I am going to have a scheduled C section due to placenta previa, and we have a 2 year old. I also had to have a C section last time, so I know about the recovery and restrictions. We have family willing to help, including having our 2 year old stay with various family members for, collectively, up to a week or so. My question is more from an emotional angle. Our toddler has spent up to 3 nights consecutively at her grandparents' house before, and done well with it.
But while I would love to have a full week to recover, I worry that if she spends, say, 3 nights at one grandparents', then 3 at the other, she'll
A. start to miss us a lot, and
B. (my real question) when do we introduce her to her baby sibling??? A whole week away and then she just comes home to a baby seems bad....but coming to visit in the hospital or at our home, then going away again, seems maybe worse - like she'll get the impression, "Oh, Mom and Dad are here with a new baby, now you have to leave them again!"
Hope that makes sense. Anyway, any advice about how you handled the transition of introducing toddler and baby while also trying to get as much help as you could to recover would be really appreciated!