after DD1 i went home early on day 3 (she was born 6.21pm wednesday i left 11am friday), wished id stayed longer due to immense pain from labour and episiotomy, but it was my choice as i wanted to be in my own bed
after DD2 i went home on day 4 (she was born 7.51pm wednesday, i left around 3pm saturday) i had to stay due to PPH and blood transfusion, DD was also jaundiced and had to have 2 lots of bloodtests before we could go, would have happily stayed another night as my milk came in that night and OMG my poor boobies!!
With DD1 - 2 days
With DD2 - 12 hours
#3 - if it's a hospital birth, than I'm hoping for 6 hours, but I'd love a homebirth, so I won't need to go in at all.
DD1 - 5 days (1st baby, she wasn't gaining weight and bfing not going well)
DD2 - 24 hours (Only because I had surgery after birth)
DD3 - 6 hours (No reason to stay, she was bfing beautifully and the ward had swine flu going around)
With all babies I had a midwife visit me for 5 days after coming home.
To a first time mum I would suggest at least a couple of nights, and the hosp generally will to. You get so much valuable information and learning from the midwives. Learning to bf may take longer than you think and having someone right there to ask is great. You can relax and not worry about other things cause you get waitered on . But I guess it may depend on your maternity hosp to.
This time round I want to stay at least a days because it means I can catch up on rest and sleep without having to deal with DD to.
I stayed in 5 nights with Noah as I had a c-section, but I wouldn't have changed a thing. I was in a lovely room and DH could stay whenever he wanted. I had so much help and support with bfeeding etc and there was a control on visitors which DH and I appreciated so much. It meant that people couldn't just pop round to visit us whenever they felt like it. For a first time mum, I would recommend staying in at least until your milk has come in, just because it's when the milk is coming in that you'll feel most overwhelmed and emotional.
I hope that whatever you end up doing you are able to enjoy those first weeks with your beautiful new baby
i just had my first bub and stayed four nights/five days and was very glad for the support in the hospy in that time.
we had trouble breastfeeding and i really needed the help. Also was completely clueless about babies (still am! lol) and the midwives were a great source of support, information and advice - although sometimes conflicting.
If i wasn't xmas week and i had family arriving from far afield i would have opted to stay an extra night just to really sort out the feeding issues with Ash. But in saying that i was ready to leave the hospy when i did and glad to get home.
i was in a private hospy with pretty good food, DH could stay 24/7 and we all slept in our own private room with private bathroom etc. If i'd been public and on a ward, i think i would have run away pretty early.
hope that helps you make your decision. Do remember that you may have to prepare to stay longer depending on feeding, bub's progress, your recovery etc. you know what babies are like... they like to ruin our best laid plans!
I had a cs and I was private. I had my own room and bathroom, good food and DH staying with me. It was very comfortable.
I found all the advice very helpful. Especially since my milk was slow to come in and DD lost a lot of weight. The staff were very good and there for me day and night.
I had been advised to stay until my milk came in and I think that was good advice. Breastfeeding was very different once I actually had milk.
I hope to have a vbac this time and not need to be in hospital as long, maybe 5 days. But I won't be going home early. That will be my time where I can focus on the new bub and re-learn how to care for a newborn. DD with be spending quality time with dad and grandparents.
I want to try and spend as much time as I can (will probably have to due to kidney problems) as this is my first and I have no idea what I am doing and at the hospital where I am having bubs they have people called in house grandmas they come round every day and show you and help you with everything, so it will be nice to get some advice,
I do say though after spending a few days in hospital recently they really need to do something about the nutritional content of the food, HELLO people we are New mummies and still baking ones we NEED our vitamins, it was good that my mummy brought me her cooking lol
I stayed in 3 days with DS and I wanted to stay in Hospital as he was my first and I wanted to have some help on hand at the click of a button. They showed me loads of things too and even enabled me to rest more than if I had of been at home. I think with public (don't quote me) you are entitled to 5 days care, so you can choose to stay in hospital for as many days as you need, but you then get the rest of the days as follow up at home. I had two days of home visits with the hospital midwife to check my stiches and on DS. I fully intend on doing the same with #2.
Good luck with what you decide.....just roll with it and see how you feel.
With DD I had her at 10:24pm on the Tues and left hossy after lunch on the Thurs, so 2 nights. This time I hope to only be in over night then back home to DH and my beautiful DD.
With DS1 I was in hospital three nights/four days - loved my stay and appreciate the help/advice I received where BFing and settling baby were concerned.
