hospital stay after birth?

[SethandRuby'sMum]

how long with a 2nd baby did they say u "have" to stay... first time i was welcome to stay as long as i wanted but when i wanted to leave after only 48hours they were trying to push me to stay.. so after saying how much i hates hospitals i was able to be discharged... this time they said i have to stay at least 6hours... because of heamoraging**sp** but if i was still in qld there stay was only 4hours... why would it be that different... i mean sure 2hours but 2 hours somewhere where u dont want to be is awfull..

whats stoping u from leaving?
if u had a fine labour why cant u leave as soon as ur ready..?

how long did u "have" to stay" with ur babies
did u try and leave earlier... if so what happened?

[EandN]

Both my births were in different states, but both times we "had" to stay 4 hours.
I stayed 24 hours with my first because their was meconium in the waters and she was a bit orange. with my second I had her at night time so i was too tired to try and organise discharge so i left the next day. I have no idea how anyone leaves after 4 hours, they are soo slack with organising discharge, it takes for ever. For the next i will be on their backs the whole time to get me out of their as soon as a i want, even if under 4 hours.

saying that though, you don't "have" to stay really. You would have to sign a form to say your leaving against the doctors advice, just like any hospital stay

[Susan Mac]

I'm in QLD at it is six hours at my hospital. I left the following morning with DS, because my husband had been overseas for two months and had just got home afew hours before DS was born, and I really wanted to see him! This next baby I'll stay as long as they let me!

[punkbaby]

When i had dd3 and ds in melbourne they were happy for me to go in 4 hours, i stayed one night though only as i was paranoid and wanted to at least make sure bubs had had a good feed and poo etc.

My first i stayed 7 days lol i loved it.

With this bubs i had her at 6pm ad went home 9am the next morning, i was advised to stay longer as they were worried about my low iron and hemmoraging etc but were satisified when they checked things to see how much loss i actually had. They did say that as i had other kids at home they were happy for me to stay for 5 days but that the recommended time to stay was 4 hours after birth, providing bubs had had a feed.

[~CupCakes~]

its up to each individual hospital,is the idea ive been getting but if they can see it would put you and subsequently bubs at ease to send you home, providing everything goes well :fingerscrossed:. most hosp have a home maternity service now so just let them know how stringly you feel about not stayting longer than is needed

[~Emmylou~]

It depends but there is nothing to stop you from leaving when you feel ready.

They might (or might not depending on their mood LOL) try to talk you out of it but ultimately it's your decision. Then you just sign a form saying you are discharging yourself and off you go :D

I've had a couple of mums who have left 4-6 hours after their second babies. If you feel happy to leave, then you can ;)

[the_queen]

I went in just to push him out, I wanted to leave when he was about 45 minutes old but I 'had' to stay 4 hours. I figured, it was late afternoon, my other daughter had been there with us all day, my sister said she'd take her home and feed her, so me and the new boy could have some snuggle time waiting for our 4 hours to be up. After 4 hours I asked again, they got snooty with me (!!!) and said bubs had to be seen by the paediatrician, who was busy. Finally we left when bubby was 9 hours old. In retrospect I should have just left when I wanted to, they couldn't stop me and I should have done that. It would have been nice to have that snuggle time in my own bed with my new bubby. (I should have stayed home altogether.. but that's another story!)

My point is: they will have a "policy" about the doctor seeing bubby before you go, and if the doctor is called away or something, you'll have to wait longer and longer... if you're happy to leave, then leave as soon as you want to.

[wa mum of 4]

Please dont take this the wrong way but if you hate hospitals and dont want to stay why dont you have a home birth?????

It is like any admittance to a hospital there are rules and regulations that must be adhered to. It is to safe guard the hospital in case something goes wrong!!! You can discharge your self "against medical advice", you have to sign a form which means the hospital is relinquishing all ties to you or your baby.

4 Hours is the norm!

[Milliner]

I was also told that I 'had' to stay for 4 hours. I ended up staying for about 20 hours, 16 hours too long.

[SethandRuby'sMum]

Please dont take this the wrong way but if you hate hospitals and dont want to stay why dont you have a home birth?????


