Thursday, January 21, 2010

We know you are excited to see the baby.

A good friend of mine just had her baby this past Monday and a recent texting conversation with her has reminded me of something that I wanted to pass along.

Unless you are an immediate family member or extremely close friend...don't ambush the hospital to see the baby right after it has been born. We know you are excited, but the parents and the baby have just been through something major. The Mother has either had surgery or pushed a basketball though her smallest area. Either way, it takes a major toll on her body and she is exhausted. Not only that, she now has an infant to figure out how to take care of and learn to breastfeed if she chooses to do so. These are not easy things.

So...when you come busting up in there with the absolute best of intentions, she has to force herself to be polite. It is a mixture of emotions for her. She WANTS you to meet her new baby and she WANTS to see you because she loves you, but she is completely exhausted, emotionally overwhelmed, terrified about her future and overloaded with hormones. This is a strange combination that she has to figure out how to balance out.

So please. Send her a card. Call her or send her a text message. But don't try to visit the hospital right away. Let the new parents get the baby home into their comfortable and semi-normal environment where they are better equipped to entertain guests.

Just thought I would pass that along, because most likely, they would never tell you that because they don't want to hurt your feelings.

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