A new baby gets shown so much love, and probably the most common way for people to show that love is through a baby shower. When expecting our first baby we got showered with lots of love—and lots of gifts. We had two showers before our little one arrived, both just a week before he was born (since he came 3 weeks early). The last couple of months before birth, I was incredibly stressed about getting everything we needed for the baby, but we didn’t want to go buy stuff because we were knew we would receive many of those needed items at our showers. While we were very thankful for our showers and the wonderful gifts, I just think about how anxiety-inducing it was waiting until the last minute to get the things this nesting mama was so sure we needed. Thankfully, we got almost everything we needed before he was born, and we got more necessities than fun stuff because everyone knew that’s what was important to us. However, we had nowhere for baby to sleep our first night home because we ordered his pack n play with a gift card from one of the showers and it hadn’t been delivered yet. Talk about a crazy month! Our situation makes me consider throwing showers a couple of months before mama’s due date instead of just a couple weeks when it’s my turn to host one!
IF I were to host it before the baby arrives.
Wait, what? Why wouldn’t I throw a shower before a baby arrives?
Because…when my family throws baby showers, it’s always after the baby is born. I, personally, really liked this option because it allowed for people to meet the baby. It was especially great for us because we live five hours away from family, so it meant that our post-baby baby shower was the first time a lot of people got to meet our sweet new bundle of joy. It also meant all of the attention wasn’t on me; and, as a total introvert, that was great. People were ooh-ing and ah-ing over the baby so I didn’t have to be “on” the whole time. I actually walked in late because I had to pump, and I don’t think anyone even noticed. Another bonus to having a baby shower after baby was here was the fact that I didn’t have to travel those five long hours while pregnant and be miserably uncomfortable.
There are great advantages to having baby showers before AND after baby arrives. Although it seems to be the norm these days to have them beforehand, throwing a shower after baby is born might just be something to consider as well.
