After labour...

Hi girls,
I hope this is in the right area (mods, please feel free to move if i am out of place)!

Just wondering, after you have your 1st baby in a public hospital, how long do the midwives and docs keep you in hospital for? Is it 2-3 days on average? That's if there are no complications with mum or bub. With your first, do they keep you in there a bit longer than your 2nd, 3rd etc as you are a "new" mum and need to learn breastfeeding etc? Do they take more time in helping you when it's your 1st born?? ie lactation consultants etc etc I would hope so! I would probably feel i would need the support etc in there for the first 3 days.... is that something that you would mention to the doc/midwife after you give birth?

My sister gave birth on 09 Jun to a healthy baby girl and mum is fine too... they are still in hospital (public).. any reason why??? she thinks she can go this afternoon.

Depends on the hospital and how booked out they are IYKWIM. Some have a max 2 night stay and others are more relaxed about it. Sounds like your sister is in one that has longer stays if you need.

They will take the time to help you with stuff but sometimes you have to ask for help so don't wait. Make yourself a PIA so you get it right ;)

Hospitals usually have pre conception information sessions so perhaps contact the hospital you are thinking of attending and see if you can go and ask away!

My hospital has a 2 night stay for vaignal births eg. if i delivered at 11pm tonight... then thats my first night stay....and i would be outta the hospital by 10am on Thursday morning. 5 day stay for c-section. Its not long at all. With DD i had no help, no matter how many times i asked. They would show me how to BF, say 'ill be back in a minute to see how you are going', and then never return. Thsi time i know what to expect and i have researched helpers....lol

Thanks girls, Sammi what's PIA? (sorry! not sure!) :doh:
I thought you could only go and see a hospital if you are pregnant! I didn't know I could go in to a hospital pre-conception and talk to them about what they offer? Wow, i'll do that thanks. i am comparing Tweed Hospital (border of nsw&qld) and Gold Coast Hospital Southport... can't decide....

Kimbaz - that's not fair that you were asking for help and they ignored you :( that is what i am afraid will happen to me....who knows, i may be fine and not need help... with the help of bellybelly i'm already learning heaps!!!!

I was at a public hospital, and gave birth on saturday morning and then I asked to go home on tuesday afternoon. I think they would have had me stay longer if I hadnt asked to go, but I wanted to go home and they didnt really have a reason to keep me there so let me go. I stayed for 3 nights.
I didnt get that much help, I didnt really have issues with breastfeeding or anything so I didnt really ask for it. The only thing that really annoyed me was that the midwives were taking the olders mums babies to the nursery so mums could get some rest but they wouldnt take my baby! They were often coming in to the other mum in my room and seeing if she needed anything, but they didnt do that for me. She was a second time mum.
There was a lactation consultatnt in my hospital, and I was able to ask for her to come and help me.

Karina... i think it's good they let you stay for 3nights and then if you feel ready to go, you can go... guess it all depends on how full the beds are, who is on what shift etc etc hey?
Lindz... that's awful they didnt' help you and made you feel silly asking for help. i hope i don't experience that.. especially seeing as Laila was your 1st born, they should have paid little bit more attention to you... maybe they thought you were coping on your own okay b/feeding etc??

The Gold Coast hospital generally encourages you to go home as soon as you and your baby are given a clear bill of health.

Mothers-to-be are also encouraged to do child birth/care classes prior to birth. I believe these are still available free of charge at the GC hospital.

During your stay in the maternity ward, the nurses / midwifes on duty will support you in new skills such as breast feeding and infant care whilst in hospital but they are usually run off their feet (so I would also recommend reading / studying as much as you can before the baby arrives. Some midwifes/nurses are more empathetic and caring than others (that is a really unfortunate reality in public hospitals). Don't worry though, they won't send you home if you are state you are 'NOT feeling confident' and they also offer a home visit program (early discharge/midwife visits) for up to 7 days after birth. The midwifes that do the home visits are very supportive.

Generally speaking most women who have had a normal vaginal birth with no complications stay in hospital for 12-72 hours. You'll probably be surpised how keen you'll be to go home - sharing a room with 4 other women and their unsettled babies is not always the best way to recover after birth. Being home and having daily visits from a midwife is a great initiative. There are also Queensland health care centres around the GC where you can discuss childcare with a nurse - these services are a great asset for the first 12 weeks after birth too. I don't know where you live but there is one is a great one in Helensvale (you might be able to get contact numbers from them)

Hope that helps.

thanks seventh_heaven, so you recommend the Gold Coast hospital at southport?

I just hope Tweed is similar. I rang the hospital today and they advised me they do a tour of the maternity ward/birthing suites every 2nd Sunday and she offered to put me down but i felt silly as i am not yet pregnant! I told her i will call back when I get a BFP! :)

Jesse was born at 1.21am Sunday and i left at 3pm Monday. I had midwives come to my house every day for a week and then once a week for 3 weeks. A friend had a baby at the same hospital and chose to stay in for 5 days. Before i went home they just wanted to know i was confident, Jesse was feeding and i could change a nappy.
Second baby ill probably stay in a little longer, but who knows.. i just felt more comfortable being at home.

Kellxx... you mentioned that your friend stayed at the same hospital and stayed 5nts? that sorta answered my question... so basically, it doesnt matter which hospital you stay at... it's up to how confident you feel and how confident the midwives think you are? is that right? So after 2 nights if they said i could go home, but i didn't feel confident with the b/feeding etc i could stay a bit longer? or if baby wasn't latching on properly etc, they would probably say another 1 or 2 nights for you..?
so if i actually said "i am not sure if i would be okay at home just yet..." they would keep me longer? who knows i may feel great after 12hrs and wanna leave! but at least i know there is the option to stay longer....if need be...

my older sister (29) just had her 1st baby and they kept her in there for 4nights and 4 days thats a long time....

