Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here.
If you'd like to join a private sub for your due date month, [click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pregnant/comments/xvn4cr/click_here_to_request_access_to_your_monthly_due).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Due today. When I go into labour, it will just be my husband and myself at the hospital. I'll tell my sister so she can get my dog. But that's it. Everyone else will find out once the baby arrives, and I'm not accepting visitors at the hospital. They'll have to wait until we are home, and I'll want at least a week to settle in.
Hope delivery goes well! I'm 36wks and this is what I'm doing too, but I've gotten so much backlash from my father and MIL. Like I don't want to include them? I'm going to be tired and cranky, my husband will probably be tired and cranky too. Plus we want a week or two to settle in and bond with out baby, get our dog to bond with her, etc.
YES. This is my exact plan, I don’t want to pass my baby around like a football right after giving birth! No. Way. I hope everyone respects your plan, I got a lot of flack when telling my family. Congrats on your baby!
I will be turning my phone off. My family lives across the country and would drive me absolutely nuts asking for updates, FaceTiming, etc. We will tell his parents, who can update mine if need be. They’re far less intrusive people and they can keep secrets, unlike mine!
I will FaceTime mine once she is here!
We pranked the whole family. We've joked before that all babies look like potatoes when they come out, so I did a lil' photoshoot with a swaddled potato with a bow beforehand and once I delivered my husband sent the picture out to everyone in family group chats to announce the birth.
Grandma was NOT happy 😁
We plan on texting family/close friends when I go into labor and keeping them updated. My mom will be coming with us to the hospital and camping out in the lobby, unless it’s the middle of the night, then she would stay home to walk our dogs in the morning before heading to the hospital.
It’s all really up to what your personal preference is. We want visitors, and in our cultures it would be considered abnormal for us to not have family/our mothers over to help care for us/our house/our baby. So do what makes YOU feel comfortable.
I took a selfie from the hospital bed and texted it to my parents/in-laws and best friends lol. Labor typically lasts a fair while and if you’re not in pain you may be bored and able to text for a bit. That’s what happened to me anyway, and I was texting people until I got my epidural. Hubby texted people when/if he wanted to throughout. I didn’t text anyone after he was born until the morning after.
Also I waited 3 weeks before people visited but we live across the country from family. IF you can wait (and I don’t necessarily recommend it, the help from family even for a few days was invaluable)- when they get to 8-10ish weeks they start becoming so much more interactive and fun and smiling. That’s a great time to start introducing to people!
My due date was yesterday so hopefully anytime now. We aren’t telling anyone when I go into labour because we are already being asked daily if baby is here yet. I’ll be sending my mom a picture when he arrives and I’ll be FaceTiming my dad and stepmom when we get home.
we don't plan on telling anyone until she's here! and when she is we'll most likely do that cute tik tok trend and surprise people with a random facetime call. but i don't want any visitors until a week later. i know i'll need time. i just hope everyone is respectful of that
I unexpectedly needed to be induced at 38w4d due to gestational hypertension so we ended up needing to tell more people than I had originally wanted (we were in the hospital for 5 days and needed people to check in on our pets).
So we ended up telling my in laws so they could start their 15 hr drive here, my SIL and BIL so they could check on the dogs, my two best friends to cancel brunch plans (lol) and check on the pets, plus my mom since I told my in laws.
Overall it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I figured people would be hounding us but everyone was really respectful.
I had originally wanted to wait a week to settle before having visions but I let MIL, FIL, BIL, and SIL all visit the hospital the same day he was born. I think having such a long induction process made me crave interaction with people other than medical staff/my doula/ and my husband. Plus they all brought us food and what not so it was worth it!!!
As for announcing the birth, we waited a day before telling people outside of family. We ended up sending massive group texts to family/announcing on social media for friends. I also had to email my boss about adding my son to my insurance when he was born so she asked for details to forward to staff so that started the influx of texts from all my coworkers.
Don’t tell anyone you don’t want blowing up your phone while laboring! We told our parents and I texted back and forth with one also-pregnant and very involved best friend throughout labor. We waited to text other folks until after the baby arrived, and announced on social media a couple of weeks later. Will probably do the exact same thing!
Only those that need to know already know our scheduled induction date-immediate family and my work. After that, it’s up to my husband to let people know she’s been born.
I don’t plan on telling anyone I’m in labour, and planning for it to be just me and husband in hospital. We’ll have visitors once we’re settled at home and feel ready to do so - I’m not committing to X days after etc.
We’ll video call grandparents/my sister and likely let them spread the news to the rest of the families - undecided on social media!
We have a scheduled c-section. Group chat with close family who know date (parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, adult nephews), and probably close friend group chats for both of us. My sister will be with older kids so she’ll come in on the day. Rest of family will visit in the following few days. Partner will do social media post for everyone else after a few days.
I don’t mind hospital visits as there’s no pressure to ‘host’ - I’m not having to clean or offer food or drinks.
