Hospital stay after VBAC?

[LillianB]

How long do hospitals usually require you to stay after an uneventful VBAC? My daughter's planned HB turned into a C-section after 67 hrs of labor and we stayed in the hospital for 3 days, 2 nights. The staff was wonderful but I hated being there. Just wondering what to expect if the next time around goes more smoothly.

[RaspberryLeaf]

Friends of mine have only stayed 1 night. 

[AlexisT]

Same as for any other vaginal delivery. You legally have the right to 48 hours for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery (96 for uncomplicated CS). You don't have to take all that, just that your insurer is required to cover that much and you can't be forced to leave earlier. The minimum amount of time is that required for postpartum checks. Since these are normally done at a set time of day, and peds in particular may not be around to check (unless the hospital has an early discharge program) expect to stay overnight, get checked, and then you can go if everything is fine. If you give birth in the middle of the night, it might be possible to leave that coming day, but don't count on it. Expect a full overnight.

With an early discharge program you can be out in as little as six hours. Very rare to be that quick in the US, although the hospital I gave birth in in the UK routinely had everyone out within 12-24--one night's stay at most.

[samstress]

had my son via vbac early on a monday and left the next day.  they said i wouldn't be able to go home until i peed on my own, but i wanted to leave, so they sent me home with a catheter.  

i believe you can pretty much go home whenever you want, you just may have to sign something if they think it's too soon.

[MommyDOK]

My ob said I could go home a few hours after I had my vbac, BUT it was up to my ped to let the baby go with me.  I don't know about you, but I'm not leaving w/out my baby!!!  My ped did not have privileges at my hospital, so I had a house doc.  He told me that he would not let baby leave until 24 hour mark.  There is some test they do at 24 hours....I can't remember what.  I know my ped would have let me leave earlier, but again, I couldn't make the hospital doc do it.  So I think you always have the option of leaving against medical advice and I really considered that bc my babes were all born in winter and I am very paranoid about them catching something from the hospital. 

I spoke to a nurse that works at the hospital and she said they would definitely think I was odd and they've never had anyone ask to do that, except maybe a drug addict.  So I didn't really push it.  I guess if I had met w/ the house doc prior to delivery, I maybe could have talked him into it, but I was so busy at the end of my pregnancies and taking care of toddlers and planning a vbac that I never got around to it.  My first vbac was born at 9 at night and we discharged the following night at 9:15pm. 

[cinderella08]

I'm sure you can request an early discharge.  I'd urge you to use caution signing out AMA (against medical advice) if they won't "allow" you to be discharged early but you do it anyways.  I've read (though do not know this to be 100% true) of moms who's insurance companies refused to pay for their birth due to the documentation of AMA.

I personally stayed the full 48 hours after my VBAC.  The hospital I gave birth in is very mom and baby friendly.  I enjoyed the rest (I had a 20 month old at home!), was brought milk and cookies every night at 8pm, the food rocked (seriously!!), my CNMs were amazing, the LCs were fabulous, and the rooms were large and very peaceful and cozy!  I didn't mind at all.

[AlexisT]

No, that's not true. Your stay will be paid for. However, if you have complications as a result of going AMA, your insurer can refuse to pay for treating them.

You can always ask for early discharge, but if the baby needs to be checked and the ped isn't there, they won't be able to do it. When I got discharged after my C, in a hospital that normally does quick discharges, it took forever to get a ped to do the check. We wasted a good chunk of the day.

[cinderella08]

Originally Posted by AlexisT 

No, that's not true. Your stay will be paid for. However, if you have complications as a result of going AMA, your insurer can refuse to pay for treating them.

You can always ask for early discharge, but if the baby needs to be checked and the ped isn't there, they won't be able to do it. When I got discharged after my C, in a hospital that normally does quick discharges, it took forever to get a ped to do the check. We wasted a good chunk of the day.

Ah, see - like I said - it was just something that was totally hear-say.  It makes more sense for the insurance carrier to not pay for any complications as a result of AMA.

[sharr610]

I was out of the hospital 5 hours after my VBAC, with my baby.  Talk to Dr. AND Ped about early discharge AND a doula or other birth professional familiar with the hopsital and docs could help with this process.  If your ped gets all uppity about it(like mine did) you can drop them for the birth and take your chances with who is on call.  Good luck!

[Monkey Keeper]

We were discharged at 24 hours.  DS was born around noon, and we got home around 2PM the next day--discharge just seems to take a while sometimes! Once he was born, I knew I wanted to go home ASAP, so I told my post-partum nurse and also my OB that evening. I was made aware that it was up to the ped, so I made sure to tell the on-call doc from my practice who said she'd check with us again that next morning to discharge him. We wanted to wait and have his PKU done in the hospital, so we also waited for that. I actually was discharged at about 18 hours post-partum but we had to wait on the baby. It does help that our hospital has an integral birth center, and they do discharge early, so a lot of the nurses are used to the protocol. I don't think I could have gotten to leave any earlier than 24 hours, though.