Anyone check themselves out of the hospital shortly after birth? - Page 3

[applejuice]

To Modesto Doula:

I am in Los Angeles, California.

I have lived here fifty years.

I am the oldest of nine children, eight of whom were born at home; I am the mother of four children born at home, and I was a CCE for five years in the 1980's. I am now a school teacher.

The State of California also tests for spinal bifida early in pregnancy using the AFP test. The test results are sent to one lab in Sacramento. This test is optional also, but few women are told this.

Drug tests are also run on suspected drug abusers without consent.

You have few rights in a hospital. I use Dr. Mendelsohn's dictum about the hospital. You go there only if you are carried in. Once there, you treat the stay like a war and get out as quickly and safely as is possible.

My own sister had a repeat Caesarean Section for placenta previa and her doctor ordered that she stay five days because of the loss of blood. She got plenty of rest. She went home as soon as she could. However, she was rooming with a woman who had parties all night long and the nursing staff refused to throw the partiers out after visiting hours. Some of the male partiers were ogling my sister as she tried to discreetly nurse her new DD while confined to bed.

I registered a written complaint with the hospital administration, stating the time, ward, and offending nurses. My sister got part of her stay comped by the hospital with a written apology.

It should have never happened in the first place.

[Parthenia]

We were in the hospital a total of 17 hours. We go there an hour before dd was born (midnight), stayed the night, and got ready to leave that noon. We would have left sooner, but we had to wait for the discharge nurse to come do her thing. She was a really cool nurse, very AP, honest, open. As much as I wanted to leave, I was glad we stuck around, because the hospital was air conditioned, and our car and apartment were not (and it was hot!), the nurse gave me a free tube of lanolin, and she showed me a variety of breastfeeding holds. I mentioned to her that I really wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed, and wanted to be home hours ago. She said that lots of mothers like to stay longer for a variety of reasons. Some like the extra help, the doting, the safety. Lots of us are anxious to return to our happy, safe, harmonious homes, where there's home cooked meals, and friendly hands waiting to help, but not everyone does, and the hospital staff can't always tell the difference.
It may not seem like it all the time, because the hospital staff may stall, or be pushy, but every patient, except in some psychiatric situations, has the *right to refuse treatment*. Vaccines, medications, procedures-all of it. When you're in labor you're focused on the task at hand, so refusing and fighting someone who intends for you to agree to the treatment is hard. I'm in my second year of nursing school, and they do teach us how to gently coax a patient to comply (although they don't call it compliance anymore in school, there are nurses who were trained to get a patient to comply). Sometimes reversing a refusal is a good thing, say if you have an immobile patient with a foley catherter who refuses to let you bathe him. And of course hospitals are not immune to employing control freaks who are not gentle in their method of getting compliance. So if you know you will want to leave soon after the birth, put it in your birthplan. If you do not want your newborn vaxed, Vitamin K'ed, given a pacifier or formula, taken out of your room, put it in writing, in your birthplan and have someone--a doula, a partner, a friend who is a nurse and knows the ropes-- be your bad cop/enforcer. The doctors and nurses are required to document everything. It can't hurt to do the same. Make your wishes known in writing before you get there.
Bottom line, you have the right to refuse treatment, and can leave when you wish. You might have to wait for the endless paperwork, and they'll want to offer you the regular protocol while you wait (so that they can document that it was offered and refused). Be your own advocate, or assign someone beforehand to be your advocate.
If dh and I ever agree to have more babies, we're staying home.

[AKmoose]

I highly recommend having a big, long discussion with your husband regarding the freestanding birth center...encourage him to do some reading regarding safety etc. and have him meet with the midwives. It would be horribly sad if his insecurities keep you from having the birth experience you deserve. I think it's most important that you feel comfortable and secure, which means the two of you should find a happy medium too...good luck and I definitely vote on the birthcenter (#1 was born in one, #2 (due in 3 weeks) will be born at home)!

[Artisan]

Originally posted by Modesto Doula
That's the way they started the Hep B vax around here in early 99. Then there was a few articles of concern, and then the FDA requested that the vax manufacturers voluntarily remove mercury from vax's. At that time hospitals around the nation stopped offering the vax to low risk infants. I have heard that in some parts of the country they still offer it to all parents, but here, they only give it to high risk infants at birth, and the peds start the vax at 2 mo.

Here is what I found on the American Academy of Pediatrics website:
2003 Immunization Schedule

1. Hepatitis B vaccine (HepB). All infants should receive the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine soon after birth and before hospital discharge; the first dose may also be given by age 2 months if the infant’s mother is HBsAg-negative.


Here's the link: http://www.cispimmunize.org/resear/rsh_main.html

[Artisan]

I had my first appointment with my MW yesterday. She was totally sympathetic to my feelings about the hospital where I delivered. I asked about leaving early, and she said that, unfortunately, the hospital would consider me "Leaving against medical advice". She thought I might be able to get away with staying 24 hours, but that would be the minimum.

Thanks, everyone, for the input!

[DesireeH]

I had an epidural and I asked to go home 12 hours after the birth and they said "sure, let me get the papers" (they were so overcrowded at the moment so I am sure thats why they were easy going about it). I was starving and they had not brought any food and I had had GD so my blood sugar had dropped to 40 from no food! I just wanted to get to eat was my main reason for wanting outta there! LOL Plus I wanted sleep.....I didnt sleep the whole night cause I refused to put the baby in the bassinet thingy and they didnt allow dh to stay the night because I had to share the room.

[tessamami]

Originally posted by Modesto Doula
The Hep B vax is a federal recommendation, not law, and most hospitals stopped routinely offering the Hep B vax in 2000 when manufacturers began pulling mercury out of vaccines. It is still strongly suggested that babies who have a family member or house mate with Hep B have the vax before leaving the hospital, but most hospitals do not offer it to low risk families. It is now done at the 2 mo visit with a ped.


As of several years ago, though "most hospitals stopped offering the Hep B vax in 2000. . . ." hospital routines are slow to change and we could find lots that still do. Also, I have found in my own personal experience that hospitals don't "offer" procedures. . . .they perform them.