leaving hosp 24hours after birth

[castle]

TTCno2,
I would suggest asking to see the consultant who supervises the birth centre and asking him/her to authorise you for a few days' stay in hospital. There IS a consultant assigned to the birth centre...and they HAVE to see you if you request it. Do this at one of your antenatal visits. (At or after the birth may be too late. Much better to have things organised in advance.) If you ask at an antenatal visit, if the consultant is seeing patients that day then he may be able to see you for a few minutes. Otherwise you can ask to see him at your next visit. Don't let anyone put you off with a registrar. Quite often you'll find that consultants will be very sympathetic to requests like that, because when they were training it was part of standard care for birthing mothers.
Here the midwives will visit you daily at home for the first week, but you're right, it's not the same as being tucked up with your baby, staff on hand to take care of you. Best of luck!