Hosting a baby shower without the guest of honor

This was a real stumper. First thing is first. My mother in law and I had started talking about my sister in law's baby shower around January. After her extensive research we settled on a venue, Amore Trattoria Italiana. This also happens to be one of my favorite restaurants. All in all, this was going well for us. Mother in law, sister in law, myself, all very excited!

Cut to the day before the shower.

Josh (my husband) reading a text from his phone from his brother: "At hospital, not sure what is going on. Might need you to help with dog later"
Me: "That is totally a joke! They are messing with us! ha!"
Phone rings later, Josh answers.
Brother in law: "We are in the hospital, we don't know a lot yet but I don't think we'll be going home."
This is no joke people!
Extreme concern, panic, worry, emotion, disaster planning ensues.

Cut to a couple hours later when we know more about the situation. Mom and baby are doing well. Baby will be here early, may require some extra TLC, but everything is under control. (P.S. Thank you Spectrum Butterworth Hospital and Helen DeVos Children's Hospital).

Naturally, the question arises. Do we have the shower? Answer: yes. This was made very simple, the mommy to be requested we still have the shower. Meanwhile, I had Googled for advice from people in this situation before me and many posts said things such as "Why would you have the shower without the mommy to be?!" or "I would never do that!" Well folks, don't pass judgement on a situation unless you've been faced with it yourself.

So what do you do when your guest of honor will not be in attendance? You roll with it!

What we managed to pull off...

Gift bags

Who opened Baby Reed's gifts? Well, the grandma's of course! Another request of the mommy to be, and I liked it!

Cupcakes to match Baby Reed's monkey themed nursery. Thank you Buddy and Miss

Amore handled all the hard stuff including the linens, nice touch!

Play a little baby shower bingo to take the edge off.

Everyone laughing, having a good time.

Monkey cupcakes again

Oreo truffles for the favor.

Simple flowers

Facetime with Baby Mama so everyone can see she is doing well and she can still see everybody! (She will love me for sharing this photo with you). She handled this whole experience with grace and she is a wonderful mom.

Was it exactly what we wanted? No. But all things considered, I'd say it was a successful celebration honoring our mom to be and her little bundle of joy, and isn't that the whole point anyway?

I wrote this post to benefit people looking for advice similar to what I was doing on April 13, 2012. It is easy to wonder what to do while you're in the haze of many emotions. A little encouragement never hurts.

- We'd like to thank Uncle Josh for his assitance in the audio/visual department. He took pictures and recorded everything for Baby Mama. He also fought with the uncooperative WiFi to reconnect so we could see her pretty face! -

Cut to April 16, 2012 - healthy (little) baby boy - 4lbs 14 ounces!

And May 5, 2012 - Proud Uncle Josh!

Welcome to the family little guy, we're so happy you're here!