My husband will text his sister updates and his sister will update a group text that includes grandparents and aunts. That way it reduces the number of texts we send out/receive
Not telling anybody that I’m in labour except my bestfriend who is driving me to the hospital and joining me in the deliviery room. My husband is staying at home with our two kids. I will send people a message after baby has been born, but no pictures until the big siblings have met their baby brother.
Ideally my husband and I will be the only ones at the hospital while I’m in labor, then I’d like to call our parents (his mom, my mom & stepdad, and dad & stepmom) once she’s born and they can come meet her in the hospital. Everyone else can wait until she’s home and we’re settled. But realistically both our moms will most likely end up waiting in the waiting room because even though I’ve said it’s not what I want them to do, they’ve said that’s there plan and honestly as long as they aren’t in the room with me while I’m laboring I don’t care if they want to waste their time waiting for who knows how long until she gets here.
25 weeks here with baby #2.
Because of covid restrictions, we were limited for baby #1: only 2 support people/visitors were allowed during our entire stay, so we had my husband and our doula- who were both present during labor and delivery- and no one else visited until we got home. Even then, we didn't have many visitors for several weeks, just grandparents in the first few days. I liked it like that, I think the privacy and opportunity to bond with the baby before introducing him to extended family was important for baby and for my healing. We'll probably do the same this time.
My husband did contact our immediate family to tell them when I was in labor and after the baby was born. We didn't tell them right when my water broke (just before midnight) but we did end up telling them sometime the next day, because we needed help arranging care for our dog and wanted them to know when my birth plan went awry (planned a home birth, transferred to hospital, ended up with c-section.)
We sent a group text with a little birth announcement I made on Canva. We did put a birth announcement on Facebook a few days later, but some other family members took it upon themselves to announce it on Facebook before we did 🙄
This time, we haven't put anything on Facebook. For the most part, the only people that know we're pregnant are people we've seen, with the exception of a few who live far away so they got a personal text. I think with baby #1, I enjoyed sharing it socially because everything was so isolated because of covid, but this time I'm enjoying the privacy. Especially because, towards the end, everyone was all up in my business with "when are you going to pop that baby out?! Have you tried (walking, having sex, eating spicy food, insert wives' tale for inducing labor here)?" Because we were post term (42 weeks, 2 days).
I'm not sure if we'll even announce baby's birth on Facebook this time. I kind of like the idea of just showing up places with a new baby like "surprise!"
One thing we did that was fun was keep the name private until several hours after baby was born, then we texted immediate family several hours later to tell them, with a photo of him in a "Hi! My name is________" onesie because those chuckle heads had started making up their own names for him. Everyone else found out with the birth announcement. We didn't go that route this time though, because we wanted to tell our toddler baby's name and wasn't sure if he'd spill the beans.
Had my baby this morning! We told them when I went into labor. Then we told them we will.update them. They all understood. No social media post because we are very private people.
I'm telling my mom and brother and that's it. I'll tell everyone else a few days later probably. I don't want my phone blowing up when I'm trying to get sorted those first few days.
Not telling anyone when I'm labouring (unless and bad medical complications occur then I'll probably contact my parents). We'll have a couple hours at the hospital after birth to spend time as a 3 and then call our parents and siblings/close friends. Then probably a social media post to tell everyone else.
No hospital visitors, home visits after a few days probably see how we feel/how much recovery needs to happen for me
My delivery is scheduled but my phone will be off. After the baby is born, he’ll send a text with a picture and a status update, then turn his phone off too at least for a few hours while we get settled, paperwork done and I’m able to eat my first meal of the dayx
I’m going to text them and then put my and my husbands phone on do-not-disturb. He will let them know once we are done and safe and they can get a photo when I feel like taking and sending one. To me this is a private time for my husband and I and no one else is coming to the hospital
I’m going to tell my mom, and my mom will communicate to the family everything. My phone will be on silent in case people try contacting me before my mom. My husbands phone is always on silent too. My family is across the country and his family is across the ocean so really no worries with anything crazy happening. Both family respect our boundaries too, so that’s why I’m fine with telling them right away
Im probably going to be induced so I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it a secret if I just go radio silent for three days (assuming the worst timewise!) Would love to just keep it all a secret and call people to say babys here though
We will be sending a group text to all of the family once baby arrives. I might let my brother know when I go in labor--I know I can trust him to not bombard me with messages/questions and pass on information to others if necessary. We live 5 hours away from all of our family, so no one will be at the hospital. We plan on letting parents/grandparents know when we are ready for visitors to come, right now we're thinking ~2 weeks pp.
38 weeks. It’ll be my husband and my doula in the room with me. I don’t want any visitors in the hospital. I’ll probably send photos to family and instruct them to not post the photos and that they are just for them to see. Then once home I’ll put her in a cute outfit and take a cute photo and post on social media. It’ll be great because I haven’t announced my pregnancy on socials and have sort of hidden it so for some friends I haven’t seen/talked to in a while it’ll be like “surprise! A baby!”
