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

Baby 1 - elective CS. 2.5 days. I honestly don't remember it well (15yrs ago) so can't have been that bad. Excellent support at home.

Baby 2 - emergency CS. 3 days. Awful after care. Left for hours on end alone. Couldn't reach baby. no one answered call bell. In incredible pain. Took for a shower then left in there. Cannula came out and sprayed bathroom red. No one around. Shuffled back to bed in tears.

Baby 3 - emergency CS / 5 weeks prem. 2 weeks, 2 days on ward and remainder in private room. Excellent care. Honestly can't fault it. Was Covid so partner could only visit 1 hour a day so was on my own a lot but amazing support from all staff.

Baby 2 and 3 were same hospital! 4 years apart.

36 hours first time
about 12 second time, though could /would gone earlier if I had the energy (I didn’t)

first time I was lucky enough to be put in a private room (paid for.) staff weren’t hugely attentive

second time was chaotic and I couldn’t wait to get out as soon as I felt physically able

not typically great places, post natal. But I can’t fault the care during Labour/birth at all

DS nearly 24h on postnatal
DD1 about 20h postnatal
DD2 about 6h postnatal

Happy each time as each were different times of day. Tbh I’d have preferred to have been home early with the first 2 as I cannot sleep on a ward and when I got home just crashed. DD2 was born around 3am, easiest labour so after all the checks was home and resting.

I was taken to the ward after delivery about 6am. Had a spinal block in the end so couldn't stand. They left me there with baby, my husband had to leave as it wasn't visiting hours, they didn't unhook the emergency call from the wall so couldn't press for any help, didn't bring me any water, a blanket or anything.

I found everyone was pleasant enough when needed but overall a frustrating experience with a lack of efficiency. About 30 hours after delivery we were told we'd be discharged that day but it took another 10 hours to get all the paperwork signed off, drugs from pharmacy, cannula out etc. We finally left about 10pm. Spent the whole day in limbo waiting for people to come to do all the bits that needed doing and even then we had to keep chasing up and asking.

It wasn't awful because baby and I were doing ok but wasn't exactly a lovely time to bond with baby.

Gave birth 3pm - quick, easy and straightforward birth. Discharged 8pm the following evening. Had to stay in for at least 24 hours due to monitoring for Strep B and Gestational diabetes. First child. Hated it in the ward as the hot water stopped working, so couldn't shower (no way was i having an icy one!) and it was sweaty hot on the ward. Got good support for breastfeeding. But couldn't wait to go home!!

emergency c section. Baby born at 1 am, discharged at 4pm the same day. Very little support on the ward, even less at home though.

I'm pregnant again, hoping for a home birth, different man who will actually look after me though. I wish I'd had more help with DS both from hospital and at home.

Great care all round for me with both of my children. 1st birth in around 30h, 24h of obs due to some medication I was on and then a delay discharging me as they were busy. 2nd birth about 15h, needed 12h obs for meconium during birth. Postnatal ward where I was were all individual rooms, baby settled fine, I was very wired both times which midwifes said was common post-labour. Good community midwife care, daily visits with both babies upon return home until they were satisfied all was well (jaundice worries with both babies).

9 days with my son he was born 4 weeks early, had jaundice and i had GBS

2 days with daughter again i had GBS so baby had to be monitored

6 hours. Which was the minimum allowed. I was fine, DD was fine and was feeding so off we went!

Admitted Thursday and discharged the next Wednesday after the head midwife fought my corner. I was starting to go nuts - we weren't even allowed to leave the ward for some fresh air in the height of summer. That was exceptionally long, though - the other beds on the ward emptied and refilled several times over in the meantime.

The postnatal ward was a mixed bag. Daytimes were a blur of visits from different members of staff: doctors for the baby, doctors for me, obs for the baby, obs for me, infant feeding team, research department, midwives, students...I don't think we had more than about 10-15 mins to ourselves at a time. Nighttimes still round the clock obs. Needed help initially as I'd had a C-section so couldn't easily reach the baby in her cot until the anaesthetic had fully worn off. Some staff absolutely lovely and others totally jaded.

My baby was still very sleepy (born early) so unphased about being on the ward. Some others cried a lot during the night - just luck of the draw it seemed.

This was also during a doctor's strike - might have looked slightly different at another point.

My first two were born in an area with midwife led birthing centres
(MLBC) and a big shiny hospital (BSH). with dd1, I was sent to the BSH because my BP was elevated when i went into labour (it had been elevated for a few weeks, but no signs of pre eclampsia and went down if i wasn't in work). Stayed in BSH for 24 hours after she was born, then transferred to MLBC - stayed for 4 nights - mainly because of feeding difficulties (I was breastfeeding, but it hurt).

DS was born in MLBC. We stayed, I think for two nights because he wouldn't latch on, but we carried on getting BF support post discharge and I essentially decided when to go home.

When we had DD2 (third child) we had moved, so she was born in BSH (this had a MLBC on site). I opted to go home after 24 hours, even though she wasn't feeding properly. Got support from local breastfeeding counsellors. I think with all 3, I was the one who decided to go home - I could have stayed longer until feeding properly established if I had wanted to

I should probably qualify that by saying DD1 is 20, DS 17 and DD2 12, so it was quite a while ago. But if the NHS could provide that between 12 and 20 years ago, it should be able to do it now

I was in 3 days. Induced at 38 weeks for medical reasons and I think they wanted to monitor. Baby then had non blanching spots that they needed to check. Also needed to establish breast feeding. I would be worried these days about either of us picking up a hospital acquired infection and would want to get out asap. Realistically, I needed to be in at least 2 days though. I was hooked up to a catheter the first day, second day could barely move.
Care overall was pretty good I think. I came home with a live baby anyway which was the main aim! Had daily midwife visits for 5 days after discharge which were a godsend too.

