Megie- Not selfish or rude at all. It is a really important time for you and your family.

We didn't tell friends about DD's birth until the next day so we could have some rest and bonding time. We told my family that day but asked them not to come in until the next day as we were all exhausted. Fortunately my IL's live a plane flight away so they weren't there for a day or two. They did however outstay their welcome once they were there. I didn't feel comfortable asking them to leave so i had a word to DH and he did. He just said something along the lines of "A is really tired, lets go and let them have a rest" Always better coming from their son than their DIL.

Another excellent thing at the hossy i went to was, that they would never have let 11 people into my room at 9pm. Having a word to the nurses can also be good, because then they become the baddies not you. If the nurses knew i was tired and people were hanging around, they would pop in and say, "ok, rest time, time for visitors to go." It was great.

It's all about you and your family, not the visitors, i think it is entirely reasonable to restrict visitors.