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.