How long did you stay in hospital after giving birth?

[NewbieToThis]

Posting here for traffic.

just curious how long were in you hospital after having your baby? What was your experience of care on the postnatal ward? Were you happy with the length of time you were in for? Did your baby settle on the ward? Did you get support at home if you had a difficult birth or you were a first time mum

With DD I had hoped to be home a few hours after birth but due to a nasty tear and blood loss, I was kept in overnight and had to have bloods checked the next day before they discharged me.
With DS I had to stay in for 24hrs as he needed to be monitored due to my waters breaking early. The staff were brilliant and had everything ready for us to leave bang on 24 hrs after!

DD 22 hours despite emergency c section which resulted in major hemorrhage. I was rushed out and felt very vulnerable.

DS 48 hours to monitor low level jaundice and raspy breathing. He was also c section after failure to progress during VBAC.

Gave birth 5pm, was discharged around 1pm the next day - could have left sooner but we opted to wait for the newborn hearing test so we didn't have to come back in. However the birth was very quick, straightforward, no issues with myself or baby - if they were born in the morning we probably wouldn't have needed to stay overnight but they like to monitor babies for a few hours after birth to ensure no signs of infection etc. We were on the birth centre - lovely, comfy double bed for my partner and I, with a proper crib for baby. Ensuite with a bath. Staff were all fab. Baby slept like a dream. Our first baby, our family aren't super local but were/are very supportive, plus between my partner and I we coped great, we both have prior experience with babies (I work in paediatrics and my partner has lots of younger siblings & niblings) so it wasn't too much of a shock for either of us.

1st baby dd born at 9:56pm. Home by 2am. They said i could stay but I was desperate to go home. Luckily I lived with my mum and she stayed awake looking after dd whilst I got a good few hours sleep.

Currently 37 weeks with 2nd and hoping it'll either be born at home or a nice easy birth so I can get home ASAP.

First time mum. Gave birth at 5am, birth was straight forward and I’d had an epidural. Was up, about and had gotten a bath before 9am. Baby checked over by the relevant people before 11am and then we just sat around waiting to be discharged which was 4pm. We just wanted to be out and home as fast as possible as rest on the ward was impossible with how busy it was.

One night with both.
first experience was amazing.
second was horrible waited 6 hours for someone to come help me get pjs from my suitcase - had a spinal block and couldn’t move - partner had been sent home before transfer to ward due to covid so I was all sad and alone with a newbie after forceps delivery 🥲
was glad to get home the next day

I had an horrendous birth after a 41 hour labour. Finally gave birth at 10am on a Saturday and got sent home at 6pm on Sunday after kicking up a bit of a fuss.
I was sent up to the ward at 12 and then was pretty much forgotten about.
They said they wasn't able to give me anything to drink because they had ran out of jugs.
I had a cup of tea about 10:30am after giving birth and then didn't have anything else to drink until 3am the following day when a cleaner came into the ward and noticed I didn't have any water.
She went off and found me a jug.
They also didn't show me where anything was.
I had to go looking for the baby milk and a janitor showed me where the milk room was. He also showed me where the toilets were as well.
I initially started off in one hospital but due to complications got transferred by ambulance to a different one.
So in the chaos some of my things got left in the car.
When my husband arrived the next day an realised I hadn't taken my own medication in ages because I didn't have it he went and found a nurse so I could get discharged.
This was when he first arrived in the morning.
It was 5.30pm in the evening before she finally came back with the discharge papers.
The whole experience from start to finish was just horrendous.
I developed a really bad infection afterwards and was in agony and no I didn't get any support at home.
We were just left to get on with it.

So sorry for all of you who had bad experiences ❤️
Fortunate enough to have gone private, excellent experiences. Both elective CS, dh was able to stay with me for both, round the clock postnatal care and BF support, physio. Stayed for 4 days each time. Had my dp's at home who helped when we got home.

First time about 10 or 11 hours and second time I didn't go in at all, had him at home. Midwives stayed with me for about 2 or 3 hours maybe? Yes I was happy with that on both counts.

5 days with my now 12 year old due to 2l blood loss and low iron.
2 days with now 9 year old after planned c-section. Left in noisy high dependency bit but still ok
1 day with 15 month old after planned c-section. Shared room, horribly short staffed, barely any after care on the ward. Only interest was getting me discharged as soon as possible and trying to push paracetamol as the best and only painkiller!

C Section Tuesday morning. I forced myself to wash and put on make up and through gritted teeth I shuffled to the nurses desk to beg them to let me go home on basis I was “OK” Wednesday afternoon.

It was during lockdown so I was completely alone without DH. A midwife took pity on me and even gave me half a pack of my medication when the pharmacy were being too slow on the promise DH would come and collect the prescription next day.

No pain relief with the Caesarian????

First one - induced, then 36 hours later had a caesarean. Stayed in 6 days in total. Had trouble breastfeeding and was not impressed with the care I received after the birth.

Second one - chose a different hospital! I was kept in overnight once contractions started so the could keep an eye on scar from c-section. Had every pain medication and intervention they could give me. Born ‘naturally’ with forceps and an episiotomy. Left the next day.

