[LiLStar]

I was just wondering, after the birth, maybe waiting a couple hours, is there anything that prevents me from just.. taking the baby and checking out? I know the staff would not be happy, but can they force me (or most importantly, baby) to stay the full 24 hours? Its a hospital not a prison..

 

[the_lissa]

I can't see why not. Here, if you have a mw attended hospital birth, and everything goes well, youc an check out after 2 hours.

 

[mamajandtheboys]

you can leave, but if the doctor doesn't discharge you, you will be labeled as leaving AMA (against medical advice) and insurance won't pay for any of your hospitalization.

 

[Sailmom]

You can always leave AMA, but I would try to get your HC provider to discharge you - sometimes they will do that rather than have you go AMA. You also don't have to sign an AMA form. Nobody can force you to do anything.

 

[LiLStar]

Ack, not having insurance pay would suck! lol. I'll talk to my midwife about that

I wonder how cooperative she'd be! hehehe. I'm gonna do what I can to avoid the hospital, but if I end up there I wana be prepared.

 

[sapphire_chan]

An acquaintance recently gave birth in a hospital where the babies ID bands will set off alarms if you try to take them out of the L&D area. It very neatly makes it so the babies have to go through the nursery and meet up with mom on the other side. She learned this because she had some blood pressure issues and fainted after the birth and what with the delay in the process she was wheeled to her recovery room with the baby in her arms and a whole group of nurses announcing "it's okay, false alarm, it's okay" to keep the other staff members from tackling her and sirens going off.

So, um, in that situation, I'm guessing just walking out of the hospital could be difficult.

 

[nichole]

mostly you need the ped to be on board. just shop around and find a ped that will help you. also, are you going to have the pku done elsewhere? i've heard the first 6 hours post pardum is the most critical so i might leave after 6 hours.

 

[LiLStar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nichole mostly you need the ped to be on board. just shop around and find a ped that will help you. also, are you going to have the pku done elsewhere? i've heard the first 6 hours post pardum is the most critical so i might leave after 6 hours.

My midwife can probably recommend some cooperative peds

She spouted off a few names at the last visit because I need one who will be okay with me not doing the eye drops. I wanted to get the PKU test done at around 5 days or so? I read that if its done too early its not even effective, and its best to wait until after milk has come in and baby has had 1 or 2 good feedings. When I brought that up to my midwife she said its the "first protein" and that colostrum counts. Hmm.. which one of us is confused? One of my concerns with a hospital is, it really feels like a threatening environment where I have to keep my guard up at all times. How can I get some rest after labor if I'm constantly worried that once asleep, a nurse will decide to "help"?*shudder* ...maybe i'm a little over the top, but it totally feels like the medical industry is out to get me. UC sounds awesome..

 

[Heathermhill]

HI!
I know how you feel about wanting to leave. Every hosp is different, for me, we had to have baby checked out by pediatrician first. So like someone said above, if you can have a ped check baby out and if they give you OK... WOW that insurance part would suck huh?!!!

 

[alegna]

I've heard that the threat of insurance not paying is false. I've yet to hear of anyone who personally had insurance refuse to pay, but they like to threaten you with that to make you cooperate.

-Angela

 

[onlyboys]

I have heard of cases where the mom is ready to go, but the baby is not yet discharged. So, mom can go and baby stays. I would have no idea how to circumvent this. We were discharged within 20ish hours of the birth with my last two hospital births. One night, one morning, and then we were gone.

 

[Shell_Ell]

I left after 12 hours, and people looked at me like I was crazy. Honestly I was ready to leave at about 6 hours or so. I had midwives lined up for home visits so I don't think we signed out AMA, I think we just transferred care. We were a hospital transfer from a birth center.

 

[nichole]

everything i read says that the milk has to come in first for it to be accurate. i just wanted to bring it up so that they didn't try to talk you into staying b/c of that. good luck refusing the eye drops. i think if you find a good ped you are golden. just ignore the nurses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiLStar My midwife can probably recommend some cooperative peds She spouted off a few names at the last visit because I need one who will be okay with me not doing the eye drops. I wanted to get the PKU test done at around 5 days or so? I read that if its done too early its not even effective, and its best to wait until after milk has come in and baby has had 1 or 2 good feedings. When I brought that up to my midwife she said its the "first protein" and that colostrum counts. Hmm.. which one of us is confused? One of my concerns with a hospital is, it really feels like a threatening environment where I have to keep my guard up at all times. How can I get some rest after labor if I'm constantly worried that once asleep, a nurse will decide to "help"?*shudder* ...maybe i'm a little over the top, but it totally feels like the medical industry is out to get me. UC sounds awesome..

 

[aniT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiLStar I was just wondering, after the birth, maybe waiting a couple hours, is there anything that prevents me from just.. taking the baby and checking out? I know the staff would not be happy, but can they force me (or most importantly, baby) to stay the full 24 hours? Its a hospital not a prison..

I believe they want you to stay at least 6 hours. They made me stay 12 because I had an epidural. I was adamant I was leaving ASAP almost as soon as the baby was out!

 

[aniT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nichole everything i read says that the milk has to come in first for it to be accurate. i just wanted to bring it up so that they didn't try to talk you into staying b/c of that. good luck refusing the eye drops. i think if you find a good ped you are golden. just ignore the nurses.

Since I never had this test done later, I assume that was what they were taking blood for before we left. So it was done around 12 hours.

 

[1babysmom]

I left around 10 hours later. I just asked my nurse, who asked my doc, who said baby and I were recovering wonderfully and could go ahead and take off! (and I even had an epi) Even with the hospitals "24 hr minimum stay policy", we didn't have any problems with it or with our insurance.

 

[Tori Gollihugh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiLStar I was just wondering, after the birth, maybe waiting a couple hours, is there anything that prevents me from just.. taking the baby and checking out? I know the staff would not be happy, but can they force me (or most importantly, baby) to stay the full 24 hours? Its a hospital not a prison..

It depends on where you are and the climate of CPS in your area... they probably can't MAKE you stay in most places, but if you go against their direct 'recommendation' they can certainly make your life difficult.

Also, if you're GBS positive and have ANY signs of fever during/after birth and try to leave, they will probably harass you - or worse.

Try to get your doc/care provider to approve it before hand - with the caveat that if anything is REALLY wrong you'd be willing to stay. That way they can possibly ease that along. JMHO

 

[DandK]

I asked my mw about this today and she said that as long as baby and I were doing well that we could leave as early as 6 hours but since this is the first time I'll be bf, she recommends that I stay a little longer to make sure baby is feeding well. When dh and I discussed it we decided that if she decides to be born in the am, like her brother and sister, then we'd definetly want to leave asap but if she decides to be an evening baby then we'll stay till morning.

 

[RainbowsMum]

I don't see how they can stop you - I fully intend to leave as soon as possible, I'm going in, giving birth and leaving again. I hate hospitals. Have arranged it with my MW already thankfully

 

[wanderinggypsy]

Here (in Canada) the government pays for the whole deal regardless of what you do. However, removing the baby before he/she is 'discharged' can result in having Children's Aid on your back. That having been said, my midwife is perfectly willing to release her moms and babies after 4 hours, provided that there are no problems. When I had OB attended births, I was forced to spend the night, and frankly, it sucked. I like my own bed! I may still even consider a home birth this time, but it makes me a litle nervous. We'll see.