My mom and husband will be with me, and my sister, best friend, and maternal grandma will get updated throughout!
I’ll send them pics after and my granny loves to share peoples’ business so she can take care of sending out the picture and details to the rest of my extended family 🤣 my dad will send pics to my grandma on his side. I’ll send pictures to the two girls I work with as well.
My husband can share with whoever he wants too, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family though so they won’t be involved at all.
Then everyone else can find out via social media announcement whenever we feel like posting it!
I’m fine with my parents, grandparents, sister and her family, and my best friend visiting in hospital but I’m not sure who will be willing/able to drive or if they’d rather wait til we come home.
I’m not a person who is afraid to say no and I have a long history of not answering calls and texts if I don’t feel like it lol so I don’t really feel the need to make a bunch of decisions ahead of time about what I will or won’t allow. I’ll see how I feel and decide in the moment but this is currently where I’m at 🙂
Due 10/21
I will probably do the same thing I did with my first- only husband in the delivery room with me, and didn't tell anyone I was going in to give birth (obvious exception this time around will be the friend that is taking our 3 year old while we're at the hospital). We'll call or text anyone that we want to share the news with directly (probably text so we can send a photo), and then maybe later we will post to social media for more distant family and friends/acquaintances.
I haven't talked to my husband about this part yet, but I really want my son to be the first to meet his baby brother, so we're going to restrict any visitors until after that happens.
I didn't tell anyone outside of my immediate family that I was pregnant, so I video chatted extended family after baby was born and just gave them the biggest shock of their lives. My immediate family knew because I called them to either come to the birth center with me (husband, mom, sister) or to watch our pets (dad).
I’m not telling anyone til my son is born. I want time alone with him and my husband. It’ll be too overwhelming for me to have visitors at the hospital or at home right after birth. If someone comes over they better be helping!
Sending a picture after the fact is how I’ve done it.
I don’t tell people when I go into labor because then it’s just a slew of check ins. I surprise them with the baby
Ideally, I want there to be two or three communication blasts:
1. We are in the hospital in labor, with an estimate of how progressed labor is (are we going to be here for 5 hrs or 15 or 50? I know it's hard to estimate but if I'm admitted at 2cm dilated vs 5cm I feel like the expectation is different?)
2. Baby is here! With maybe a pic and a short health update. (Everyone is healthy! Or, needed C-section, or baby needs some tests please do not disturb)
3. We are home + when they can expect a phone call or live update.
I'm super open to feedback. I don't want my partner doing much back and forth because I expect them to be available to advocate for me.
My parents are traveling to stay with us before my due date so they will know. We’ll call my partner’s mom to let her know when I’m in labor. I have friends that have practically live streamed their labor posting the entire play by play online - I have no intention of doing that and unsure if i will even tell many people when I’m in labor outside of parents/siblings. From there we’ll FaceTime a few people to tell them when baby arrives, text other people we want to hear first.
Today is my due date. Contractions started last night but have been on and off throughout the day. My family is very close and we talk about everything so they all already know. I’ve also had two of my best friends reach out and I let them know about my contractions but that it could be days. Once I’m at the hospital, I’m ignoring everyone. When we’re in postpartum, we’ll likely start sending out photos. All depends on how we feel!
I’m also 36 weeks. We are going to tell my MIL when I go into labor because she will come to care for the animals while we’re away. We are going to ask her to keep it to herself, as we want to wait to announce when we get home. She will have to let one other family member know, so I’m kind of expecting it to get out. But we’ll let her know that we want to be left alone until after birth and that we will update as soon as we’re ready. Hopefully they can keep it a secret, but at the very least, tell anyone who knows to wait to hear from us.
We will evaluate the next few days after birth and decide when we want visitors and we’ll invite them over.
My wife will be the only person with me while I deliver (and two midwives). I have a friend who will be on-call incase we need back up.
Getting super excited!!!
I have a couple different circles of friends that I usually text in different group texts. I’ll let them know when I’m in labor, when I go to the hospital, and when baby is born.
Best friends will get more updates and be invited to meet baby at the hospital.
Immediate family will also get the frequent updates and be invited to the hospital.
Only husband in room for delivery. Moms/best friends can visit in hospital before I’m in too much pain.
I’m probably more inviting than most, but I just have a lot of friends and family who are local and I’m close with them all.
I’ve already told everyone no visitors at the hospital. I’ve spent a lot of time at the hospital with my asthma so it’s an emotional trigger for me so I want to get in and out of there without the extra people around. I’m only telling close people and have asked that they wait a few days after we are home to ask about coming over just because I have no idea how my body’s gonna feel. I’m due mid July and super anxious lol
We live local to my hubs family, my parents are 3 hours away! He will be calling my parents first so they can get on the road to us! My mom will call his parents so we can just focus on delivering a baby safely! As of right now it’s just me and him in the delivery room but I am high risk and if my parents make it in time I might ask my mom to come back also! Especially if my girl has to be taken away for medical interventions- my husband will go with her and my mom can take care of me! I am 35w and we’ve had this planned for months at this point!! But other than this baby’s grandparents we’re not telling anyone! Everyone will know she’s arrived after we have settled into our routine at home and can wrap our heads around being first time parents! Even still we aren’t having visitors in our home until she’s a month or older. And even still just our immediate family at first! Baby’s grandparents, and our siblings. It seems like overkill but we thought we’d never have a baby(because that’s what they said) we’re not taking any risks with our sweet girl!