Hi Renstar - I went public and was reassured they wouldn't make me go home if I didn't feel confident. It really took the pressure off because I was struggling to breastfeed DS after losing a lot of blood and feeling so exhausted. I stayed for 3 days and left when I wanted to, they were so lovely and never rushed me out. They also gave me free access to a lactation consultant in case I needed it after I left.

i couldn't wait to leave - i had to stay 48hours but that was for medical reasons - you may be surprised at how well you'll feel - i was busting to get home - I didn't stay a minute longer

Trish - I hope my hospital is that good to me!! That's good they let you take your time etc.. be nothing worse than feeling rushed as though they wanted to occupy your bed with someone else.. it would be horrible... esp with #1 baby, they should be that little bit more patient with you.. (i hope!)
Dianna, yeah one of my friends couldnt wait to get out either.. she felt great after...

I suppose you would be eager to get home and get into routine hey? I've been told it gets harder when you get home so may aswell get stuck into it... LOL

I had an uncomplicated normal labour and I stayed 5 nights. My hospy were really big on breastfeeding and I had heaps of help, they did not like you to go unless your milk was in and you were feeding well, bless them :D

It was a small private hospy in Sydney.

I think every hospital should not let you go until your milk has come in... (unless you say you are ready and happy to go)... that's great they did that...

Maybe that's what my sisters hospital did, she gave birth at sydney hospital near Caringbar or Paramatta? Not sure the name of it.. but she was in 4 nights...uncomplicated birth too

I stayed for 3 nights but it was totally up to me when I left. They actually never discussed it with me, we just announced that we were going to leave when we felt like it.

I'm hoping to leave a bit earlier this time, it's hard to sleep in a hospital with lots of noise all night.

This is a bit cheeky, but I suggest waiting until baby has done their first "poo" before leaving. Then all the grossness goes on the hospital's nappies instead of your own :-)

I was in a public hospital with the last birth and it seemed there you could stay as long as you wanted.

I wanted to leave that day, but was not allowed to due to BP. The next day, I was packed ready to go, but again the final BP check was too high and I was swelling up still so I wasn't allowed to go. It ended up being a good thing because that night DS had heaps of trouble attaching and actually couldn't feed and I had never expressed or bottle fed before, and I had no idea what to do, so I did need midnight midwife help (he has tongue tie which was diagnosed that night that made it hard for him to attach, so he had to be topped up by formula that once, but is BFing fine now). I was finally allowed to go home the next day. If you left before 5 days, you were considered 'early disharge' and they organized a midwife to come to your home for about 5 days follow up afterward to check mum and bubs. I had this, it was called home midwife service (all free) and the midwife drove an hour and half to see us and stayed for around an hour, weighed DS, checked my health and was there for BFing issues.

Some women in the hospital were onto their third baby like me, had had a vaginal birth, but were staying for 5 days for a rest and this was totally fine with the midwives. I was actually encouraged to stay longer by midwives because there were concerned about bubs and PPH because of my history but I found hospital stressful and DS did much better when I could go home.

With my previous two babies (I had them in a different state), with my first, I stayed in 2 nights, but you just simply weren't allowed to stay longer, problems or not in that hospital. I heard midwives yell at women that asked to stay longer. With DD, I opted to leave the same day as I gave birth.

It was refreshing to see that some hospitals still do allow women to stay longer if they want to and need to, I had no idea that public hospitals still allowed that.

Definately check up and find your options out so you feel at peace with it a bit more. I can be daunting to think about, but often women find getting home is a little easier. I did because I didn't have to worry about Leo waking up the other ladies in the room as he was the crier in the ward and I'd have to go out to this other room for hours during the night as he was keeping other ladies up.

Good luck hun :hug:

Thanks Tara for your story :)

Cynthaz, hehe that is a bit cheeky! but great idea ;)

I think a alot depends on the hospital, how many births they have at the time, how much room there is etc. If you need to stay longer, and the have the resources, a lot of times you can. Its the having the resources part that can get in the way.

I gave birth in a public hospital, the standard was 3 nights but I think this may have recently changed to 2. I stayed four after the midwife walked in to my room on the day I was meant to leave and found me a sobbing mess on the floor. I got booked in to the breastfeeding day stay at the hospital for the following day, and they asked me if I wanted to stay another night but I said no, as it was too loud, and I felt like DS was disturbing the other mums (I'd been in a double/private room for the fist 3 nights, and a shared room with 3 people for the 4th)

I loved staying in hospital, I would never have coped with a birth centre (well unless I'd had my baby there and then booked into a private hospital...can you do that?)

ETA: with regard to day1, day2 etc when you are in hossy. Different hospitals have different "start" times for the day. Most are 12midnight or 12noon.

DS was born at 3:45am, and my hospital counted him as a day old cos their day started at midnight. The LC reckon if I'd been at the RWH in Melb, their day starts at noon, and that I would have had less pressure on me to comp feed (which I refused) becuase he would have been seen as day younger.

Rayray.... thanks for your story too :) It gives me an idea as to what to expect and how different circumstances and hospitals treat people differently... when i'm pregnant i want to take a tour of the public hospital i am going to... it's only 10mins from our house. if we are happy with them then we will go with them otherwise the next hospital is 40mins drive up the coast and in labour i will not want to do that!!!