Day 16: Learn to Say No

Well, we are halfway through the 31 day series, and I am still alive! I’m having a lot of fun writing out this series and I am considering printing all these little blurbs out into an actual book that I can tuck away with my maternity clothes. That way when preggo brain hits I  can just reference my book instead of trying to recall all of this fun stuff in the recesses of my brain. :)

Today’s topic is a simple one, but one that is oh-so-hard for me to implement. Learn to say “no.” I’m not talking about discipline, although it is important to say no to your child. I’m talking about saying no to others when they ask you to do something in those first few weeks of baby boot camp. Every baby (and birth, for that matter) is different, and your recovery and bonding with the baby will be different every time. You may feel up to meeting your sisters at the mall for some shopping four days after the babe is born, and you may not. Don’t feel guilty about saying no.

Say no to visitors if you are not up to them. We really wanted our first night in the hospital to just be the three of us, and we prepped everyone ahead of time that we wouldn’t want to see anyone until the day after. There were some complaints, but in the end the doctors actually backed us up and made visitors off limits because of the rough birth that Javi had. So that worked out well!

In those first couple of weeks our schedule was really flexible. Looking back, I wish I had kept it even more flexible. There is just so much that changes from day to day, and there were several things I should have said no to. Recruit your husband to your “no” team, and ask him to field calls if you don’t feel up to turning people down. This doesn’t mean that you stop asking for help, but it does mean that you can tell your older kids that they won’t be attending Girl Scouts for a couple of weeks. Resist the urge to add anything to your schedule in the beginning unless you absolutely know it will be worth it.

If you’re bad at saying no like I am, practice saying no to yourself so that you get used to hearing yourself saying it! :)

 

Check out the other fifteen days in my series, 31 Days of New Baby Advice!