Did you do anything to regulate guests? I am trying to relax about it this time, but will not allow guests to just hang out in the room for too long. I delivered DS at 2am and by the time all dr/nurses left and they cleaned the room it was almost 4. No one was there when I delivered except DH...and our first visitor was his obnoxious aunt at 630am!
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No but we will next time. Luckily no one showed up quite that early but I really needed the first day to recover a bit and learn how to be a mom.
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We had guests 2 hours after she was born and then every other hour it felt like (or more), after that until we went home. Then it continued! I told DH that this time we are limiting visitors to just immediate family and for a very short time. Even once we get home. It was WAY too overwhelming and we got no rest. I'm going to have myself checked in privately this time too, since last time we had people showing up who we didn't see in almost a year. Unnecessary. So long story short, I'm putting my foot down this time!
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Ours has "nap time" from 2-4 pm but I'm not going to hesitate to tell people to leave when I'm tired or not come til later in the morning.
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@matador84: omg. This thread is scaring me. I do not want a parade of people at the hospital but don't know how to stop it from happening.
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@MrsH: your nurse can play bouncer if you're not wanting the parade. Tell her you only want people around certain times and let her be the bad guy.
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@Dandelion: thanks for the tip!
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I don't know what/if our hospital has a visitor policy, but I do and it is: No visitors.
lol okay not quite. But luckily our families aren't local so it won't be that big of an issue. My parents will come down for the labor/birth and I'm asking my inlaws NOT to come to the hospital at all or come visit for a few weeks (they would both need to stay with us and I'm not doing house visitors our first little bit at home). As for friends-- I probably won't tell most people when we go to the hospital. And if I do text an announcement and anyone mentions stopping by I'll just ask them to wait until we get home.
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@MrsH: Yup what @Dandelion: said! I wish I would have took my nurse up on this because she offered! Also, maybe check yourself in privately? I'm not sure the real term on that but I did not last time and so many random people were going to the nurses desk asking my room number who were not invited or wanted. This time, if they do that, they won't be able to tell them. So only people who I give the room number to will know where to find me, so unwanted guests should not be an issue.
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I had DS at 3 pm and we had visitors at 6pm. Not doing that again. People can wait until we get home. The only exception will be whoever is taking care of DS. I want him to be the first one to meet the baby.
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@KT326: yep. I want ds to be the first one to have a chance to come in and see the baby. I'm hoping my mom and mil will be understanding.
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@KT326: @Dandelion: I just texted DH "I want A to be the first person to meet E!" He didn't respond yet but this was something I never though about before but really want to happen.
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@Bao: @Dandelion: I've thought about it a lot (even though I'm not even pregnant yet!). Hopefully the IL's will be understanding since my mom will probably be the one watching DS.
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No. We will next time though for sure. We had an obnoxious amount of visitors and I never had any alone time with the baby or time to nap. It was really overwhelming for me. I felt bad telling people to leave. Next time, I'm going to be more selfish!
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Our families were super-respectful about only coming when it was a good time for us. We didn't have friends visit in the hospital but I don't think anyone expected to. I delivered at the hospital that I work at but in a different building and only 2 co-workers came to visit me and they called first. I think other moms really understood that it might not be a great time.
As a nurse I agree that we never mind being the bad guys when it comes to visitors!
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@Dandelion: Our nurses couldn't play bouncer! I'm going to ask about htis when I go for pre-admission. Literally anyone can just walk in to the floor and walk into any room...super scary when you think about it! The L/D station is at one end and nursery at the other so they can't regulate who goes into what room because they are spread out all across the floor.
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@matador84: that's crazy! Seems like with baby security they'd at least have an eye on who is going where!
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@Bao: Another thing that sucks (even though I really had a great experience at this hospital) is they post your name outside the door!! Plus, someone could go to the nursery and the room number is on the infant bed. GRRRRRRR.
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@Dandelion: I know. I guess it is just the layout of the hospital. Like I said, definitely something I'm asking about when I'm up there for pre-admit. I don't want to have to be the one telling visitors they can't come up because it's one more thing to worry about. I don't mind the confrontation, I just spend too much time worrying about it with my first baby!
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@matador84: yeah you should really question that stuff. Doesn't seem safe.
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@Dandelion: I think they way they back it up is parents have a bracelet and baby has a bracelet. You can't go past the elevators without the alarm going off. Still...I don't want people knowing where to find me! Can't wait to see what they say.
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Luckily our families were really respectful and called to ask to see us. We had no problems except kicking everyone out so I could nurse (and pump). I didn't know how time consuming that would be.
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@matador84: is that any type of hipaa thing? What if someone you know is there visiting someone else and sees your name on the door and comes in?
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I can't believe how many inconsiderate guests you all had! We had 3 guests total and it was great. BUT our families aren't local, so my parents drove up after she was born and visited us twice before driving home (stayed at our apartment that night), and BIL (local) came by the first afternoon. Everyone else assumed (rightly) that we would only want close family at the hospital and waited to come visit us at home until we said it was OK. Of course, when they did come to visit at home, it ended up that everyone came at once and it was totally overwhelming for me, but it was DH's fault, not our friends!
Our hospital had a thing where you could request any chunk of time to be quiet hours, and no one would disturb you, visitors or hospital staff.
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@matador84: oh wow that's crazy! I don't think they had my name outside the door...hmm but I can't say 100% on that!
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@Dandelion: No clue. I can't wait to find out what they say. I'll probably be up there for pre-admit in the next couple weeks. They usually put first initial and last name outside the door. The card on the infant bed has name, mothers name, mothers doctor, babys doctor, and room number all on it!
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@Bao: Ask when you go for pre-admit...I am so curious about all the different hospital policies!
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@matador84: I will for sure!
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@Bao: @matador84: they don't have anything outside the door at my hospital. Well, except fir ehen I was there because of S there was a flower picture posted to indicate a loss to keep staff from putting feet in their mouths. Besides that there's no way to know who is in the room.
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@Dandelion: I feel like I would remember something like this, so I'm thinking there wasn't names...I remember visiting people and names were never outside the door either...but again I could have just missed it!
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Our hospital's visiting hours were from 8am-8pm...so basically no regulations. We were lucky in that I only stayed 12 hours. But we got to the recovery/postpartum room at about 6am, and had our first visitor at 8am.
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@matador84: if they won't play bouncer for you, you should bring a do not disturb sign with you. And tell your dh to tell his crazy aunt to wait until daylight to show up!
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