:laughing: id love to but dh isnt at all keen on the idea. :( hes a "pro doc" kinda person where i am not..

i think as soon as i can walk i will be asking to get out.. maybe the annoyance thing might work :D

thank you everyone for ur replys.. i dont like the idea of being away from my dh or my son overnight... :o i havent left my son since i stoped work to be at home with him for longer then an hour :o

[Kayangel]

Im having my first bub and only "have" to stay 6 hours! so if bubs and i are fine i will be leaving 6 hours after his born.

[Mrs J]

i wanted to leave with my first the next day and they told me it would be best to stay 3 days and if something happend blah blah the guilt trip, this time i wanted to go that arvo and they said i had to be there 24 hrs, i ended up being there 2 days, then i was out of there :laughing:

[Kayangel]

i wanted to leave with my first the next day and they told me it would be best to stay 3 days and if something happend blah blah the guilt trip, this time i wanted to go that arvo and they said i had to be there 24 hrs, i ended up being there 2 days, then i was out of there :laughing:

Because i live with my mum who has had 5 bubs they are happy for me to leave after 6 hours. (of course if everything is fine with bubs and i)

[Wy & Deeky]

Im due with my second in 3 months and Im having the baby in a birthing centre. Their guidelines provided everything is OK with the birth, mother and child, 4-6 hours is the time they generally get you to stay and then you are allowed home. The middie then comes to the house every day for a week and once a week after that for 6 weeks. Im looking forward to it. I hated staying in hospital and wanted my own space and bed.

[Jenko]

4-6 hours was my hospitals policy.

We left with DS when he was 5 hours old at 2am. We all slept for an hour or so on the double bed together... me, DH and DS between us waiting for the paed to check him out.

It was quiet and a bit eery leaving the hospital on a hot balmy summers night (well morning really) with this new tiny bundle.

We had to walk past Emergency so there were a few people lingering around, but as we came closer to the street this dodgy looking guy was hanging around and I automatically stopped in my tracks like a mummabear protecting her cub and waited for him to move on down the street a bit.

It was lovely though the next morning when DD woke to meet her new baby brother.

[Reidymac]

Hmmmmm, I am not sure whether I should post this ...........1) because I am a big advocate that birth is very normal and natural, not a medical event and 2) because I hate when women scare each other with horror stories.............but I just feel the need to add a varied perspective about leaving as early as possible.

The Hospital may be covering their own @sses to an extent but they do have reason to want to ensure all is well with you and the baby because things can go off track after a very normal birth.

My 2nd child was born in a very speedy, spontaneous, drug free, natural delivery. In fact I was only in hospital for 7 minutes before he arrived and had BF, showered and dressed, feeling fabulous and ready for home within an hour. Everything was perfect and I was a pretty confidant 2nd time mum rareing to be on my way home. One midwife thought I was a little pale and seemed shaky but I brushed it off as I'm Irish and therefore always pale and shaky because, well hell I just had a 50 minute labour and nearly delivered in the car and I was all hocked up on natural adrenalin and endorphins ;) It was an amazing birth. But I have to say I'm very thankful her diligence (stubbornness) saved my life when everything went pare shaped at about the 7 hour post birth mark.

Basically I had post partum pre-eclampsia which rose so high so quickly I started fitting and stroking. My brain was essentially frying and I was lucky to be there at hospital when it happened. I ended up in intensive care for 5 days having some pretty full on treatment. I'm perfectally fine now, in fact I just happily did the whole thing over again in Dec 07 welcoming our #3 child and I'm happy to admit that was a fairly freakish occurrence. There had been no history of PE or signs of blood pressure issues before or immediately after the birth .... but post partum pre-eclampsia does happen, as do PP hemorrhages, baby issues etc.

These and other things I am happily ignorant to might be some of the reasons why hospitals just want you and baby to stick around for a little bit of time and kick back and relax, let the peads and the docs give the 2 of you the once over before you go and catch any problems that rarely ....but occasionally happen. I personally am glad I stuck around for those extra few hours and that the midwives did their silly monitoring.


I hope the birth of your baby is beautiful and wonderful and without issue and I hope you take the time to savour you first moments and days together whereever they may be. Don't feel the need to rush any of it ;)
Best wishes, Reidy