Day 30...No touchy!

An interesting topic came up today: what do you do when your family plays hot-potato with your new born baby? I read a forum where a new mom was feeling uncomfortable with her family instantly taking her baby away from her at family gatherings and passing her newborn around. Not only does this put the baby at great risk for germs and illness, but the parents don't get a chance to be with their own baby. I know that, personally, if I have a newborn baby I'm going to want to hold tight to them to make sure they are safe and protected. It won't be easy for me to watch my baby being passed around from person to person, or just not having them close during special family gatherings. I'd want to experience it WITH my baby, not having them in the arms of someone else. The tricky thing is, the timing we have planned for Pickle's birth puts the due date just in time for the holidays. This means family everywhere wanting to hold newborn Pickle! I don't want Pickle to get sick right away from all the many family members passing the poor kid around! And I certainly don't want to spend the holiday separated from my baby. But I'm afraid the family may act like, since I'll be with the baby 24/7 I can afford to give them up for an evening. However, that's not how I'll feel at all! I won't want to seem selfish, and I know the grandparents need time to be with their grand kid, but it will all call for a lot of boundary setting that I can't say I'm too excited for. It'll be tricky to say the least.

So I guess I'll have to look up some good tips on setting those boundaries. It's certainly something to consider. Also...what do you do if there is a particular person that you don't want holding your baby at all? My husband has an Aunt that he would much rather not have be a part of Pickle's life (she's not the healthiest of people, not to mention RUDE AND ANNOYING!). But she's always there at the family gatherings. So we will need to find a way to justify why others may hold the baby but she can't. Hmmm....this is REALLY going to be tricky!

Ensign Pickle....red alert!....Shields up!