When I got pregnant with my first child, naive little me thought it'd be a great idea to have my mother, my sister, my MIL–and my hubby, of course–in the room while I labored and delivered my baby. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. But then again, they didn't get to experience much action since after a couple of hours of pushing with no progress, I ended up having a C-section.
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When my son was born three years later, things were completely different. My husband and the medical staff were the only ones in the delivery room. And it wasn't necessarily because I had wanted it like that–my sister was traveling, my mom was taking care of my daughter and my MIL was back in Puerto Rico. But after going through it alone, I don't regret it one bit.
This is especially true after hearing some of the horror stories of some poor moms who had to deal with pushy or critical MILs or their own oblivious moms who were more interested in getting the glorious event on film than with helping out. (By the way, some husbands have been known to do that too!) I would've killed my mom if she had done that, and I would've had no problems kicking my MIL out if she had dared say something critical!
You, of course, might have a hard time convincing people not to come to the hospital until after the birth if you belong to a typical Latino family. Even though not everyone was in the room with me the first time around, it did feel like everyone and their mother was waiting outside. From my 92-year-old grandmother who'd flown in from Lima, Peru, to my brother-in law and everyone in between, it seems like no one wanted to miss out.
And while I couldn't see them, I could definitely hear them! I'm sure it was an eye-opening experience for the very non-Latino medical staff at the hospital.
In the end, my advice is that you're probably better off going through this life-changing experience with just your husband (and your doula, if you have one). Everyone else should stay away!
Image vIa Scott Hurst/flickr
