Hospital Stay

I was just wondering how long everybodies hospital stays were after giving birth?

Our hospital says that you have to stay for two days (for a vaginal birth) and five days for caesar.

Is the two days just a guideline or do you really need to stay there that long?

I really dislike hospitals, but I guess once I am there and finished labour I will probably be too tired to care.

Hi Pam, I had a vaginal birth and I stayed in hospital for 2 nights.
I actually didn't mind it cause I think I was a bit of shock with having a baby all of a sudden, LOL.
It was good to stay there to get the help from the midwives too.... especially if you are planning on breastfeeding... I would advise to take as much help as you can get from the midwives, on attachment, etc, while you have the chance.
It probably is just a guideline (the amount of time you should b staying in hospital), and if you are feeling fine, and there are no problems, they would probably consider your request to go home earlier.

After the birth i stayed for 3 days, even though i was recommended to stay for 4 because i had such a rough delivery. But i had been there 2 days before the birth due to pre-eclampsia and i just wanted to get out of there. At my hospital the minimun you HAD to stay was 4 hours after birth i think, thats if it was in the day. If it was at night they made you stay over night at least. With c/s i think it was a week. But one of the girls in the bed next to me, she had a c/s and went home after only 2 days because she had no one to take care of her other son.

Because I actually had Maddison after midday, they did not count Thursday as a day I was in for, I went home on Monday morning, as they counted my stay as Friday, Saturday & then Sunday... No complications & with first I was happy to stay & learn how to bath etc..

But I also know a friend of my Mum's, her duaghter had a traumatic delivery at 1am Thursday morning & wanted out of there on Sat morning, Mum said she saw her on Sunday afternoon & she looked TERRIBLE, so pale & looked really ill, so maybe she should have stayed in longer!

I had Kameron mid afternoon on the 27th and I was home the afternoon of the 31st. Kam spent 2 days in neonatal.

Lachlan was born on the night of the 5th (10pm) and I went home in the afternoon of the 7th. They said I could stay another night if I wanted, but I was ready to go home, I was just about ready to go home after delivery I felt so good LOL

Love

At the risk of sounding like an utter drip, I didn't want to come home!

I had a natural vaginal birth with Olivia, no complications, but she was in the nursery for a couple of days (as her temp was very low).

I loved the fact that there were hot and cold runing midwives 24 hours a day to help me with breastfeeding etc.

I was in a private hospital where they give you the option to stay for as little as 1 day, or for up to 10 days. My OB asked me how I felt, and he suggested "Stay as long as you can Lucy.....your medical insurance pays for it all, so stay as long as you like....."

I ended up staying for 6 nights and was glad I did.

Do bear in mind that most women, on day 4 after having a baby, have a huge drop in hormones, which brings on a lot of tears and fears.......I know this happended to me.......totally irrational, but I couldn't stop crying. It was nice to be in hospital for this period, so the midwives could support me without me feeling like a total nutter!

When i had my c-section i would have been in 5 days but stayed a week as i was with Kimberley in the baby care unit. But i had no care after them 5 days.

Not sure how long i will be in this time. Would be great to know how long anyone was in for after having a c-section.

I was told the same amount of time, but I left early... the day after Matilda was born my "neighbour" had visitors 16 hours a day who were very loud & I couldn't rest & the midwives were repeated asking them to be quiet or leave & they never did... so I left three days after c/s... and had 2 home visits to make up for leaving early O:)

That is one of the things i am worried about - not getting enough sleep.

I have real trouble sleeping anywhere that isn't my own bed, and major trouble sleeping when there is noise around me.

I guess if I am not getting enough sleep and would do better at home they would discharge me But I don't want to miss out on being shown how to bathe bubs and all that.

We couldn't attend the antenatal classes as my partner was working night shift and I couldn't get there myself so we never got a tour of our hospital to see how many people are in one room, etc.

I was given a sleeping tablet one night Pam. It was when I had Kameron. He was in neo-natal anyway, and i was in Maternity and a bit teary from the baby blues. So they asked me if I wanted a sleeping tablet to get a good nights rest.

Love

7 days after C-section. By the time we got home, I felt confident with DD and breastfeeding etc etc. Also I had the baby blues in the hospital

I left hospital the second day after giving birth but I had been there for a while before the birth so I was keen to go home.
Next time I plan on staying for longer because in hospital they limit your visitors and boot them out but when I got home I had oodles of visitors who stayed really late and left a mess behind. Not what you want to deal with after a really long labour and barely any sleep in ages.
I know that everyone says that you should limit visitors at home but that is easier said than done.

I am a light sleeper too, but after Mitchell was born I slept like the dead the whole time I was in hospital. I left after 2 days but wished I stayed longer cos of the support.
Its open slather when you get home in relation to visitors. You will be surprised at how bloody stupid your friends and family can be (like leaving a mess behind WTF?!). The best visitors call first, bring milk & bread or a hot meal, do the dishes for you &/or watch baby while you have a shower. These people are RARE, dammit.

Maybe lulu is on to something - perhaps we should be proactive and mention something along the lines of visitor etiquitte at our baby showers!!!

We actually put a ban on all visitors except for my mum & one friend. Everyone else could come on a roster after I got home...that did help with our side of things, if it wasn't for the family in the room nextdoor I would have been great!

The only good thing with us and visitors we don't know many people.

for my first baby, I had a c/s and was in hospital for 6 days. I also had a c/s for my son, and discharged myself the next day as he was transferred to another hospital due to heart failure.

my first child was a c section. i stayed for 3 days as i had a horible nurse and a room with 6 other women in it.i couldnt get him to b feed and i just wanted to go home.my second was a c section also.i stayed as long as i could(5 days).it was nice to get the rest as i had a toddler at home and little help so i took advantage of it.i will be doing the same again.
nikki

I had all 3 of mine by vaginal birth, with the first I had a tear and they weren't to keen on me leaving to early, stayed for two nights, with the other two I stayed in hospital for only one night.
I think it all really depends on how you and bubs are after the birth, if you feel fine and there haven't been any complications, they will probably quite happily let you go home when if you feel you are ready to.

I think if you've got littlies at home, you should try and stay for as long as you feel comfortable - that way make DH look after the bub at home and you get the chance to have some one on one time with the new bubs and also get back into the sync of life with a newborn again...

Well, thats my thinking, anyhows.... :)


Keen

Our midwife told us that day of birth = day 0, and you are discharged on day 3 if there are no problems.
I love the idea of visitors bringing bread and milk and watching baby while showering is going on!
I am a little nervous about the number of visitors we will get, and specially since I am too polite to tell them to BUGGER OFF! I'M TIRED!

Mum will be staying for at least a week from NZ, so hopefully she will be rude for me, and I would be very surprised if she didn't do breaky every day! Yay for mum.....well, we'll see!
Fi

I was in hospital for a month before Alex was born, and he was an emergency c/s. I was in for six days, mainly because of the high BP, and Alex was in the NICU/SCN for those six days.

After six days we were both flown from Monash to Shepparton Base Hospital, where we both stayed for another four days. Alex weighed 2.020 kilos when he was discharged.

So I had ten days all up, but that wasn't voluntary!

I think I would have stayed for the six days if I had the choice, the longer the better in terms of support, especially if little one is in NICU/SCN.

my hospital stay was for a week , as joshua lost more then %10 of his birht weight.. then i went home on the weekend to go back in on the monday for another week with an infection of some kind and had to be on a drip for seven days..

iam hoping this time iam better and only have to stay for at least 3 days

take care
Lesley