Just wanted some opinions on leaving hospital early. Did you get more or less rest at home? How many midwife visits did you get? Where you ever concerned leaving so soon with bubs?
I gave birth at 6:50am and left by 12pm. I was allowed to leave after 11am but friends came down to visit (she was in post natal ward still)
I had visits for the first 6 weeks.. I didn't get much rest at home but that's cause my grandad had died 2 days before I gave birth so when DD was 2 days old we drove down to Coffs Harbour (took us 8hrs!)... but if that Hadn't happened then I would have had a lovely restful time.
I LOVED coming home straight away because then me, DH and DD had a nap together and we were in our house, our bed, our stuff etc...
For me, and having so many kids at home, i stay the night i give birth and the next night, i find it more relaxing, and i get just one on one time to bond with the baby before getting bombarded with extra hugs and cuddles from the other kids when we get home, my house is chaos, so i like the extra night of quiet lol
With DS1, 4 nights in hospital and 1 domiciliary mw visit
With ds2, 12 hours and then my mw visited i think 5 times after, then mchn visits started at that point.
I preferred being at home even wig a 3yo, people are less likely to turn up unannounced it was just a lot easier.
Having the same midwife all the time was a tremendous help too, rather than getting different opinions all the time
With ds i stayed 4 nights - private hospital and private room with husband sleeping in with me - with no follow up mw visits
With DD i stayed in one night (public hospital with shared 4 to a room) thinking i would get more rest there than if i went home and had ds all over me but i wish i had gone home that same day. I could have gone 4 hours post birth if wanted and i would have felt absolutely fine with that (2nd birth). I didnt get much rest in the shared public hossy room. I had 4 days of midwife home visits.
I would have done exactly the same again (except the o/nite stay in the public hossy lol) if i had the choice to re-do as i felt with my first born i was very comfy in the hossy with my husband staying and the midwives right there to help with any questions. 2nd time around i felt so much more at ease and relaxed about caring for a newborn i just wanted to get home to my own bed and surroundings
DD i had a c-section and had trouble feeding so i was in hospital 8 days
This one i am private again and if i have a vaginal i think its 4-5 days....ill probably stay so i can bond with the baby without DD there all the time who is nearly 3.....coz i can tell what she will be like already. Then i wont have to cook or anything like that....plus i dont think people stay as long at hospital lol
I stayed 5 nights with DD in a private room, in a double bed, with DH there each night and throughout the day. I wouldn't change a thing, will be doing a similar thing with our next baby.
- It was relaxing having three meals plus morning and afternoon tea brought to me.
- My midwives were lovely and I loved having them on call - at the end of my buzzer
- Visitors couldn't and didn't hang around for ages and I didn't feel obliged to offer them tea or coffee.
- The 'Mother and baby sleeping' sign on my door really worked and the midwives would have backed it up if necessary.
- I was SO grateful for the support and advice from my middies when I got the blues and my milk came in all at once! DH was grateful too I'm not sure how I would have coped with that on our own at home.
- DH and I got to bond with DD together - I loved that.
I just feel we got to really enjoy our first few days with DD without thinking about cooking meals, cleaning up, washing, etc. It worked really well for us but of course, everyone is different.
ETA: no midwife visits at home, just the usual checks by the MCHN
Last edited by Taurean; May 4th, 2011 at 07:03 PM.
With my 2 vb's I left about 4/5 hours after birth. My midwife came daily for a week. With my first vb (3rd child) I had the mchn visiting from around 2 weeks.
This time round nobody has contacted me, so I haven't seen anyone since my midwife signed me out. I've been weighing dd3 every week (or thereabouts) so am keeping an eye on her weight gain.
Eta - even though I had nobody like a midwife taking care of me after the births, my mum stayed with us for a week afterwards so she did all the cooking and stuff
I had a natural drug free birth with DD but was in for 5 nights as the feeding was so challenging and DD wasn't attaching (at all) and losing weight and I needed to know what I was doing before going home....so I was in no rush to head home until I knew how I could feed her!! Even after 5nts I still left feeling very uneasy about it all.... I also had a private room which made it easier!
This time around, hoping the BF will go ALOT better, which I'm sure it will, then I hope to be only in for 1-2 days max.
My DH doesn't get any time off work much so it's hard going home to not much support so sometimes being in hospital for a little while isn't so bad.
