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Friday, April 30, 2010

I'm Leaving Town

I am afraid of D-Day.

No, not the actual labor and delivery part. That part I can handle. It won't last forever. I'm a tough chic. Plenty of woman have gone through it. It's all a part of life. At the end I will hold my beautiful baby and all my dreams of being a mom will be met.
No, I am afraid of the events before and after the birth. The family drama.....

We did the hospital tour last night and they reminded us of the visiting policies. I guess I had seen them in the little pamphlet they handed out to us at the doctor's office when we found out we were indeed expecting a little one. Nothing mattered right then though. We were finally having a baby! Everything was awesome and wonderful and the birthday was so very far away. No need to worry about those things. Then the sweet nurse laid down the hammer. Only three people are allowed to visit at one time (this includes the Dad). The reality of this hit me as she was talking (I know, I sound very dramatic right now, but you haven't met either of our moms). Imagine, if you will, having to ask one of our moms, "Can you please leave the room so that one of our friends can come in and see the baby?" If both moms are in the room at the same time, which do you ask to leave?? DW is not allowed to leave. I want him there at all times! I can not handle this alone. He has so much family in the area. We will have people in and out of the room all day. Passing around my baby when all I will want to do is snuggle and stare at her. Oh, did I mention that DW's parents are divorced and his dad will be coming down with his new wife (who my MIL HATES)? Can't wait for that conversation, "Momma S, can you leave so that Pop and his wife can come in and see the baby?" Kill me now.
The nail in the coffin; No children under the age of 12 are allowed to visit. My youngest brother is 10.......and a crier.

The stars are smart for having their baby in another country........

8 comments:

Kari said...

Oh so glad we live FAR away from our families at this point. It would be nice to have them near after, but for D-Day I clearly understand your frustration. It's luckily a stress I won't have to endure. I'm only hoping to be there 24 hours anyway, but if I had to entertain people during that 24 hours I would be dreading it too. Those are my bonding hours and I'm very much looking forward to cuddling my little one & not sharing!! :) Sorry for the tough visiting policies that add that much more stress to your experience.

Kelli said...

Glad to hear that things are still going so well for you! I've been a terrible commenter lately but I promise, I've still been reading!

Sounds like our hospitals have the same policies...and our families have the same issues! I am NOT looking forward to that part of things, either.

I keep telling myself that it's only a small amount of time in the grand scheme of things and that it's out of my hands. That doesn't help much most of the time but it's true. :) One of the nurses on our hospital tour put it this way: you don't HAVE to have 3 people in the room at once. Use that as an excuse to spend some one on one time without everyone around...and let the nurses be the bad guys. Let them know when you'd like people to leave, rotate, etc. and they can be the ones to tell your family to move it so that you're not the bad guy.

As for your brother, we're in the same boat with my niece. They're probably not going to check birth dates at the door, so just go with it. I bet they'll let him in. :) If all else fails, maybe your mom can stretch the truth (and his age) just a bit! :)

Hope things continue to go smoothly for you! All the best! :)

Anonymous said...

I've "heard" of that rule as well but I have yet to see it enforced honestly. We're the last in our group of friends to have kids & there were always at least 5-7 people in the room at a time. And I believe that if it's your immediate family - IE your brother - they will make the exception & let him in the room.

Anonymous said...

If you're able to, check out other hospitals in the area. There are three in my area and each has a vastly different set of visitation rules. Also, from what I've seen, most only enforce them during labor and delivery. After that, the rules seem to be enforced upon the wishes of the new parents.

Janelle said...

After going through labor, putting the hammer down on visitors won't seem as difficult - tell them all the rules NOW and start coming up with the excuses now (I used things like "I really NEED a latte after abstaining for 9 months..." and "the baby needs a hat - these hospital ones won't stay on...") and I even had a friend come take my husband out for a beer so that I could cuddle with the baby BY MYSELF for a while - it was great!

Jill said...

Are you and Emma hanging in there? I was thinking about you since you're just a day behind me. Hope all is well!

Anonymous said...

Dropping in to say hello & hope everything is well!

Michelle said...

Checking in to see how your doing! Drop us a post sometime.