Hi!

I wanted to get some opinions from people who have "Been there, done that", so to speak.

We are due our first child in mid-june. I live away from my family although my mother lives in the same country as me.

Already some close friends/family members have said they want to come over to see me and baby for/after the birth.

I am pleased to think people would come and try to support me as this is our first child. My mother has also said she will take time off work after baby is born.

However, when all these people were in my life around my wedding it was le shitstorm. They all wanted to be number 1 in my life and would get annoyed if I didn't have time for them in the few days leading up to our wedding. It was an unmitigated disaster.

My DH will also get two weeks off after baby is born. What I was thinking was to stagger peoples time with us.

For example, tell my Mom to take her time off for when my DH has gone back to work. Once my Mom's time off has ended to have my sister come and stay, once that has ended have a friend come to stay.

It would mean that for around 2 months I would probably have someone who would be coming around to spend time with me and baby while my DH is at work. (Only my friend would need to stay at our place).

I like this plan. I am scared about when baby arrives and DH is back at work if I will be able to manage looking after baby alone. I am fine with these people seeing my house a mess etc so I don't feel like it would be like having constant houses guests.

What do you think? Did you get sick of constantly having people around? Or would you have preferred to have had more people around for support in the first few months?

Does staggering the people make sense? Or do you think my mother should take the same time off as DH as we don't really know what we are doing (its our first child, but she could come over in the evening).

I know it sounds overkill to try to plan this now, but people have to book flights that cost serious money and I would prefer to let them know our plans first rather than they all presume they will be here from the birth etc.

Thanks!