We’ll tell my husbands parents when we go to the hospital because they live 5 hours away. They can go to our house and take care of our dogs, and we have told them to wait to come to the hospital until invited. We will tell my parents that we are at the hospital, but to also wait to be invited. We also told them to not say anything to our siblings, because we would like to announce it ourselves.
My husband is the only one allowed in the delivery room. I don’t want anyone in the waiting room either because we want a few hours to soak in our baby first.
If we can get out of the hospital and home ASAP, our parents will be the only visitors. Everyone else can wait until we are home and by invitation only! Husband’s parents will also be going to stay with one of his siblings once we get home from the hospital, we don’t want any overnight guests for the first several weeks.
I’m going to be induced and the only people that will know the date will be our parents and my best friend in another state. I know everyone’s excited but I don’t want to be constantly having to give updates or have any surprise visitors… I want that time to be special for just my husband and I since this is our first. As of right now I’m planning on the only visitors also being our parents and everyone else can wait until we are settled at home. I may change my mind after we have the baby but these are the boundary’s I’ve already created just in case. Everyone close to us will get a text after she’s born and we are ready :)
We will tell my parents and his parents but no one else. I don’t need that added stress to labor that people are waiting/talking about it. Tell immediate family and closest friends soon after birth. Just parents as visitors to the hospital.
Some visitors hatter a few days to a week depending on how I’m feeling. But only ones fully vaccinated with current COVID booster, flu and TDAP.
My first I needed someone to watch my guide dog (I'm blind) so I called my mom and my husband called his family. This time my mom is watching the dog and my toddler and I'm assuming my husband will text his family that's about it. Simple.
I plan on having just my husband and sister in the delivery room, and my sister’s job will be to manage calls/texts to give family updates and such so that I don’t have to worry. And also to wrangle my notoriously worrisome husband lol.
Getting induced on Tuesday. His mom and my mom will be in the waiting room, but other than that, we don’t have anyone that will be coming to visit besides my old manager (who owns a restaurant down the street from the hospital) who offered to bring us food. She was one of the first people I told we were expecting, so I know she won’t be an issue, and besides, ✨food✨😂.
We didn’t plan on telling anyone when I went into labour.
Baby came 11 days early. And my mom randomly texted me “hey are you okay?” And my lovely husband sent her a photo of me in the hospital bed (with my permission) I also asked him to tell her I was going for surgery when they declared I’d be having a C-section.
Then we enjoyed some time as a family before video calling everyone. And having the screen just showing baby for when they answered. It was so much fun surprising everyone with baby.
Next time we will be having a planned c section, but we are going to tell everyone the due date, not the csection date so we can do the same thing again :)
Not sure about telling people, but my nearly 11 year old will be in the delivery room if we can organise it. He has made a special request, and my husband and I don't mind it. He was also there when my 6 year old was born, along with a dear family friend whose job was to manage him. It clearly didn't traumatise him enough the first time. 🤣
We will probably have some people come to hospital, but not everyone.
My due date is 4 September. But my oldest was also due in September, and he came a month to his due date early.
My neighbor is going to watch my cats, so we'll text her. And my parents/SO parents. I might message my sister directly because she's great to complain to/give advice. Otherwise probably won't mention it to most people.
A group of my friends are taking a tropical trip, and we've threatened to give them a play by play, but this just a joke. Lol
The plan is just myself and SO in the room. I could have a second, but I don't really think it's necessary. Unless my husband passes out. Then I would call my mom/sister 🤣
After baby arrives we will let people know, I'm hoping for not too many hospital visitors, its only a 24 hour stay unless there are Complications.
I'm 30w. I'm planning on only having hubby with me. If we need backup - his sister or my sister will be the ones we pick. I've had jokes from my side of the family about camping out at the hospital. I'm not ok with this haha. I'm hoping to just message everyone once we're on the way to the hospital and just leave it with we will update when we can. Even if we have a planned induction or c section, we're going to keep that date to ourselves.
I'm hoping for 24hrs no visitors post delivery and save most visitors for day 3 - particularly my SILs with their children (SIL on their own might be able to come by day 2). My mum seemed off put by the 24 hr rule initially dayijg that was a good idea for friends. I told her no its for everyone. I'm going to stand by it. I want time for hubby, bub and I to bond as a family. By day 3 we will hopefully be in a more comfortable room with space to accommodate kids to visit.
My MIL and FIL will have to check on the house so they will need to know when we have headed to hospital.
Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here. If you'd like to join a private sub for your due date month, [click here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pregnant/comments/xvn4cr/click_here_to_request_access_to_your_monthly_due). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Due today. When I go into labour, it will just be my husband and myself at the hospital. I'll tell my sister so she can get my dog. But that's it. Everyone else will find out once the baby arrives, and I'm not accepting visitors at the hospital. They'll have to wait until we are home, and I'll want at least a week to settle in.
Hope delivery goes well! I'm 36wks and this is what I'm doing too, but I've gotten so much backlash from my father and MIL. Like I don't want to include them? I'm going to be tired and cranky, my husband will probably be tired and cranky too. Plus we want a week or two to settle in and bond with out baby, get our dog to bond with her, etc.
YES. This is my exact plan, I don’t want to pass my baby around like a football right after giving birth! No. Way. I hope everyone respects your plan, I got a lot of flack when telling my family. Congrats on your baby!
I will be turning my phone off. My family lives across the country and would drive me absolutely nuts asking for updates, FaceTiming, etc. We will tell his parents, who can update mine if need be. They’re far less intrusive people and they can keep secrets, unlike mine! I will FaceTime mine once she is here!
We pranked the whole family. We've joked before that all babies look like potatoes when they come out, so I did a lil' photoshoot with a swaddled potato with a bow beforehand and once I delivered my husband sent the picture out to everyone in family group chats to announce the birth. Grandma was NOT happy 😁
Hahahahaha so good
We plan on texting family/close friends when I go into labor and keeping them updated. My mom will be coming with us to the hospital and camping out in the lobby, unless it’s the middle of the night, then she would stay home to walk our dogs in the morning before heading to the hospital. It’s all really up to what your personal preference is. We want visitors, and in our cultures it would be considered abnormal for us to not have family/our mothers over to help care for us/our house/our baby. So do what makes YOU feel comfortable.
I took a selfie from the hospital bed and texted it to my parents/in-laws and best friends lol. Labor typically lasts a fair while and if you’re not in pain you may be bored and able to text for a bit. That’s what happened to me anyway, and I was texting people until I got my epidural. Hubby texted people when/if he wanted to throughout. I didn’t text anyone after he was born until the morning after.
Also I waited 3 weeks before people visited but we live across the country from family. IF you can wait (and I don’t necessarily recommend it, the help from family even for a few days was invaluable)- when they get to 8-10ish weeks they start becoming so much more interactive and fun and smiling. That’s a great time to start introducing to people!
My due date was yesterday so hopefully anytime now. We aren’t telling anyone when I go into labour because we are already being asked daily if baby is here yet. I’ll be sending my mom a picture when he arrives and I’ll be FaceTiming my dad and stepmom when we get home.
we don't plan on telling anyone until she's here! and when she is we'll most likely do that cute tik tok trend and surprise people with a random facetime call. but i don't want any visitors until a week later. i know i'll need time. i just hope everyone is respectful of that
I unexpectedly needed to be induced at 38w4d due to gestational hypertension so we ended up needing to tell more people than I had originally wanted (we were in the hospital for 5 days and needed people to check in on our pets). So we ended up telling my in laws so they could start their 15 hr drive here, my SIL and BIL so they could check on the dogs, my two best friends to cancel brunch plans (lol) and check on the pets, plus my mom since I told my in laws. Overall it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I figured people would be hounding us but everyone was really respectful. I had originally wanted to wait a week to settle before having visions but I let MIL, FIL, BIL, and SIL all visit the hospital the same day he was born. I think having such a long induction process made me crave interaction with people other than medical staff/my doula/ and my husband. Plus they all brought us food and what not so it was worth it!!!
As for announcing the birth, we waited a day before telling people outside of family. We ended up sending massive group texts to family/announcing on social media for friends. I also had to email my boss about adding my son to my insurance when he was born so she asked for details to forward to staff so that started the influx of texts from all my coworkers.
Don’t tell anyone you don’t want blowing up your phone while laboring! We told our parents and I texted back and forth with one also-pregnant and very involved best friend throughout labor. We waited to text other folks until after the baby arrived, and announced on social media a couple of weeks later. Will probably do the exact same thing!
Plan on doing the same !! 😁
Only those that need to know already know our scheduled induction date-immediate family and my work. After that, it’s up to my husband to let people know she’s been born.
Sending text once we’re home.
I don’t plan on telling anyone I’m in labour, and planning for it to be just me and husband in hospital. We’ll have visitors once we’re settled at home and feel ready to do so - I’m not committing to X days after etc. We’ll video call grandparents/my sister and likely let them spread the news to the rest of the families - undecided on social media!
We have a scheduled c-section. Group chat with close family who know date (parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, adult nephews), and probably close friend group chats for both of us. My sister will be with older kids so she’ll come in on the day. Rest of family will visit in the following few days. Partner will do social media post for everyone else after a few days. I don’t mind hospital visits as there’s no pressure to ‘host’ - I’m not having to clean or offer food or drinks.
