Dear Prudence,
I’m pregnant and am due December 2nd. My mom wants to stay with us from December 9 to early January (as she normally does) for the holidays. But I am stressed about her being here while my partner and I are learning life with a fresh newborn—in a very small NYC apartment. I know it’s important to her to be part of this process (and to me too) but she is physically incapable of being much help in the house/with the baby—I’d actually need to help her in various ways—so I’d really want at least a few weeks to settle into life with our new baby but I don’t want to hurt her feelings by asking her to wait until Christmas to come, which would give us a few weeks of nucleus time. How do I ask her to wait before coming? I’m her only remaining child so there’s also that pressure.
—Not Much Room at the Inn