How soon after giving birth did you tell family/friends?

[LysnDan]

DD was born by emergency c sec 3 months early so no one had the slightest inkling she would be here. My Mum was with me and so was my mil (they got to see her properly before I even did)

Then I rang hubby as he was away and told him she was small but going well.

I posted a picture the following day to my fb and got so many calls asking if they could come up and see me and her but she was in nicu and I was in icu. So no one really came to visit us apart from close family.

When I brought dd home 3.5 months later everyone raced over without letting us settle in properly and bond.

[Eenee]

Can't remember lol I think with DD we rang patents after first hour then as she was born at 0330am we didn't tell others until proper day time. Did not get any visitors for first two days and then after that only a few people.

With DS mum was at his birth so after hour and more settled we rang other parents etc. sent text messages to others a few hours after. Didn't really get any visitors with DS in first few weeks do for this Bub I'm guessing no visitors lol
Not sure whether it's because I had homebirths or if just due to lack of friends.

[Floweryfields]

I would probably ring parents at whatever time it was after bub was born, but not friends at 2am.

[human bean]

DD was born about 10.30pm but it was about midnight when we got our room after a feed and snuggles etc I rang my mom and dad separately - 2hr time diff - but both were so excited and wanted to be called no matter what time of the day or night. 3rd grandchild for them.
DH was ecstatic and called his parents (same time zone as us) - first grandchild for them - his Dad was ticked off and made a comment 'now you've woken your mother too - we will call and find out more in the morning' DH was shattered, I felt so incredibly sad for him. He said he will never call in the middle of the night if we ever have another child.

Texted 2 friends and my brother and sister too, then everyone else in the morning.

[Floweryfields]

HB that is horrible - your DH's dad sounds like a ****!

[Mother Goose]

Dd1 we let people know after we were all reunited in my room. Everyone is interstate so no chance of visitors messages were sent about 9pm and emails sent the following day.

With DD2 DH rang dad as soon as we were back in our room which was roughly 30an hour after she was born. Dd was born at 8pm. We had warned everyone we wouldn't tell them until DD1 had met her new sibling. So dad brought her straight in and then when bub was taken to be weighed, I rang grandparents and DH rang his parents. I didn't tell friends until the next day because it was almost 11pm. In hindsight I should have text my close friend here to let her know because she had know I was going in an how scared I was and consequently she didn't get much sleep due to fearing something had gone wrong. But I sent her a message at around 730am and sent messages to everyone else after that.

[~Hestia~]

Our first was born at 5pm, our parents were called soon after and I think everyone else got a text some point that evening. We did have visitors in the birthing suite but I was all ready by then.

Our second was born not long after midnight. DH texted my sister and mum 'Moo has a brother' as the last they heard I was going in for some monitoring and didn't come back! They were very surprised! Everyone else was texted late morning. I'm not sure what he did with his parents, will have to ask him. By the time we sent the text we were heading home so no visitors, though I was pretty clear with people through the pregnancy I wouldn't want visitors for a good few days.

[Sunny Love]

With DD I was bombarded by people, so much so my MIL walked into birth suite, pushing past the middies to grab my newborn baby! Of course she was being nice and smiling like her usual crazy self so people felt awkward stopping her I guess? Worst part was I was being stitched up, and she got herself a big look!
A year later, with DS, I was adamant it weren't going to happen again! They rang on the morning he was born to see if I was ok, because they knew my mum was watching DD overnight all of a sudden, and DP confessed that DS had been born 2 hours earlier than the phone call. Within 20minutes I had a family load of people surrounding me. I self discharged 6 hours after DS was born, and only my mum knew, because she was watching DD again. It all sounds so sneaky, but it was really necessary. DP's MIL just does what she wants, and people just follow instead of saying otherwise
Wish me luck for this one

[Duchess]

DD1 was before Facebook! Lol so we told both parents when we were in labour then my parents live further so I said after 14 hours don't know what's happening but they came in just in case, ended up just on time to wish us well on our way to emergency c-section. Then they came into recovery
Hubby parents came first thing in the morning and we also sent SMS in the morning. I had five solid days of visitors and my naive new mum side of me ignored rest time.

DD2 was a planned c-section then I was knocked out and my gallbladder was removed.
My mum was looking after DD1 and the rule was that DD1 got the news first then parents and patiently waiting good friends
Then to make sure no one Facebooked my news I put photo and stats up of my girl about 7 hours later (I was in surgery knocked out for about 4) I sent everyone out at rest time that time.

This time again DD1 gets the news first followed by immediate family then I Facebook for everyone else.

[Teeki]

DD was born at 5:45 pm. I think it was about 7:30 when DH called both sets of parents. When we'd all recovered I called by brother and DH his sister. We put a pic and stats on fb for everyone else, I reckon that was around 9pm.

We didn't have to worry about visitors as my family are 2 hours away and in laws 3 hours. People started trickling in late morning, and everyone was very respectful of us and each other and made sure there weren't too many people there at once.

This time I guess my parents will be looking after DD at our place, as much as I don't want anyone to have to stay with her too long. We'll be leaving it as late as possible so hopefully she won't be without us long, and we'll get her brought right in, depending on the time. Everyone else will have to wait until we've spent time as a family, when we're ready.

[Mildez]

With DD1 people knew straight away pretty much as I had been in labour ward for 1day before she was born so there was no hiding what was going on. With DD2 my family didnt know until she was about 10mins old (11am) but DH family knew as he told them my waters broke and as they were 300kms away and it was a friday they decided to take the day of and come down to visit as it was there first grandchild. I didn't know until 5mins after DD2 was born that they were actually at the hospital in the foyer waiting and wanted to come in straight away. Unfortunately I hardly knew them and was pretty young and not very confident and when DH let them come in they didn't have the sense to leave despite the fact I was starkers under a blood covered sheet. I expected them just to poke there head in the door and leave straight away but they didn't. So with DD3 we didn't tell anyone that we were having the baby and it was so lovely to have her all to ourselves and really meet her and enjoy her without other people around. I'll definately be doing that next time. My parents had my other 2kids and as I had PROM they knew I was been admited for antibiotics and been induced the next day. Once we arrived I was febrile and DD heart rate was really high so they spead it along straight away so it was only a few hours later that she was born. It worked out really well and next time I have a baby DD1 is probably old enough to care for her younger siblings for several hours if needed so hopefully no need to tell people until after the baby is born.

[Amy_jellybean]

Quinn was born at 5.50pm via c section after a 10 hour labour. My hospital does recovery in the room so as soon as I was wheeled back up, DH rang my parents, inlaws and both our siblings. We then sent out a text and posted on fb at about 8pm.