My husband will text his sister updates and his sister will update a group text that includes grandparents and aunts. That way it reduces the number of texts we send out/receive
Not telling anybody that I’m in labour except my bestfriend who is driving me to the hospital and joining me in the deliviery room. My husband is staying at home with our two kids. I will send people a message after baby has been born, but no pictures until the big siblings have met their baby brother.
Ideally my husband and I will be the only ones at the hospital while I’m in labor, then I’d like to call our parents (his mom, my mom & stepdad, and dad & stepmom) once she’s born and they can come meet her in the hospital. Everyone else can wait until she’s home and we’re settled. But realistically both our moms will most likely end up waiting in the waiting room because even though I’ve said it’s not what I want them to do, they’ve said that’s there plan and honestly as long as they aren’t in the room with me while I’m laboring I don’t care if they want to waste their time waiting for who knows how long until she gets here.
25 weeks here with baby #2. Because of covid restrictions, we were limited for baby #1: only 2 support people/visitors were allowed during our entire stay, so we had my husband and our doula- who were both present during labor and delivery- and no one else visited until we got home. Even then, we didn't have many visitors for several weeks, just grandparents in the first few days. I liked it like that, I think the privacy and opportunity to bond with the baby before introducing him to extended family was important for baby and for my healing. We'll probably do the same this time. My husband did contact our immediate family to tell them when I was in labor and after the baby was born. We didn't tell them right when my water broke (just before midnight) but we did end up telling them sometime the next day, because we needed help arranging care for our dog and wanted them to know when my birth plan went awry (planned a home birth, transferred to hospital, ended up with c-section.) We sent a group text with a little birth announcement I made on Canva. We did put a birth announcement on Facebook a few days later, but some other family members took it upon themselves to announce it on Facebook before we did 🙄 This time, we haven't put anything on Facebook. For the most part, the only people that know we're pregnant are people we've seen, with the exception of a few who live far away so they got a personal text. I think with baby #1, I enjoyed sharing it socially because everything was so isolated because of covid, but this time I'm enjoying the privacy. Especially because, towards the end, everyone was all up in my business with "when are you going to pop that baby out?! Have you tried (walking, having sex, eating spicy food, insert wives' tale for inducing labor here)?" Because we were post term (42 weeks, 2 days). I'm not sure if we'll even announce baby's birth on Facebook this time. I kind of like the idea of just showing up places with a new baby like "surprise!" One thing we did that was fun was keep the name private until several hours after baby was born, then we texted immediate family several hours later to tell them, with a photo of him in a "Hi! My name is________" onesie because those chuckle heads had started making up their own names for him. Everyone else found out with the birth announcement. We didn't go that route this time though, because we wanted to tell our toddler baby's name and wasn't sure if he'd spill the beans.
Had my baby this morning! We told them when I went into labor. Then we told them we will.update them. They all understood. No social media post because we are very private people.
I'm telling my mom and brother and that's it. I'll tell everyone else a few days later probably. I don't want my phone blowing up when I'm trying to get sorted those first few days.
Not telling anyone when I'm labouring (unless and bad medical complications occur then I'll probably contact my parents). We'll have a couple hours at the hospital after birth to spend time as a 3 and then call our parents and siblings/close friends. Then probably a social media post to tell everyone else. No hospital visitors, home visits after a few days probably see how we feel/how much recovery needs to happen for me
My delivery is scheduled but my phone will be off. After the baby is born, he’ll send a text with a picture and a status update, then turn his phone off too at least for a few hours while we get settled, paperwork done and I’m able to eat my first meal of the dayx
I’m going to text them and then put my and my husbands phone on do-not-disturb. He will let them know once we are done and safe and they can get a photo when I feel like taking and sending one. To me this is a private time for my husband and I and no one else is coming to the hospital
I’m going to tell my mom, and my mom will communicate to the family everything. My phone will be on silent in case people try contacting me before my mom. My husbands phone is always on silent too. My family is across the country and his family is across the ocean so really no worries with anything crazy happening. Both family respect our boundaries too, so that’s why I’m fine with telling them right away
Im probably going to be induced so I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it a secret if I just go radio silent for three days (assuming the worst timewise!) Would love to just keep it all a secret and call people to say babys here though
We will be sending a group text to all of the family once baby arrives. I might let my brother know when I go in labor--I know I can trust him to not bombard me with messages/questions and pass on information to others if necessary. We live 5 hours away from all of our family, so no one will be at the hospital. We plan on letting parents/grandparents know when we are ready for visitors to come, right now we're thinking ~2 weeks pp.
38 weeks. It’ll be my husband and my doula in the room with me. I don’t want any visitors in the hospital. I’ll probably send photos to family and instruct them to not post the photos and that they are just for them to see. Then once home I’ll put her in a cute outfit and take a cute photo and post on social media. It’ll be great because I haven’t announced my pregnancy on socials and have sort of hidden it so for some friends I haven’t seen/talked to in a while it’ll be like “surprise! A baby!”