DC1 natural delivery, in active labour for 6 hours although I think I was almost ready to give birth when I had epidural as no gas pipe in delivery suite, 2/3 days in private room. Induced as waters broke day before but didn’t go into labour. Didn’t go home sooner as I was a crying mess, had trouble breast feeding and still had a numb leg from epidural the day after. Ended up giving baby a bottle otherwise I wouldn’t have been allowed to go home. Little support with breast feeding. Felt like I was a burden but in hindsight I did have the start of awful PND. I was able to sleep and eat better at home. The midwife visited us at home around 3 times.

DC2 natural delivery, in labour for 3 hours. Just over 24 hours in hospital ward. I had a PPH after the birth, was very unwell and needed surgery. Offered blood transfusion or iron tablets so opted for the iron tablets and went home. GP was shocked that I had been discharged with levels so low. Baby bottle fed as I was too ill to breast feed. Took a long time to recover. My husband and parents looked after me at home. I think I saw a midwife once when I got home.

FTM. Had unplanned csec. Was in for 4 days after birth (iirc) due to pain with breastfeeding and I had picked up an infection which was detected immediately after birth. I had an IV antibiotics for 24hrs and then oral antibiotics after that and they wanted to check I didn’t react/have adverse effects with the oral antibiotics. My care was good and the midwives were lovely. I honestly would’ve discharged myself if I had to stay on the ward due to other families completely disregarding visiting times/numbers and speaking on speakerphone at all hours etc but thankfully they gave me my own room to allow me to recover in peace. Baby was fine, quite unsettled on night 2 but that is normal, struggled with latch but 4 months later we discovered a tongue tie (privately) which explains a lot after being told several times on nhs that he didn’t have one.

about 20 hours.
worst time of my life. so noisy, so warm, too much
baby settled fine, but the support was non existent.
could not wait to get home

First child complications for both of us. 3 weeks in hospital. Care for both of us exceptional and saved my sons life. 1 year out patient care.

Second child a different kettle of fish, easy birth, 12 hours only in hospital start to finish. Care also brilliant. The ward was noisy during the night but to be expected I think with so much going on and lots of new borns!

About 30 hours with DC1, I got put in a private room which was great, but really struggled as I didn't have a clue what I was doing and I felt like the midwives were quite dismissive. Couldn't wait to get home & plenty of support there.

With DC2 about 10 hours 😆 on a postnatal ward with 3 others, it was quite loud but luckily it was day time. Just wanted to get home to my own toilet!!

First child about 4 days cos they said she needed antibiotics cos my waters broke early. I thought it was massive overkill on the part of the doctor and would've happily left same day with the baby.

Second child, I was back out less than 6 hours after giving birth.

The nurses weren't up to much tbh, and the other mums on the ward helped me with stuff instead.

6 days all together 2 days before DD was born (Emergency C/Section). I came home when she was 4 days old. (1999)

Had DS at 21 years old in 1983. We stayed in for 10 days in those days and post partum care was pretty good. I managed to get an epidural which was rare in those days.
Went back home after 10 days and was visited by health visitor a few times. She'd sit in the garden chain smoking and whingeing about her boss 😂

Too long !

Born on a Sat late afternoon, at 34 weeks 5lb 5oz
I was ready to go home the next morning ! wasn't ' allowed ' as it was a Sunday ! and there was no-one to discharge me - what a load of rubbish.
Went home on the Mon am asap.

baby got taken to the nursery overnight, both nights :) I was lucky to be given an ' amenity ' room i.e. my own room with en-suite :)

DS born 14.45 on Sunday, very assisted vaginal delivery following 4 days of induction. Discharged 6pm on Monday (seemed like an entire lifetime).

DD born c section on Wednesday at 10.25. Discharged Thursday at midday.

I'd take DD's delivery over DSs any day. I regret not pushing for a c section with him. I can't remember his birth. My first memory of him is the Monday evening, over 24hrs after he was born, 6pm, on the sofa in my dressing gown with him snuggled on my chest. I don't remember any first moments with him through trauma and drugs.

DD I remember everything. It was amazing, everyone was calm. I remember her very first moments.

DC1 - 10 days as nicu/SCBU baby so they let me stay longer in a private room after an emergency section as it was very quiet during covid and it was easier for me to visit DC. It was very calm and I'd have asked to stay longer if they had let me purely due to the convienience of being close to DC
DC2 - 6 days total on the shared ward (2 days pre-birth and we left 4 days after birth) kept longer due to complications with me post birth. Absolutely hated it and was going crazy by the end and begging them to let me leave!

DC1: 48h after 5 days of failed induction ending in an EMCS. Care was patchy and I was so relieved to go home. It was very busy, very hot and difficult to get anyone's attention for even basic support. They had me walking within 7h, largely because they needed women on the ward to be able to get themselves to the bathroom due to how busy they were.

DC2: 23h after ELCS. Care better but I think that's because they needed me out before the weekend.