Mr. Bee's parents live abroad and my parents live in LA (we're in New York), so unfortunately we don't get to see our parents that often. I wish our parents lived close by so they could babysit! 
Do your families live close by? How much do they help out with your baby?
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
My family and his family live on the east coast and we live on the west coast, so it's just us when we have a baby.
It's going to be hard but we can do it.
cherry / 182 posts
My parents live a 45-minute drive away, so they try their best to come help out about once a week. (Or we drive up to their place.)
My husband's parents live in Hong Kong, but they're retired, so when they visit they visit for months at a time. When Claire was born they helped out (while staying out my husband's brother's place) for three months. And for BebeDeux, they came back just last week to help with the last month of the pregnancy, and for the first few months of BebeDeux's life as we know life will be difficult with 2 babies that are just 13 months apart.
My husband's brother and his wife also live just 20 blocks from us, so my SIL has been a tremendous help as well.
We used to have a part-time nanny whom we loved, but I have to say that I am much more comfortable with a family member — not only for the cost (for the lack thereof), but just knowing that they really, really LOVE our kids and genuinely want to help. I really consider ourselves lucky in this regard, and am thankful for it every day.
cherry / 170 posts
my mom and sister are a 7.5 hour drive away and my husband's family is even further! That has been one of our greatest struggles...being all the way up here in Boston without any familial help.
GOLD / apricot / 337 posts
My mom lives 5 minutes away and takes care of E three days a week. My husband's family lives 4 hours away and we visit once a month or they visit us and love taking the baby so that we can have date night!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
My parents can't wait till we have a kid. My brother and his wife are currently pg (due in Dec) and they are moving to Seattle. We live in NC, about 2 1/2 hrs from my folks. They will definitely be willing to help when we need it even though they are close to 3 hrs away.
Luckily, my husband and I get along great with my parents. We're not buddy buddies but we have a very good, solid relationship with them that will help us deal when the time comes that they come and stay with us a for a while to help out.
pear / 1664 posts
My in-laws live less than an hour away, whereas my parents are across the country from us. We will probably still live here when we have our first child, though we're not sure of that. If so, I'm sure that when we have a baby my parents will visit, but I am grateful to have my MIL around also. My own mother has one experience: my birth, which was not in any way routine or common, or pleasant. My MIL on the other hand has had 3 children with different experiences with each; I think both women's advice and help will be very much appreciated, and as much as I wish my mom would be closer too, I'm glad my MIL will be close by when I need help.
persimmon / 1135 posts
I'm an American living in England, so my family are all back in Texas. Sadly, my husband's immediate family all died. One of the things that makes me the most nervous about having our first baby (in 22 weeks or so. Eeek!) is the lack of family help available to us without an international flight.
grapefruit / 4400 posts
My mom lives about 20 minutes away (so do the hubs' parents), so we will be very lucky when the time comes! My mom doesn't work and my FIL retired early, so we'll have lots of babysitters! My mom's already told me that she can't wait to watch our little one and has already told me that I need to keep regular date nights, go on trips, etc. with the hubs once we had a kid/kids.
I'm pretty sure if we decided to go to Tibet for 3 years, she would watch our kid.
Unfortunately, my dad lives in DC (we're all in CA), so he won't see our kid that often.
grape / 81 posts
My mom lives an hour away but when I came home from the hospital she stayed with us for 2 weeks...it was so much help. When she watched Jack 3 days a week she would sleepover because the hour drive was too much
kiwi / 678 posts
The first year, we were a couple thousand miles away from family, and we moved back to the area specifically to be closer to them for our daughter. It was totally worth it, and it warms my heart to hear her say "grandma" and "grandpa" when she's with our parents.
pea / 23 posts
I'm super lucky that all of our families live within 20 minutes of us (minus my brother and sister in law in Sydney, AU). My Mom watches Piper three days a week, and my Dad picks us up from work when she's with me the other two days. It's great for all of us because I get help, Piper gets to spend a lot of time with our family, and I get to keep working and not having to spend a ton on childcare.
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
My parents and in-laws live 20 minutes away. I take my daughter to my mom's every Wednesday for some rest (and good food!) and to my in-laws every Tuesday for a couple of hours to run errands, grab a coffee, etc. I'm fortunate to have help close by but I rarely call for help - I feel badly!
cherry / 190 posts
My family lives about 4 hours away, which is ideal. It's close enough to be able to make weekend trips about once a month or so, but far enough away that my mom can't smother us like she's wont to do. My in-laws, however, live 20 minutes away in the next town over, and we really don't see them as much as you'd think. My husband's parents got divorced when he was a baby, and both remarried a bit later so they have middle and high school aged kids that keep them pretty busy. It's a good balance
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
My parents live 15 minutes away. They're here probably twice a week. When she was a newborn they were here like 5 times a week and they did EVERYTHING! They had food every day, they did laundry, walked the dog, etc. It was amazing. My inlaws live 30 minutes away and we see them about once a week.
I love living so close to everybody!
pear / 1554 posts
We are currently living in tokyo but all of our immediate family live in the states. My mom just arrived last week to help out as baby is coming in 3 weeks. She is staying for 3 and a half months to help out. If my mom couldn't come, then my sister would probably have been able to come for a couple of weeks. Other than my mom and sister, I don't think we would feel comfortable having other family come help us.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
Both our parents live 20 minutes away. My mom is pretty much planning on retiring (they own their own business) once we're pregnant with our first, so that she can babysit/nanny as often as she can for us.
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