i was in the waiting room when SIL had her first bubba - at my brother's request! i got to play birth bouncer - his best friend and our mum were there, and he needed someone with a level head to stop them killing each other!

we've already said that no one will know when we have our kidlet til after it happens. i'm not even pg yet, but my mum made the mistake of DEMANDING to be told i was in labour, and that we couldn't say we didn't have time seeing we have a 30k trip to the hospital - straight past her house. hmmmmm. not a smart thing for her to say to me - or DH! we're both stubborn red heads, so she's gotten us both offside. we don't have a great relationship anyway, so don't know what she thought she was gonna achieve!

my SIL may get a phone call - will very much depend on how DH and I feel about photo's and stuff. she's awesome with a camera, so we might call her to take piccies during and soon after the birth. we've already said we're going to have a Doula, so we may leave it up to her... who knows

whatever decision you make, make it VERY clear to not only the "visitors" you might have, but to DH as well - no point you saying "ok, we need this time" and him not going along with it!

start screening calls early, and deliberately "miss" calls from family that you think would "assume" you're in labour if you don't answer a call. we do this already as our home phone is a fax as well, so answering machine and screening are our friend!

if all else fails, just don't tell anyone you've given birth til you're home and ready for visitors!!

good luck

BG