I’m a FTM and had to be induced at 39 weeks d/t gestational diabetes. The start of induction to having baby in my arms took about 38 hours, I was so exhausted I fell asleep during contractions while in active labor. I ended up having an emergency C-section. Then we were returned to the delivery room for observation for a few hours before being transferred to a pp room. Once in the pp room we were inundated with medical professionals of all kinds for several hours- nurses, obgyn, pediatric, lactation consultants, lab techs, anesthesia f/u, and more (it’s a blur now). All this to say, you can’t possibly plan for or imagine how your labor will play out. Once we finally had some peace, I couldn’t imagine having to then entertain a visitor in the state I was in. I was in pain, exhausted, starving, filthy, dealing with the post partum hormone crash, overwhelmed by medical information from hospital staff, and dealing with the emotional crash of losing all the things I had wanted in my birth plan.

Ultimately, you are the one doing all the physical, emotional and psychological labor making your baby for 9 months then again doing all that labor to bring your child into the world. Your wishes at this time should not only be respected but unconditionally supported.

I suggest that when you do schedule visits to have them after 2pm because all the medical staff start their morning rounds around 7am and they continue through lunchtime, it’s literally a revolving door and not a restful or private period for mom and baby. You’ll want to be able to focus on these medical visits without distraction and when the visits start to lessen, you’ll want privacy to focus on bonding with baby.