I'm sure every one of you have (at least) one person who has never been pregnant but throws all kinds of advice at you about what is best for your body and baby, right?
Well, my very best friend called today while I was trying to get .Aly settled for a nap. I would have just let the phone ring, but I had assumed it was my husband, and we don't have caller id. Anyway, I was too nice to hang up the phone on her, so I was talking to her while .Aly cried (hoping she would take the hint and hang up on *me* instead). But no. Instead, she started telling me all kinds of things to do to calm the baby down. She's never had a child of her own, and has never even taken care of a newborn. She's babysat her nephew a few times, who is two years old, and thinks that she has the answers to everything.
Included in her advice was: "put the baby on her stomach! That'll help her sleep!" followed by "...What is sids?" along with "have you tried rocking her? Maybe she needs to be changed. Is she hungry?" like i'm a complete person and wouldn't have thought of that. Not to mention, she always calls me on her cell phone, and if i'm quiet for longer than four seconds (like if .Aly is starting to nod off) my friend immediately thinks her cellphone cut out on her and starts saying "hello? Are you still there?" *sigh*
and on top of that, the inlaws keep inviting themselves over to the house. The chores are halfway done, the house is a wreck, I look like crap because I barely have time to grab a shower nowadays and I have baby drool on my shirt because the baby fell asleep on my chest thirty minutes before they showed up. I'm tired and self-concious because my house looks horrible, and they start up with "it'll get better soon!" which doesn't help me one bit. I *know* it'll get better in a few weeks. But these weeks are hard, and people calling at all hours of the day and showing up unannounced aren't helping matters any. And the worst thing is, I don't trust myself to be polite enough in telling everyone to please give us some time alone. I'm way too stressed out to do it in a civil way, and my husband is too laid-back to do it for me.
I feel like putting some of that yellow crime scene tape around my house to keep people away, and putting a message on my machine that says "you've reached a very tired mommy. I'm quite busy right now, but please leave a message and i'll get back to you when the baby is sleeping through the night."