Hospital Birth -- How Long Were You There? - Page 2

[roadfamily6now]

72 hours for c-section
24 hours for VBAC's 1 and 2
3 hours for VBAC #3 (DD was transfered to NICU)
48 longest freaken hours ever in California Hospital for VBAC #4, just cause it was hospital policy

[charmander]

DS was born on Saturday, we went home Sunday morning. We were there for approximately 24 hours. I guess we could have checked out early, but it didn't occur to us.

[Colorful~Mama]

child 1 - 1989, csection five days
child 2 - 2000 csection four days
child 3 - vba2c 2003 - 12 hours - had him at 1am, was home eatin' a turkey sandie and nak at 1pm the next afternoon

[witchbaby]

i was there just about 24 hours. they were "worried about infection" and wanted me to stay 48 hours, but we started kicking up a fuss. in retrospect, i should have left the instant i had feeling back in my right leg. :P
ps. with my c/s 2 years before, i was there just under 2 days.

[RockStarMom]

I gave birth in the morning, left in the afternoon(about 10 hours I think). They kept telling me they were sending someone to check us out officially, and I finally got fed up and checked us out AMA. If I were to do it again I would have left as soon as they had finished repairing the tearing I had.

[CookieMonsterMommy]

I was there for about 40 hours. Tried to stay longer but they wouldn't let me.

ds was in the NICU and I didn't want to go home without him

[TattooedMommy]

DD #1 1990 I had a midwife/ hospital birth/ no meds. I was released within a few hours of giving birth but the hospital would not release my daughter until she was seen be a pediatrician. Waited all day to see the pediatritian and he "never showed up." He finally showed up the next morning and I went home about an hour later, so about 27 hours after I had her. I later found out that the hospital I had her at didn't want to release me because I was an 18 year old single mom, but that's another story.

DS #2 1 2005 Had him at 10:46am OB/ Hospital/ Epi and we went home at 12pm the next day. 25 hours. But that first night home was hell and I wish I would of stayed longer.

DD #3 Due in Nov. I'm planning a "surprise" UC but know that my husband won't feel comfortable unless we transfer. Since I'll be there I'm planning on staying the full 48 hours my insurance covers.

[tex.mom]

I delivered at 12:14 p.m. one day and didn't get out till around 7 p.m. the next day. I was beside myself. I didn't sleep a wink my entire stay due to all the interruptions, and my husband got a serious stomach bug at the hospital and had to go home. I wanted OUT and we were calling and bugging the doc all the following day and it took that long to push all the paperwork through.

[PixelDust]

I noticed several people have said they were ready to leave but had to wait for the doctor to release them or their baby. Is that standard procedure? Is there a disadvantage to just leaving without waiting for the doctor? Not trying to be snarky; I really am this ignorant about hospitals and birth!

[Cate]

With Jenna, I let my inlaws bully me into staying for 2 days... With Callum, they tried again, but I refused to stay any longer than I had to. I probably could have gotten away with leaving that night (he was born about 10PM), but I decided to stay until the next morning for the PKU test... which apparently if they do it before 14 hours, they have to repeat later... so I stayed until they did the test at 14 hours, then immidiatly left.

[hubris]

#1: 27 hours after birth
#2: about 24 hours after birth

(BTW, nobody was *delivered* - my children were born - just a picky semantic thing)

I think each time I had the option to stay longer but didn't want to. Each time I spent one night there.

[sogriffin]

24 hours after a vag birth, with epidural and episiotomy (never again, btw!)

She was born at 6pm and I was ready to go home the next morning. My OB was ok with me going home ASAP, but the ped wanted me to stay until we saw the hospital LC. And then by the time we saw her, it was late enough we decided to stay for our "free" hospital dinner. So we checked out at 6pm the day after she was born.

[Lady Madonna]

DD was born at 12:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, and we were home by noon on Thursday; so, about 36 hours after birth. We only arrived at the hospital about 3 hours before she was born, so not even 48 hours total.

I was fine with staying that long - my mother wasn't coming until Friday night, so I felt a little more secure with the nurses around if I needed them. They were actually very good about leaving us alone for the most part, so that contributed to me being OK with it.

