Staging a Lay-In

Currently Craving: candy corn (i know, i'll make myself sick on it and it probably isn't the best labor food, but it's so good)

i've been listening closely to the women around me who have babies. it sounds like a lot of people start to do a lot right away after the baby is born. and people try to entertain guests in the hospital or in their homes right away while they are exhausted and just getting to know the baby etc. but by the time baby number 3 comes around they are like "NO WAY" and they pretty much just say now is the time for me to rest and i'll talk to you later.

so i've decided not to bother with trying to entertain and i'm going to skip right away to the baby #3 mentality of Rest Rest Rest after the birth. so my plan is to Lay-In. (i've also heard of this called a babymoon). essentially, my bedroom will be my sanctuary and nobody is invited in except max because he sleeps there too. that way, Babe and i can have some serious quiet time without worrying about being interrupted. i'll unplug the clock and just sleep and eat and be with Babe.

i'm really lucky in this case that my mom has agreed to be our post-partum doula and supreme ultimate helper for the first week. so she can be here to help protect my privacy if i need it protected. and i don't have to worry that the house is going to fall apart or anything without me running around to keep it together. (max is darn capable too though) and then if people come to visit they can hang out downstairs with max and my mom and if i feel good i'll come down. if i don't i won't and they'll have to come back and see me another time. i think one week out of my life to just rest, be taken care of, and sort things out isn't too much time AT ALL. of course i'm fooling myself thinking that people want to see ME anyway. i know they'll want to see babe and i guess we'll just have to judge at that time if she's available to come down for visitors or not.

some people might wonder if i'll go stir crazy. maybe by the end of the week, but somehow i doubt it. i am good at being a homebody and of course i CAN come out of my bedroom if i want to. but i can probably spend a whole day in bed no problem. especially after talking it over with max and he said we can bring in his laptop. i can blog, facebook, and watch movies right from the bed. that and lots of magazines and mainly SLEEP and watching Babe will keep me occupied i'm sure. i only plan to leave the house to take babe to the pediatrician in a day or so and THAT's IT. i'm kind of looking forward to it.

if you think about it... a babymoon, lay-in makes sense to help the couple make the transition into parenthood. it's like when you first get married. nobody expects to visit the newly married couple within the first few days of their wedding... why? because they've gone off together to just be alone and together on their honeymoon. when we went away i remember feeling so relieved and happy. it was so fabulous to just reconnect to each other after all the crazy planning and then the fullness of the wedding weekend. i'd love to have that same feeling while babe is new to us. all the planning, all the stress and running around will be over and we can hopefully just enjoy some quiet downtime getting to know her. i feel pretty lucky that i'll be in my own house because it may be easier to set the rules than in the hospital where visitors seem to be abundant.

so that's my plan. a week of lay-in. after that, while i'd probably like to stay in bed forever, all bets are off and more visitors are more than welcome. we'll see how it goes.