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

As the title says, how soon was it before you shared your news?

My bro and sil had a baby at 11.30 last night, and called people at 2.30am. If that were me I either would have called immediately or the next morning, not in the early hours of the morning when people would have been super fast asleep. With ds he was born at 1pm, dh called his mum and my parents about an hour later but they were both with lots of people so I ended up with a thousand people in the birthing room almost immediately. I hated it and it was so opposite to what we wanted. This time I don't want to tell anyone until I'm ready but Dh thinks I'm a bit of a grinch given that I also don't tell a soul when I go into labour.

We rang my mum as soon as the kids were born and she told people, I have no idea how soon after people were notified.

DS1 was born at 2130, my mum was at hospital with us so knew as soon as DH came out of theatre with DS1 and MW. She then rang my dad and brothers, DH rang his parents and I rang my best friend. I then didn't send SMS's out until 0630 and was later than that for DH as he was sleeping at home!!

DS2 was born at 0850 DH rang my mum who had DS1 at home and mum rang dad and my brothers, DH rang his parents and then we sent out SMS's around 1230 and posted to facebook, much to my disgust my SIL had allready posted on FB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DD was born 8 pm ish and we rang the 2 sets of grandparents within an hour. We
said they could let our siblings know if they wanted. Everyone else waited till next day.
DS was born 1am and again we called 2 sets of grandparents soon after. I was 41 weeks pregnant and had a traumatic first birth and was having a homebirth, which my mum was anxious about. So we wanted to let them know everything had gone ok. Friends waited till next morning.
First time, I knew visitor hours were closed so I had till the morning before anyone could come in.

We live an hour from both our folks, and knew they wouldn't visit in middle of the night, so again we had few hours for just us before any visitors.
I also don't tell anyone when labour starts, and if I thought people would just arrive before I was ready, I wouldn't tell them baby was born until I was ready for visitors.
With DD, my mum visited early day 2 and MIL visited that night. We asked most others not to visit, and we would catch up at home. I was unwell, and no one questioned it (to us anyway). If they had, probably more reason for them not to visit cos they probably wouldn't understand when mum or baby getting tired and needing visitors to leave.
You do what you have to do, I hope your partner comes to understand that, and support you in your decision.

For our first, DH called both our parents as soon as I was in recovery. His family live in QLD so no chance of them visiting but mine live locally so popped in not long after I was back in my room.

For number two, she was born about 2am and my DH went home about 6am so mum knew then. My sister txt me early morning to find out what was going on as my waters had broken and she kn ew bubs would be born within 24-48 hrs. I called my Dad about 9am and DH spoke to his Dad but don't know what time. A generic txt was sent to other family and close friends later in the day.

All of mine have been born at reasonable times (3pm, 10am, 6pm and midday) so we tend to call our parents straight away and let them tell the extended family. We then text friends.

If the next one comes in the middle of the night we wont tell anyone until at least 7am. I'm pretty polite and believe in letting people sleep - but maybe that's because I've not had a full nights sleep in over 6 years and I really respect sleep LOL

My first was born in the middle of the night and we called both sets of grandparents but that was it till the morning. She was the first grandchild on both sides so very special!!

Both of mine were born around 5.45-6pm so we called people within an hour. We only called my parents and dp's parents and siblings, everyone else got a text that I sent out just after we'd spoken to people on the phone. Actually, with ds I didn't text ppl till the next day because we.hadn't settled On a middle name!

if they'd been born in the middle of the night we pron would have.called immediate family (well, parents) but def wouldn't have texted till the morning. I'm lucky that my phone is usually at the other end of the house - I've woken up to a few text message announcing births :)

I call a few hours after the birth when all the bits and pieces are finished and I feel ready to talk to people. The first two were born near midnight and our family have given us the go ahead to call anytime day or night so I rang them around 2 or 3am. THe last one was born about 9am and we started calling people around lunchtime after everything was settled down. We only call family and text friends, or have a phone tree where we call one friend and they go on to call others.

I think it's totally up to the people having the baby when they call, I know it can be an anxious wait if people know you are in labour (we don't let people know we are in labour) I don't think there is a wrong or right time to call, things happen that take time after a baby and staying present there is really important. I guess having a conversation before the baby arrives asking family are they happy for the call day or night is probably best. But in the end, it's all up to the birthing parents who they call and when after their big event.

With DS1 he was born at 5am so I waited until after 6am to ring my family, with my DDs everyone was there, DD4 Dh rang everyone 30 minutes after and with DS2 it was about an hour after.

A friend of mine just had her second, around midday. I didn't get the text til 11.30am the next day. I thought that was odd - almost 24 hours! I'm going to ask her why she waited that long... And yes, I'm confident that I'm an A-list friend ;)

All of mine were born before 10am -two at 5ish and one 9.30. We called immediate family straight away then waited a few hours to let friends know.

Funniest for my mum was DS2, she was at our house with the older two, had arrived around 4am and we left 4.30am, arrived hospital 4.45am, DS2 was born 5.20am. I rang her and I think she was expecting DH, saying "we're here, all good, keep you posted" and instead she got me going "shh, listen" and she heard the little newborn mewling and was like "is that a baby?" And then she started crying :lol:

I messaged my mum at 12pm saying it would be awhile yet and then at 1.15pm messaged saying she's here! After DD rocked into the world at 12.57pm! Mum got such a shock she jumped in the car and zoomed to the hospital and left dad behind!!! DH called his parents at the same time. I did the friend group text at about 4pm :)

DD was born at about 2pm, we told people about 3 hours later.....HUGE mistake :shakehead: we had a constant stream of people for the next 3 days. People turned up before I was even showered or out of the birth suite. Hun, I dont want to tell anyone for a few days this time!

With DD1, born at 4:36pm, my dad and Aunty had just been to visit me while I was labouring, went for a coffee and came back to knews that DD1 had arrived so they knew straight away. DH called his parents and sister straight away pretty much and I messaged everyone else and I added in the message what time visiting hours started in the morning so they knew they could come then. So we had my dad, Aunty, PIL, SIL, and one of my closest friends come straight away but I was happy with that. My mum lives 10 hours away so we rang her on the way to labour knowing it would be another day before she arrived.
DD2, born at 2.30am we did not tell anyone until early morning, around 7am I think. Both very different but I enjoyed both ways very much.

DD was born at 840 am by scheduled CS at 38 weeks. We'd deliberately not told anyone when it was happening so we had less risk of visitors on the day. DH didn't start telling family until after 2 and then sent out an announcement email about 4.30. He couldn't wait any longer and put it on FB about 6.

DS was born at 11.30pm and we didn't call family till first thing the next day. It took hours to get all stitched and sorted and by then we had been at the hospital for almost 45 hours and just wanted a sleep. We texted our friends around mid morning. Thank goodness visiting hours for family and friends was not until 3pm in the arvo so we had a nice chill out with just DS, dh and I for the first morning.

Dd1 was born at 9.20 pm so we rang grandparents that night, about 11.30pm once I was out of recovery etc and then waited until the next day for everyone else.

Dd2 was born about 3 pm but nobody got told until dd1 was brought into hospital with the grandmothers and had been introduced. Dp wouldn't even tell the grandmothers what the baby was until dd1 had met her. They still get huffy about him making them wait :lol: but we wanted dd1 to be the first to know!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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? :dunno: 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 :duh:
Wish me luck for this one :rolleyes:

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.

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.

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.

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.