With this one, I'm not sure what we'll do. I think it'll depend on when the baby is born, how DD is doing while staying with friends, how I feel, etc. Play it by ear, I guess.

[cfiddlinmama]

Less than 24 hours total (I can't really remember how long after delivery) with both my hospital births. I had to jump through hoops and sign all sorts of stuff to do it too. Also, the pku - since they were less than 24hrs old the test wasn't valid. However, since we were leaving early, they insisted on doing it anyway and we had to promise (and sign) that we would come back in 2 days for a repeat. I was SOOO angry. I don't see the logic in that. Why couldn't my ped just do it after 48 hrs? Both were unmedicated, no complications vaginal births.

Best wishes on your upcoming birth!

[USAmma]

By my own choice I stayed with dd1's birth for about 36 hours and the same for dd2's birth. I needed the rest. Especially with dd2's birth, I had a very active, demanding 3yo at home and although I missed her, I wanted to just rest and nest. I dimmed the lights and slept a lot and absorbed the fact that I had another baby. It was kinda nice. I had my own room and the nurses left me alone.

[KittyKat]

I came home 5 hours after DD was born (most recent birth).

The hospital food SUCKED. It was seriously nasty. I'd rather eat stuff DH got for me. The nurse was nice, and all, but geesh people I just had a baby I want REAL food.

I don't rest well at hospitals. The beds are hellaciously uncomfortable, the nurses come in every few hours to "check your vitals" and the intercom pages "Dr. so-and-so come to lababalology... Dr. so-and-so" At all hours day or night.

I talked about it with my midwife beforehand, knew she was OK w/ it. Talked to a ped. about it, made arrangements that IF the timing worked, all went well, etc, she would sign us out early. Not all docs will do this but I'll tell you it really cuts down on the red tape if you can find one!

The ped. nurse shot daggers into us with her eyes and told us to "think really hard" about what we were doing. Lady, I've got 5 kids, this isn't my first time caring for a newborn, mmm-kay? So we'll just take our baby and let you get on with your day. Go save the world somewhere else.

I signed a bunch of papers stating that I knew my baby might grow two heads if she didn't have the eye ointment (I have no STDs) vitamin K shot (SHE didn't get circed or have a traumatic birth), hep B (she's not an IV drug user or sexually active yet...) and hearing screen (she was turning her head to look for me when I spoke to her at 3 hours old, don't need a machine to tell me she can hear). So far her one head is perfect and gorgeous.

[Sagesgirl]

We were there 2 nights, as I had Esther at almost 11pm and they wouldn't let us out after 24 hours unless she had a confirmed well baby appointment within the next couple of days. It doesn't really bother me, nor did it then. I was able to get a lot more sleep at the hospital than I'd probably have been able to at home, since at the hospital I didn't have to take care of the other 2 as well.

[Imogen]

Son was born at 2.20am Saturday morning and I left the hospital Sunday lunchtime. My son was a forceps delivery, so we stayed in hospital a little longer than usual so that they could monitor him. If it had been a complication free delivery, then we probably would have gone home Saturday late afternoon.

Although I have some gripes about the 'service' in all I enjoyed that short time there, it allowed me the opportunity to bond with my baby without other people being there. One major gripe about the service was me having to change my own bedsheets when I could barely feel my legs due to an epidural.

[Village Mama]

I stayed for 48 hours with my first birth... it was standard policy. They at least made sure that we were nursing well. We were completely healthy and just wanted to be at home! But I was bored out of my mind and mistreated by the nurses... I assume that it was because of my age.
With my second I had a hospital birth with a midwife. I walked out of there 2 hours aftewr he was born! I love midwives!

[box_of_rain]

With both of my boys, I went well over 42 weeks, so unfortunately I had to be induced. The first labor was really long (24+ hours) and there were complications, but I made it through unscathed (and unmedicated - both times). I was able to leave after 24 hours.

My second labor was (also induced) only 4 hours long and I also left at 24 hours.

For both I spent the night before labor at the hospital for induction. I had a midwife, but the hosp. insisted both boys needed to see a ped (same hosp. both times). Otherwise I'd have loved to have gotten out o fthere earlier!