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Haven't had the baby yet, but I do not want anyone at the hospital while I'm in labor. However my family lives 5 hours away, so it's not really a concern anyway. I'm going to let them know when I'm in active labor and they will come up within a day or so and hopefully visit at the hospital. DH's side live even further and will come up later. We have a couple of friends who might visit in the hospital (all have said to let them know what I want when the time comes, no pressure-- my friends are awesome!).

The only complication will be that DH's dad and aunts will be visiting nearby just for a couple of days, so if I have the baby then, it will be the only chance they have to see us. I'm playing that one by ear...

@FarmWifeGina: I'm with you. We had hardly any visitors at the hospital and people slowly visited over the first month or two. My DH and I were kind of disappointed. We actually really looked forward to visitors in the hospital and the first 2 weeks home.

I had a lot of family there right after he was born which is the only thing I didn't like. I felt a bit rushed knowing a group of people were waiting to see the baby. Then after that, the only people that came to the hospital was my mom and DH's parents. My sisters didn't even come and no friends came. I was sad about it. The first couple of weeks we only had a handful of visitors which made me a little sad too.

My rule was the more the merrier! My hospital only allowed two people in the room with me while I was labouring so any visitors had to wait in the waiting room which didn't bother me. I was in hospital for 5 days, so having visitors was really great and I got pretty lonely when everyone left.

I didn't have any visitors during labor, just had dh and my mum with me. I was induced so in-laws and maybe 3 friends knew what was happening and dh kept them updated through texts. E was born at night so we were able to go to sleep once we were settled. Our visitors were pretty respectful and messaged dh beforehand to make sure we were up to visitors and if there was anything they could bring to us. The hospital also had pretty strict visiting hours. Once we got home no one visited apart from sil which I was pretty happy with. I waited until I was able to drive to go out and socialise with friends so I could get out of the house.

I'm glad I'm not the only person that doesn't want anyone at the hospital when I am in labor. I'm getting a little bit of push back from family about it but I really don't care. I told everyone that we will let them know when we are ready for visitors. I like the idea of 1 visitor/group a day. I don't think I could handle having people in and out all day (other than doctors and nurses).

With DS#1, everyone and their brother was at the hospital (did not now until after I had him), didn't mind though.

With DD, it was just hubby and I. one friend visited right after I had her because she was coming to kill time with me before she was born. I had her while she waited in the waiting room to see me. Other than that no one but DS came to visit. Family would have been their if we were remotely close to each other

Obviously I don't know how this will play out in reality - it's still yet to come. We plan on having my aunt there as secondary support (like a doula, seeing mum can't be there) and then will have my dad, MIL, BIL and FIL alerted as soon as LO arrives and they can visit when they want. My bestie will be the first to visit during visiting hours - they are pretty strict about hours and number of people visiting so we'll let news filter out slowly.

@Bao: Perhaps I wasn't clear or you misunderstood. I wasn't suggesting that people push themselves and allow a swarm after birth. I was only pointing out what I believe to be true -- while hangers on and too many guests are annoying - I believe we should be grateful that we're not doing this alone. In fact, I have limited visitors for my baby's upcoming birth. And I too believe in to each his own, but was sharing my opinion.