How to support your friends who just became parents
You have watched your friends struggle with infertility, or perhaps a single friend just wanting to be a parent. They finally had to make the choice to use a Gestational Carrier to help make their family and that baby (or babies!) is about to be born and come home! How can you help? Offering something specific is always better than “Let me know if you need anything”, because new parents are exhausted they may not even know what they need. The great thing is that the rules for what to offer new parents through gestational surrogacy are the same as the rules for all new parents! Here are a few things to offer:
Meals
Everybody needs to eat! Taking a meal or having their favorite food delivered can be a huge sigh of relief, and one less thing to think about. Want to take it a step further and coordinate with others to help them out? Check out Mealtrain.com; it is a great way to send out invites to the new parents’ friends and family to provide meals. A great part of this website is that it shows what others are bringing or delivering so that they aren’t eating Lasagna for weeks.
Volunteer to watch their other kids
“I would love to take Billy (baby’s older brother) to the playground for an hour.” Or anything else you know that Billy would like to do. An hour, that may seem like a loooong time ;-), but even fifteen minutes and a walk could be the nap or moment for the parents to regroup.
Other options
Ask if you can go grocery shopping, or with modern technology, just pick up the groceries that they’ve ordered online. Offer to do laundry, dishes, clean the bathroom, or even just vacuum. Yes of course it depends on your relationship with the parents as you are wanting to help, not offend, but the point remains the same. Offer specific help. Mow the lawn, shovel the snow off the driveway, or any small gesture that will give them the gift of time with their precious new baby.
Being a new parent is one of life’s greatest joys! It can also be stressful and exhausting. Offering a helping hand for something that may seem insignificant to you may just be the little break a new parent needs. “I am so excited for you as new parents, can I bring bagels and coffee by in the morning for breakfast, I won’t stay long?” – THAT is music to a new parent's ears!