How long did u/do u want to stay in hossy for ?

[CinderToriella]

Hi All

curious how long did u stay in hossy for after the birth or how long u would like to stay in for when u have ur baby-if you can choose of course.

I am hoping that i can go home hours after the birth if me and bubs are doing ok, and she is breastfeeding ok.

if i am very tired maybe one night at the most.but i really hate hostpital and would feel much more comfortable being at home .

my mum thinks im silly and a lot of ppl around me seem to think that as im a first tiem mum that i should spend a few days there.

what do u all think? i would love to hear what stories

[BhoysGirl]

I was in hospital for 5 days after DS, and I loved it. It gave me a chance to focus 100% on BFing, and general baby stuff, without having to worry about cooking/cleaning etc. Plus the food in my hospital was great

I'm planning to stay for as long as I can this time around too - for the same reason that it means I really only have to focus on new bubs. And for the food...

[hj1981]

I too was in hospital for 5 days and certainly wouldn't of liked to have been in there any shorter! as it was i still hadn't mastered the art of BFing when i left! but was more than happy getting outside in fresh air and to be in own bed (even though that was never for long)

2nd time around im hoping to do the same, this time to master bfing and to have some one on one time with bub alone!

[diannescruffy]

With my first I was in for 4 days but with the others was home the next day.

Regards,
Dianne

[hj1981]

With my first I was in for 4 days but with the others was home the next day.

Regards,
Dianne

was that by choice? could you of stayed longer?

Sorry shell1 - hope you don't mind me asking that question!

[Lisa]

DS1 - 4 days (forceps birth & episiotomy)
DD1 - 12hrs (born at 11:55pm so thought I would get some sleep and go home next morning)
DS2 - 5 days (difficulties with BF and with DS losing weight)
DD2 - 4hrs

[~Hestia~]

I was in hospital for 1 night & that's only because DS was born at 5pm, otherwise I would've gone home that day.
I was lucky to have my own midwife that visted everyday & my DH was home too. Plus I had a fully stocked freezer so basically didn't have to lift a finger
If you do go home early, just make sure you stagger your visitors out. I did find that we were inundated & that wore us all out. In hindsight I would have no visitors for the first week!!
When I first told my DH I planned to go home the day of the birth, he was against it. But once I explained my reasons & he thought about it he felt the same.
My reasons were that I wanted to be in my own bed, I wanted my own wonderful shower & bath, I didn't want to put up with room mates or their visitors, I wanted to eat what I wanted when I wanted it, didn't want to waste DH's days off in hospital, didn't want DH to have to go home & just basically be in my own space surrounded by things that make me happy & comfortable.
Good luck!!

[squidipa]

I was in hospital for 5 days after DS, and I loved it. It gave me a chance to focus 100% on BFing, and general baby stuff, without having to worry about cooking/cleaning etc. Plus the food in my hospital was great

you sound like me haha i stayed 6 days with all my kids think maybe 7 with oen first born was vb and it was 6 days i was a heavy bleeder... the nurses offered and i took it with both hands i needed it..

second time round was the same but i had c section and had some troubles recovering.

third and 4th well with kids on top and home to be concerned about i socked up that every moment i could have with me and bub as i knew after csections again i would not be able to recover well at home. As its hard to rest with other kids.

[Cassius2]

i was in 4 nights with DD. felt that after the 3rd night i was going a bit stir crazy and felt a bit 'lost to the world'. but have to say that it was good to be there for the milk coming in as i had a LC and midwife to guide me through the mega-boob madness.

[Cadence]

Hi,
I was in for 3 days with my DD, had a c-section and I asked to leave a day early, could have stayed an extra night but wanted to get home and feel more comfortable.
This time I have been told that the average stay is 48 hours for a vaginal birth and 72 hours for a c-section.... am not sure I am kind of thinking I will get more rest in hospital whereas if I were to go home I might be tempted to do too much too soon particularly with DD to run after. I guess I will see how comfortable I am in hospital!
You do what you feel is right for you.

[NaeNae]

i was in for 2 nights and tbh i wished i could have stayed in longer - at least until my milk came in on day 4 and to get more "supervised" time with dd. personally i thnk they kick mums out far too quickly.

[Miss E]

I was in for 5 nights (had a ECS) and am really glad that I was. As a new mum it is really hard to get breastfeeding going and work it all out (especially when the baby blues hit on day 3), DH and I found the help of the midwives over those first few days invaluable. Also I found it good for bubs too, he became jaundiced on day 3 (yep right when the baby blues hit) and because the midwives noticed it (before I did) we were able to get on top of it really quickly and he didn't have to be admitted to SCN for light therapy.

So I guess my advice is stay as long as you can, the first day or two I was walking on air, but then the curve balls started coming on day 2 and 3 and it was great to have the help of the midwives.

[Indadhanu]

I had hoped for a natural intervention-free birth, and wanted to stay for as short as possible - only one night, if that. I registered for the early discharge program.


As it turned out, I had a hard labour and emerg. c/s. I stayed 3 nights after the birth (which was at 5.15pm), and that was so long enough for me I was just wanting to go home and be in familiar surroundings. We would have been home after the 2nd night but Jazz was jaundiced and they wanted to be on top of it rather than let us go home and then possibley having to readmit her.
I had midwives visit me for about 2 weeks. I had a really good MCHN visit in hospital and showed Shel and I breastfeeding techniques, and Shel helped me get it right at home. Midwives were overworked and understaffed so I rarely saw anyone between my routine checks anyway even when I pressed the button. I had my own room but just wasn't comfortable.

I've spent some time in hospital before, and not good memories. I also lost my grandfather two days before Jazz was born and I just felt very cut off from Shel and family being stuck in hospital and I jsut wanted to be home and grieve. Those two things might have also factored into it too.

Next time I would love a home birth so I don't have to be in hospital at all. Or to be in hospital for only as long as medicaly necessary. 5 days would be too much for me. But play it by ear, you never know how you'll feel.

[Olive]

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!!

[CinderToriella]

So many great replies and all so different

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

[Shanti]

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!

[CinderToriella]

Dont u just wish Bfeeding was as easy as it is in the silly movies ..lol

the bub popps out after a little push and feeds with no worrys at all

PIFFFF

[SammyRo]

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.