If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Did you stay home for the holiday? or did you take DC to family's house?

I'm scheduled for a c-section on the 20th... so I should be home by the 23rd. I'm wondering if its realistic to go to my mom's house (next town over) with about 15-20 relatives there.

Is it enough to keep the baby isolated (sleeping in car seat) as long as I'm feeling up to it?

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I had my son on the 18th and ended up being in the hospital for 4 nights (went home 5th day).

I definitely would not have felt up to going out AT ALL. Christmas was 1 week after and I was still VERY emotional (crying at the drop of a hat!) and still bleeding and in pain from the c-section (but I had a very hard recovery due to crash c-section under general anesthesia and edema under the incision)

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I definitely wasn't up for it and I didn't even have a csection. My mom was here and we had family visit, but for Christmas we just stayed home.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

My son was born on 12/9 via c-section and I went to my parents house on Christmas Eve and Day. They kept the guest lists limited last year so the baby didn't have to be around so many people. If you are feeling up to it, I'd go and just stay in your own little area and limit who can hold the baby.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I had DS on 12/21 and was home on 12/23. I didn't feel up for.going anywhere so we had a quiet day at home. I did ride with my dad to get Chinese food and to cvs but that was it.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Im definitely not the norm but I came home from the hospital on xmas eve and that night we took ds to my IL's ..we stayed away from most people for the majority of the time but we were there

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Dd was born 12/9. I had a c section. We did not go to my moms like we normally do on xmas eve because its like 30-40 people and loud and crazy. Christmas day we had my parents, inlaws and siblings over. See how you feel and play it by ear

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I had DD on dec 14th(she's 4 now). My dr said absolutely no way on going to an event with a baby that new during flu season. Not worth the chance. I was upset but did what he said.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I had DS on the 12th via c-section. I just took care of him while others cooked Christmas Eve dinner at my house. We went to my FIL's house for Christmas day (45-60 minutes away). It was tough to get out of the house, but once we did, it was ok. He was pretty much in my arms so I didn't really worry about it being cold and flu season. If anyone held him, they washed their hands.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Honestly, 4 days after my c-section I was still in rough shape. Getting up and down was still pretty tricky at that point.

There's also the very real possibility that you will stay in the hospital for 4 nights - I didn't plan on it since I had DD at home, but the OB on-call and the nurses thought I needed another day/night since I was still taking the pain meds pretty regularly.

I would totally play it by ear and see how you feel and what your ped says.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I definitely would not have been ready to go out of the house for a holiday thing that soon after I gave birth.

But if you are up to it, I would think it would be fine as long as you weren't passing the baby around to everyone. Just make everyone wash their hands if they do hold your DC!!!

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I dont think its realistic if you come home on the 23rd. I honestly think you are going to be exhausted and just trying to get the hang of things. And you will very likely be in until the 24th.

Your boobs will be leaking and you will be bleeding alot, and you will feel like someone who just had surgery (CRAPPY). Just want to prepare you that I can almost guarantee that going out the day after you come home is not realistic at all IMO.

And personally I would never take a newborn around 15-20 people in a holiday setting with whooping cough going around and flu season, but thats another story.

Message edited 12/16/2011 8:09:42 AM.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Had my on 12/23 & went home

the next day 12/24. Stopped by my Mom's

house on way for a quick visit and went

home. It was the best Christmas Ever!

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I agree with playing it by ear...see how you feel...if you want to go than go...newborns, especially when they are only a couple days old, sleep A LOT, so if you do go out, most likely your newborn will be sleeping most of the time...do whatever you feel like doing!! good luck!

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

I wasn't up for interacting with people. DH's friends came over to visit the night we got home, and I ended up in the nursery crying due to hormones and they were annoying the crap out of me. My parents I was fine with, but everyone else I felt like I had to put on a happy face, and I was happy, but emotional and exhausted.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Not a Christmas baby but we had a bris for our DS 9 days after he was born. There was 20 family and friends there. It was fine.

I felt great ,but I know some women recover different. I would play it by ear only for that reason.

Re: If you had your DC the week or 2 before xmas....

Thanks for the input.
I'm more concerned about the newborn... but I figured she'll be sleeping in the car seat in a corner or something.

DS is almost 15 months old... so I would like him to be able to see the family too.

I'm going to play it by ear and hope we can make an appearance if not be there for a few hours.

Hopefully I'll have the same recovery if not better than my emergency c-section last september.