With DS2 I discharged myself on second day as baby BFd beautifully from the word go and was extremely settled.
I was in private system, and had uncomplicated vaginal deliveries, which certainly helped with my quick recovery too.
I was in for five days and hated every minute of it. I was in a private hospital in a private room but even so it felt like there were staff coming in every five minutes and I just wanted to be left alone.
The midwives all gave completely conflicting advice and some of them seemed keener on expressing me rather than actually teaching me to BF. Then I had midwives who where the opposite extreme and thought that for me to 'get' it, they should shove DD's head and my boob together for 1.5 hours straight, then wake me up an hour later to start it all again. A living nightmare.
I would have been much better leaving hospital, relaxing at home and getting a lactation consultant to visit.
I'm likely to go back to the same hospital because I love my obstetrician but will try to get out of there asap.
I was in for 4 days with DS 1 & loved the help I received etc. Was very comfortable with my own room, bathroom etc.
With DS 2 born just last week I stayed 3days......my DS 1 is very full on & I wanted the time to bond with my new little man & get the BF right this time. We don't live anywhere near family, so spent most of the time alone without visitors & LOVED IT. Was very refreshed when I got home.
I think that if i was booked into a private hossie i would be up for staying for as long as i could as well, as it seems that if u stayed in one u had a lot of space own room good food etc and ur partner could be there
i would love to get extra advise as much as possible since its my first bub
and if i have trouble Bfeeding i would like to get some help, but im going to a very busy public hossie and it will be very diff from a private hossie thats the only thing im thinking of.
It will be crowded noisy prob have to be with other women iv heard the food is very bad in the maternity ward as well lol
I think i would be better off at home but i will see of course depending on the delivery,state of bub and how im feeling
I had a drug free natural birth and had hoped to only be in hossy for 2-3 nights max.... unfortunately we had alot of attachment and BF'ing issues right from day 1, which meant I needed a fair bit of attention every time DD needed a feed (she had a very weak suck).... DD also lost too much weight by day 3 and they asked for me to stay 2 more nights to see her gaining some weight (i had to express and do top up feeds 3hrly round the clock!) so I stayed all up 5 nights.... I was so ready to come home by the end of it!!
And my hospital food sucked!
In all honesty, if I was you, just wait til you have bub, see how well bub is feeding first and how confident you feel THEN decide when you will leave..... you don't really know how the birth and feeding is going to go yet so try not to think too far ahead.... that's just my advice to you from my experience anyway.
I hope your BF'ing journey kicks off to a great start and you have a wonderful birth!
Both this time and last, we did midwifery group practice - where you get a mw early on in pg, and she does the majority of appts, the birth and 6wks follow-up care afterwards - you give birth in the birth centre, and the idea is to be out within 24hours.
Last time, however, that didn't go according to plan - DD came out a bit flat and with a huge, huge swelling on the front of her head (mw said later that it was the worst she had ever seen, even with vacum or forceps and we had neither). So, anyway, because of the swelling, and problems bf'ing, the hospital wanted to keep us in a bit longer, so we stayed 2 nights.
I was public, and was in a shared room with one other woman - it wasn't too bad, apart from one time when she seemed to have a whole mothers group visit at once! The food was good, and the mw's, well some were good, some not so good - i found that the ones who were hospital employed were better than the agency mw's (and I've heard some bad stories about agency nurses at private hosps too so its not just a public thing!).
I hadn't thought to pack a book or magazines but I was bored when DH wasn't there, so if you do plan on staying in a few days, take something to keep you enternained.
This time, I'm hoping that I'll be home within the 24 hours - although I'll see how I feel - if I have another long labour, and I'm exhausted, I might ask to stay in for a bit longer to catch up on some sleep before I head home to my full-on DD, who will be 22months when this one pops out.
As for visitors - when DH sent the "we've had a baby" text, he also added that we'll let everyone know when we're ready for visitors - for the most part, this was respected, so we'll do the same, especially if we go home early.
HI girls.. well I think I might be a minority here but I'm going to stay in hospital as long as I can stand... with my second DS I stayed in for 5 days! I'll will have to play it by ear but I think I'm gonna need that hospital time to sleep and take it easy... as soon as I get back home I'm back into mum role (which is fine) but I just think I need a couple of days to catch up on sleep and do nothing but feed!
At least then when I get home I'll be rested up and good to go!!
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my poor boobies!!
. But I guess it may depend on your maternity hosp to.
because I love my obstetrician but will try to get out of there asap.
but i will see of course depending on the delivery,state of bub and how im feeling
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