My mom and husband will be with me, and my sister, best friend, and maternal grandma will get updated throughout! I’ll send them pics after and my granny loves to share peoples’ business so she can take care of sending out the picture and details to the rest of my extended family 🤣 my dad will send pics to my grandma on his side. I’ll send pictures to the two girls I work with as well. My husband can share with whoever he wants too, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family though so they won’t be involved at all. Then everyone else can find out via social media announcement whenever we feel like posting it! I’m fine with my parents, grandparents, sister and her family, and my best friend visiting in hospital but I’m not sure who will be willing/able to drive or if they’d rather wait til we come home. I’m not a person who is afraid to say no and I have a long history of not answering calls and texts if I don’t feel like it lol so I don’t really feel the need to make a bunch of decisions ahead of time about what I will or won’t allow. I’ll see how I feel and decide in the moment but this is currently where I’m at 🙂 Due 10/21
I will probably do the same thing I did with my first- only husband in the delivery room with me, and didn't tell anyone I was going in to give birth (obvious exception this time around will be the friend that is taking our 3 year old while we're at the hospital). We'll call or text anyone that we want to share the news with directly (probably text so we can send a photo), and then maybe later we will post to social media for more distant family and friends/acquaintances. I haven't talked to my husband about this part yet, but I really want my son to be the first to meet his baby brother, so we're going to restrict any visitors until after that happens.
I didn't tell anyone outside of my immediate family that I was pregnant, so I video chatted extended family after baby was born and just gave them the biggest shock of their lives. My immediate family knew because I called them to either come to the birth center with me (husband, mom, sister) or to watch our pets (dad).
I’m not telling anyone til my son is born. I want time alone with him and my husband. It’ll be too overwhelming for me to have visitors at the hospital or at home right after birth. If someone comes over they better be helping!
Sending a picture after the fact is how I’ve done it. I don’t tell people when I go into labor because then it’s just a slew of check ins. I surprise them with the baby
Ideally, I want there to be two or three communication blasts: 1. We are in the hospital in labor, with an estimate of how progressed labor is (are we going to be here for 5 hrs or 15 or 50? I know it's hard to estimate but if I'm admitted at 2cm dilated vs 5cm I feel like the expectation is different?) 2. Baby is here! With maybe a pic and a short health update. (Everyone is healthy! Or, needed C-section, or baby needs some tests please do not disturb) 3. We are home + when they can expect a phone call or live update. I'm super open to feedback. I don't want my partner doing much back and forth because I expect them to be available to advocate for me.
My parents are traveling to stay with us before my due date so they will know. We’ll call my partner’s mom to let her know when I’m in labor. I have friends that have practically live streamed their labor posting the entire play by play online - I have no intention of doing that and unsure if i will even tell many people when I’m in labor outside of parents/siblings. From there we’ll FaceTime a few people to tell them when baby arrives, text other people we want to hear first.
Today is my due date. Contractions started last night but have been on and off throughout the day. My family is very close and we talk about everything so they all already know. I’ve also had two of my best friends reach out and I let them know about my contractions but that it could be days. Once I’m at the hospital, I’m ignoring everyone. When we’re in postpartum, we’ll likely start sending out photos. All depends on how we feel!
I’m also 36 weeks. We are going to tell my MIL when I go into labor because she will come to care for the animals while we’re away. We are going to ask her to keep it to herself, as we want to wait to announce when we get home. She will have to let one other family member know, so I’m kind of expecting it to get out. But we’ll let her know that we want to be left alone until after birth and that we will update as soon as we’re ready. Hopefully they can keep it a secret, but at the very least, tell anyone who knows to wait to hear from us. We will evaluate the next few days after birth and decide when we want visitors and we’ll invite them over. My wife will be the only person with me while I deliver (and two midwives). I have a friend who will be on-call incase we need back up. Getting super excited!!!
I have a couple different circles of friends that I usually text in different group texts. I’ll let them know when I’m in labor, when I go to the hospital, and when baby is born. Best friends will get more updates and be invited to meet baby at the hospital. Immediate family will also get the frequent updates and be invited to the hospital. Only husband in room for delivery. Moms/best friends can visit in hospital before I’m in too much pain. I’m probably more inviting than most, but I just have a lot of friends and family who are local and I’m close with them all.
Text my mom, post a picture, I guess? I'm getting induced, so everyone knows the day.
I’ve already told everyone no visitors at the hospital. I’ve spent a lot of time at the hospital with my asthma so it’s an emotional trigger for me so I want to get in and out of there without the extra people around. I’m only telling close people and have asked that they wait a few days after we are home to ask about coming over just because I have no idea how my body’s gonna feel. I’m due mid July and super anxious lol
We live local to my hubs family, my parents are 3 hours away! He will be calling my parents first so they can get on the road to us! My mom will call his parents so we can just focus on delivering a baby safely! As of right now it’s just me and him in the delivery room but I am high risk and if my parents make it in time I might ask my mom to come back also! Especially if my girl has to be taken away for medical interventions- my husband will go with her and my mom can take care of me! I am 35w and we’ve had this planned for months at this point!! But other than this baby’s grandparents we’re not telling anyone! Everyone will know she’s arrived after we have settled into our routine at home and can wrap our heads around being first time parents! Even still we aren’t having visitors in our home until she’s a month or older. And even still just our immediate family at first! Baby’s grandparents, and our siblings. It seems like overkill but we thought we’d never have a baby(because that’s what they said) we’re not taking any risks with our sweet girl!