DS1 - 4 days. I was having problems with my supply after a distressing birth and it was policy then for you to stay 4 days after an episiotomy.
DD1 - 12 hours. Midwives visited for 4 days.
DS2 - 4 days. Again I was having supply issues due to him having a tongue tie.
DD2 - 4 hours. Midwives visted for 4 days.
DD3 - Born at home but we went to the hospital to be checked over. We were there for 3 hours. Midwives vistied for 3 days.
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my plan was for homebirth and no hospital time at all.
in reality, my homebirth was transferred, ended up being an emergency c-section with complications of Bandl's Ring.
my baby was well enough to go home after a few days, but i was not. Due to no family backup, and my health, midwife wanted me to stay as long as possible. So as soon as i went home (end of sixth day), inspite of still having trouble walking and bending, i was responsible for the care of my nb all day long, until her dad came home at night and on weekends. He did all the bathing of her and the only food i ate, was what he made when he was home. (eating at 10pm). I was so envious of all the other women who had their mums and Mothers in law, that came to help. Or sisters etc. But i told myself, single mums with no family backup, must have it harder.
my midwife visited for the first six weeks, which was the only reason i kept breastfeeding, due to her being onsite to coach me on what to do. She got me one hour of a cleaning service, which i was so grateful for.
Four nights in a private room with a double bed. DH stayed right through. We had a midwife visit once at home. Next time around, I'd do the same thing, simply to try and get a bit of rest before I went home to everything. The staff at the hospital were very unintruding and the food was so-so, but as hard as it'd be to stay away from home, I'd want to give our new baby as much time with just mummy before we had to share
Thanks for the replies! I am not sure what I'll do this time round. I know I will miss my three little men sooo much but I don't know if I will get the rest I need at home. Even though my mil and dh will be there to help out I know I just won't be able to help myself!
When I had ds 3 one of my twins caught a staph infection when he came for a visit at the hospital so do not want a repeat of that!! I also don't want my poor 73 mil having to run after three boys under four! I have already had an ear full from my sil saying I expect too much (another long story that requires a thread of it's own!). Might ask around if anyone has left RWH in melb early and if so how often did they get visits.
Birthing at home was great but I can see how being in hospital when there are other children at home already can give you a bit of a break and a chance to rest/bond with your new babe. DS 1 was there when his brother was born and looking back while it was goo it was also tiring.
No hospital can keep you against your will, if your feeling well and everything is going ok you can discharge early. From what I have heard it can also depend on how busy the place is. Up north our old hospital had a birth center that often had women in and out in 12 hours while others stayed 5 days. Depends on how yo birth too I suppose.
With both I stayed 1 night. DD1 was a c/s but I still only stayed 1 night, and I would have gone home after 6 hrs with DD2 but there was meconium so they wanted to keep an eye on her for 24hrs. I got more rest at home definitely. The hospital was too noisy and with DD2 I shared a room with someone who had the light on all night, PITA! So I went home and DH looked after me much better. I had the m/w visiting for a couple of weeks with DD1 and 6 weeks with DD2.
I went home about 36 hours after DD was born via c/s. I was in a room with 3 other mums and bubs and the mumma next to me was really struggling, so the only night I was actually there I couldnt sleep because of that. I got more sleep at home, but the only thing was since I had c/s getting in and out of bed was hard. Other then that my DP was around to help look after DS. My parents also stayed the first 2 nights which was fantastic. I'm really glad I came home when we did, gave us time to bond as a family. I have the best memory of DP,DS,DD and I all having a nap the first afternoon home, with DS cuddling DD. Seriously precious memory.
DS - I stayed fo 5 days after he was born as I had a c-sec, I was in a room on my own after he was born. I got lots of rest, as the midwives offered to take him into the nursery overnight for quite a bit, but by day 4 I was itching to get out of there as I'd been in there since 2 days before he was born.
DD - The next day, I would have left sooner as I felt good enough to go home within 3 hours of her being born but as I had GD while pregnant they had to do 24hours of monitoring her blood glucose levels to make sure she was ok. I was in a room on my own after having her as well - with a double bed lol. I got a bit of rest, but DD wouldn't sleep in the crib in there, she would only sleep on me or in the bed with me.
When we got home she would wake every 4 hours and mostly only slept with one of us in the recliner.
Last edited by JennaJayen; May 6th, 2011 at 02:44 PM.
How long after birth did you go home?
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I'm not sure how I would have coped with that on our own at home. 
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