In what month/week are baby showers usually held?

[flagger]

Ok I have to admit, we are a bit stoked as my mom went hogwild at BRU and bought us a ton of stuff off our registry. She lives in another state so she bought it there and had it shipped to us. This is her sixth grandchild, but I think she is just amazed that her last child is finally having a child of his own that is all exciting to her again. It was fun and I took lots of pictures to send back to my mom.

I am trying to co-ordinate with her friends back in Texas in the dog show world that may do one in a month when she heads to Fort Worth. Don't know how she will get it all back on the plane though. Then I am trying to get together with one of her co-workers. Apparently men do get involved in these things. ;)

Anyway, I was just trying to take an informal poll on about when showers are usually held. When was yours? Did you have more than one? I know certain cultures don't get the nursery ready until after the baby comes, but we are going ahead full force.

She will be at week 28 tomorrow and she is just thrilled at the prospect of only 12 more weeks to go.

[August Mom]

I had several showers :): one at work, one at DH's office, one from my side of the family, one from DH's side of the family and a surprise shower from friends. I think that you can have as many showers as others want to throw for you. However, you aren't supposed to initiate these things yourself, etiquette wise. My showers were in my seventh, eighth and ninth months. A word of caution: try not to schedule a shower too late in the pregnancy. My doctor imposed traveling restrictions on me -- no traveling in the ninth month by any means. My family couldn't get coordinated early and wound up having my shower out of town (in my hometown) at the beginning of my ninth month and I had to get a travel exemption from my doctor. (She decided that I could get back to the hospital in time). Anyway, that last shower was really stressful for me because I wasn't supposed to be traveling, I was trying to have the nursery ready in case the baby arrived early (ha, ha -- I was 2 weeks late) and it made it difficult to finish up because I didn't know what items I might be receiving at the shower. This led to me shopping for the essentials that were still on my list and then getting some duplicates at the shower. It was a pain.

[bnme]

Yes, I would say don't wait to long to have it. I had mine in my 7th month. Its nice to have it while Mom is still relatively comfortable and early enough that there is a very small chance she will end up giving birth prior. Plus it gives you plently of time to see what you need to buy. As it was, I still bought a bunch of stuff that I ended up returning, its hard for expectant Moms not to shop for baby. :)

I only had one, but it is common to have more than 1 if you have very seperate groups of people, which it sounds like you do. And I am all for the men being envolved! The gifts are for them, too. Though I guess most men don't care to sit around "Ohhing" and "Ahhing" over tiny cute baby things for over an hour --except maybe Dad!

Good luck to you both!

[COElizabeth]

I agree - don't wait too long. I had to miss one back home because I got put on bed rest at 32 weeks the week of my first shower. I got permission to go to one my friends had about a month later, but even that was a little stressful because I was trying to stay in a reclined position as much as possible. And it's definitely nice to be able to do any exchanges needed while you are still getting around well!

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[mharling]

Mine main shower was in Month 7 and that was perfect. It gives me enough time in between the shower and the birth to figure out what I still need.

A friend of mine had hers towards the end of Month 8 and she was on strict bed rest. Even though the shower was right across the street from her house, she had to talk to her doctor about it and take it extremely easy. I'm sure she had fun, but not as much fun as she might have.

Mary
EDD 4/5/03

[nathansmom]

I agree with not holding a baby shower late in the pregnancy. Mine was 5 days before I gave birth and I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I should have. Looking back I wish they would have had it in my 8th month. Hope that helps.

[Karenn]

All of our showers were held around the 7th month. It was nice because that gave us time to go out and buy the essentials that we didn't receive as gifts. The different showers were thrown by: work friends (a surprise shower), girlfriends, and couples friends.

[trumansmom]

Mine was at 8 1/2 months and I was supposed to be on bedrest and was miserable. My best friend was as far along as I was, and we agreed that we would be throwing showers for all of our pregnant friends at 7 months. That way, you know what you still need, and are able to actually enjoy the party.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/29/01