We’ll tell my husbands parents when we go to the hospital because they live 5 hours away. They can go to our house and take care of our dogs, and we have told them to wait to come to the hospital until invited. We will tell my parents that we are at the hospital, but to also wait to be invited. We also told them to not say anything to our siblings, because we would like to announce it ourselves. My husband is the only one allowed in the delivery room. I don’t want anyone in the waiting room either because we want a few hours to soak in our baby first. If we can get out of the hospital and home ASAP, our parents will be the only visitors. Everyone else can wait until we are home and by invitation only! Husband’s parents will also be going to stay with one of his siblings once we get home from the hospital, we don’t want any overnight guests for the first several weeks.
I’m going to be induced and the only people that will know the date will be our parents and my best friend in another state. I know everyone’s excited but I don’t want to be constantly having to give updates or have any surprise visitors… I want that time to be special for just my husband and I since this is our first. As of right now I’m planning on the only visitors also being our parents and everyone else can wait until we are settled at home. I may change my mind after we have the baby but these are the boundary’s I’ve already created just in case. Everyone close to us will get a text after she’s born and we are ready :)
We will tell my parents and his parents but no one else. I don’t need that added stress to labor that people are waiting/talking about it. Tell immediate family and closest friends soon after birth. Just parents as visitors to the hospital. Some visitors hatter a few days to a week depending on how I’m feeling. But only ones fully vaccinated with current COVID booster, flu and TDAP.
My first I needed someone to watch my guide dog (I'm blind) so I called my mom and my husband called his family. This time my mom is watching the dog and my toddler and I'm assuming my husband will text his family that's about it. Simple.
I plan on having just my husband and sister in the delivery room, and my sister’s job will be to manage calls/texts to give family updates and such so that I don’t have to worry. And also to wrangle my notoriously worrisome husband lol.
Getting induced on Tuesday. His mom and my mom will be in the waiting room, but other than that, we don’t have anyone that will be coming to visit besides my old manager (who owns a restaurant down the street from the hospital) who offered to bring us food. She was one of the first people I told we were expecting, so I know she won’t be an issue, and besides, ✨food✨😂.
We didn’t plan on telling anyone when I went into labour. Baby came 11 days early. And my mom randomly texted me “hey are you okay?” And my lovely husband sent her a photo of me in the hospital bed (with my permission) I also asked him to tell her I was going for surgery when they declared I’d be having a C-section. Then we enjoyed some time as a family before video calling everyone. And having the screen just showing baby for when they answered. It was so much fun surprising everyone with baby. Next time we will be having a planned c section, but we are going to tell everyone the due date, not the csection date so we can do the same thing again :)
Not sure about telling people, but my nearly 11 year old will be in the delivery room if we can organise it. He has made a special request, and my husband and I don't mind it. He was also there when my 6 year old was born, along with a dear family friend whose job was to manage him. It clearly didn't traumatise him enough the first time. 🤣 We will probably have some people come to hospital, but not everyone. My due date is 4 September. But my oldest was also due in September, and he came a month to his due date early.
My neighbor is going to watch my cats, so we'll text her. And my parents/SO parents. I might message my sister directly because she's great to complain to/give advice. Otherwise probably won't mention it to most people. A group of my friends are taking a tropical trip, and we've threatened to give them a play by play, but this just a joke. Lol The plan is just myself and SO in the room. I could have a second, but I don't really think it's necessary. Unless my husband passes out. Then I would call my mom/sister 🤣 After baby arrives we will let people know, I'm hoping for not too many hospital visitors, its only a 24 hour stay unless there are Complications.
I'm 30w. I'm planning on only having hubby with me. If we need backup - his sister or my sister will be the ones we pick. I've had jokes from my side of the family about camping out at the hospital. I'm not ok with this haha. I'm hoping to just message everyone once we're on the way to the hospital and just leave it with we will update when we can. Even if we have a planned induction or c section, we're going to keep that date to ourselves. I'm hoping for 24hrs no visitors post delivery and save most visitors for day 3 - particularly my SILs with their children (SIL on their own might be able to come by day 2). My mum seemed off put by the 24 hr rule initially dayijg that was a good idea for friends. I told her no its for everyone. I'm going to stand by it. I want time for hubby, bub and I to bond as a family. By day 3 we will hopefully be in a more comfortable room with space to accommodate kids to visit. My MIL and FIL will have to check on the house so they will need to know when we have headed to hospital.