD there for the first day or 2. Our family are all fairly local but we ended up doing most of the visiting in the early days with DD, that won't be happening again I know that much... They can come to us!

 

[Button#]

The first time I was hoping for a night to myself before my family came up but we weren't released because they'd missed us off the paediatricians list. The day we were released I got home with OH and LO to an empty house and my mum, dad and brother came over after they'd had their lunch. It was actually nice having my mum there, she looked after everyone and made me some dinner and cups of tea and made sure we had plenty of time with LO. My OH is rubbish at making tea anyway!

This time I'm hoping she'll be here with Ashley when I give birth (hopefully a home birth).

 

[Ruth 1980]

My parents live in another country so last time we came home to an empty house and it was lovely! I understand the feeling of wanting to come home as a little family.
Last time I was in hosp for about 4days, the day of the birth my in-laws came in to visit, the following day my 2 brothers-in-law came to visit and the day after all my husbands aunts and his granny and one cousin came to visit! It did feel a little too much tbh. The day I was discharged home (had an eventful c-section) my in-laws came to visit again with my SIL and her husband. The following day my parents arrived with one of my sisters, stayed overnight then left again.
I really struggled to establish breastfeeding and had a colicky screamer and didn't want visitors but I understand family get excited about new arrivals. One step too far was my boss (who I'm not even close to!!) landing at my door week 5 after the birth and wanting to come in for tea &chats
This time my mum will come stay to help with my 2yr old so my dh can be with me in hospital for delivery, then she will return home a few days after. Dh is taking 2 weeks off work then.
Good luck with everything! And I hope you get to have the homecoming you want x

 

[mamaduke]

Last time, we had no one at the house, as most of the family visited us in the hospital. We didn't know when we were getting discharged, so our first 24 hours at home were on our own. We went home the day before Easter though, so we had parents stop by the next day, as they wanted to bring us Easter food and make sure we were okay. DH took a week and a half off and we had visitors throughout that time, but nobody stayed over or imposed on us.

This time, my parents are taking DS1 so that DH and I have a little time to bond with DS2 and adjust to a newborn. But then, it'll be our little family on our own, with DH taking a week off and hoping to ease back into work after that.

While I love our families dearly, I prefer that they only come to visit for short periods so that I can get used to juggling both LOs at the same time.