Each to their own, you have to do what you feel comfortable with. Your baby, your decision.

However, I was dying for people to come and visit us in hossy. I wanted to show off my baby! And in hossy you don't have to entertain people, you know when they're coming (to a certain extent) and they can't hang around for hours. Also, if you really don't want to see anyone on a particular day you can tell the midwives to get rid of people for you.

As Emma said, the first couple of days you are on a massive high, you couldn't care less who sees you. Although it's still great when you go home, life becomes a little more frantic. My advice to you when you do go home is to make up a sign for the door. When you need to sleep during the day the last thing you need is someone knocking on your door! Write on the sign something like mum and bub are sleeping, please come back later. It worked for us, we had a number of people who came back later and told us they'd been around earlier. In fact a few of our friends said they wished they'd thought of doing it!

As for people waiting for you while you're in labour, that's just WRONG! If you're really worried about it, simply don't tell them until the baby has been born. We told our parents only, but we knew they wouldn't come in to the hospital until we said it was okay.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and enjoy your baby