Very different experience second time around but I was not a new mum by then so far more savvy.

Dc1 I self discharged 12 hours after he was born as the postnatal ward was awful. Midwife came around at 7am the following day at home.
Dc2 was discharged 24 hours later as had minor surgery for a retained placenta. Postnatal ward was old, the communal shower flooded at every use and then the corridor. Short staffed I pleaded to have my catheter removed as on notes but it wasn’t done until the following day. No help due to staff shortages. Grim.
Dc3 was in NICU (in part due to serious cock ups during pregnancy & labour).
DC4 was a new postnatal ward and was very nice, clean, quiet, private. More staff but no help as my 4th child they kind of leave you to it. These were between 2014-2019.

5 days with DS as I haemorrhaged and then we both got put on the sepsis pathway.

It was the weirdest experience for me, perhaps just because I was woefully under prepared. The care was good, I guess, but I still felt completely lost. In hindsight it was good I stayed in because I got help with breastfeeding and learning to use the breast pump whereas if I’d just gone home I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do and would have had an absolute meltdown (I kind of did anyway).

DS was mostly good on the ward, except for one night, and it was only once we got home that he went mental!

I did have support at home from my mum and DP but I was still a mess.

So overall I found it weird, exhausting, quite traumatic, but I think I was quite lucky with the care I received.

With both dc’s I was home within 12 hours of giving birth. I didn’t need or want to stay and the hospital were happy for me to go.

Seven days with DS as he was born with e-coli. A 46 hour back to back labour ending in an emergency c-section at 11pm. DH was only allowed to stay for an hour before he was sent home.

Transferred to post-natal ward which was bloody awful. Shouted at for ringing my buzzer because DS was crying and my epidural hadn’t worn off so I couldn’t get him. Dreadful food, no breastfeeding support, hit and miss whether pain killers were administered on time or even at all, filthy showers and toilets. It was hideous. DS remains an only child!

1st baby - 2 nights in a private room (my baby was prem and stayed 2 weeks in NICU but I was discharged after 2 days)
2nd baby - I was in 2 nights before birth, my waters went but had to wait for a midwife on the labour ward for me to be induced. Gave birth at 5am and stayed in overnight until the day after.
Both births was good care other than the evident lack of staff the 2nd time hence having to wait nearly 2 days to be induced.

First was a home birth so was there anyway.. second in a birthing centre left morning after a night birth so pretty quick.

struggled with BF both and could have done with more support

I hated the postnatal ward. Absolutely horrific. I signed myself out against medical advice both times. Did not stay overnight as staying through the day was bad enough. How horrible I found the postnatal ward was a big factor in booking to have a homebirth with this 3rd pregnancy

Mine were 7 years apart and the oldest born in early 90s, c section and ten days stay, surprised when I had dd in 98 and in for 3 days with a section. Bloody glad to be out second time, first time the nurses really looked after babies and mums. Second time I couldn’t even get a shower.

First child. 2 nights. Episiotomy and ventouse. On a ward that was ok. They took baby t the nursery and gave her a bottle so I could sleep as she was crying and wouldn’t latch on. 2nd night was just me and a teen mum who’s bf brought her fish n chips and they were quite loud for a while. Baby cried and wouldn’t stop. No me came to help. I rang my DH in the middle of the night crying. I insisted I went home the next day as I could handle that again. Discharged after being given a bath lesson.

2nd child. Pretty similar birth. But baby taken straight to scubu as she went blue. First night i was told to sleep but ward was full of crying babies except mine. I was quite upset. Couldn’t sleep. Did go down to do feeds. Second night she was still in scubu, similar night. Went to do morning feed to find her dressed in hospital knitwear and that upset me as I wanted to dress her. She was allowed back down to the ward. I struggled to sleep as I was worried but she slept though. We went for bottles first time. Went home next day.

Food was awful. I’m dairy free and not given any alternative at the time other than toast at breakfast. Can’t even recall other meals.

6 hours for both kids. Fairly straightforward births though first was a bit of a shock and I don't think being discharged so early was good for my mental health. However I was glad to be home asap.

With DS I went in to be induced at 5pm Saturday. Gave birth midday Sunday. Had to stay in for 5 nights as DS contracted meconium aspiration syndrome and needed IV antibiotics twice a day. The maternity ward would have happily discharged me after 2 nights (retained placenta and numerous health issues) but kept me on the books so I could stay in the transitional care unit on SCBU. Had a room to ourselves to look after DS and they would just come and do obs every 6 hours and take him for tests and treatments. In the end he was discharged by paediatrics and I had to discharge myself cos the post natal ward was too busy to sign me off. I just wanted my own home by then. The care I got from both wards was good. Would definitely do it again if I didn’t have to do the teenage years again 🤣

First time: 4 hours 20 minutes -arrived at 5am, gave birth at 9:50, left at 14:20
second time: 3 hours (was supposed to be an hour earlier but was held up waiting on paperwork) - arrived at 21:15, gave birth at 22:15, left at 01:15.