To think an overnight stay in hospital after childbirth is standard?

[MaisyN]

I had a planned c-section at 1pm, was walking around by 9pm, and discharged the following day at 5pm.

Friend thinks this is unusually quick, even for a straightforward birth.

YABU it’s weirdly fast
YANBU it’s pretty normal

EMCS after prolonged week long labour for one of mine at 5pm, discharged at 12pm the next day...

They don’t give much support in hospital for breastfeeding anyway these days. I had better support at home from the breastfeeding team!

I had a planned/emergency section (I went in to labour before my section date) at 10.45am & was home the next day by 3pm. I just wanted my own home & support from husband, felt completely neglected in the hospital anyway.

I had an ELCS about 6 years ago and was told it was standard to stay in for 48 hours but my consultant pushed for an accelerated discharge for me which was 24 hours (admittedly, a bit longer than that because they couldn’t find any staff to discharge me).

Ha doubt she did. Takes four hours to get walking again.

I think they’re quick with everything
spinal surgery for cauda equina - left at lunch time the next day
gynae laparoscopy which took 8hrs - woke up at 6pm, discharged 11am the next day

In Australia you are kept in for a WERK after a c section!!

Normal for me. I had an elective section for my second child and was home the next day just after lunchtime.

Much better than my very depressing stay with my first where we were in for a week....I think scbu was full so it was easier to keep us on ward as the treatment needed wasn't as high need as others but mentally this was the worse experience ever when I saw mums coming and going.

I had my c-section at 9pm and was nearly discharged the following day which I would have been fine with, but for some reason the head midwife then said it was too early and I needed to be monitored for at least 24 hours. They wouldn't discharge at 9pm so I ended up staying another night. I didn't mind too much tbh, the night nurse on call really helped establish BF. But had I been discharged the previous day I don't think I would have found it too early. What's the point of staying there longer than necessary? Shite food shite sleep.

Back in the sixties, I was in 10 days for the first, 6 days for the second. Normal births. I enjoyed the rest, no housework or cooking, and there were lessons in bathing baby etc. plus mums got a good night’s sleep!

yep i had mine at 9am and was home 7pm the next evening

was delighted in my own bed

You used to stay in hospital for a couple of days after a C section until Covid kicked off.

I had my 2nd baby just as the Covid lockdowns started & they were very keen to get me out after a day.

I think a day is the norm now if there’s no other issues.

If I have a third I will be quite happy to stay in longer and enjoy the break. The food wasn't bad either.

My second DD was a straightforward vaginal delivery, she was born at 3am and I left hospital at 1pm the same day (would have been earlier if they had got the discharge papers signed off sooner).
I know quite a few people who have only stayed in one night after a planned c section

I've had 3 c-sections and for one of them the baby was born at 11:30am and by that time the next day I was showing her around our house 😂

The other 2 I was only in hospital longer than that due to prematurity and complications.

I stayed in one night with dc1 because they weren’t very well at birth and wanted to keep her in just to check, she was fine and we were sent home the next day.
second 2 I was home 7 hours and then 6 hours after birth.

How things have changed. I stayed 5 days with my oldest in 2001. 6 days with baby 2 in 2004 and 3 days with baby 3 in 2007. All c sections, first 2 emergency and the last was planned.

I was in for just over a week after an emergency c-section with DS back in 2002. It was hell on earth in the post natal ward, awful food and hardly any of it, dreadful staff who treated patients like dirt, hot and airless ward, filthy dirty toilets and showers and constant noise. I was so glad to get home.

How old is your friend? I only ask because a few decades ago mums stayed much longer.

my mum stayed 7 nights when she had me (second baby, vaginal birth). She said it was just the done thing. Baby went to the nursery and mum recovered in bed lots of sleeping.
this was 1990

when I had baby 1 it was an EMC and they wanted me out the next morning! I really didn’t feel well. I got readmitted the next day anyway with an infected scar. Personally I like the day(s) after birth in your hospital bubble.

I was in for 48 hours after my eldest's birth, as I was at high risk of post-natal psychosis.

I had a home birth for second and third I had her at 2pm and was home by 5.30pm.

So, no, not too quick at all for a birth, but I have never had a C-section.

I'd say one night was a short stay for a CS, most people I know stayed longer although that might have been a few years back. I think with a vaginal delivery, it's normal to go straight home or stay one night. I had 2 vaginal births, stayed one night with my first to supposedly support bfing but the "support" was useless and all it did was make everything more stressful. With my second, I was out within 3 hours and it would have been quicker were we not waiting ages for the discharge paperwork.

I had two vaginal births. My first was at 19:14 and I was discharged by 1am which is crazy to look back on tbh but they obviously didn’t have a bed available and it was an extremely straightforward birth. My second was at 7am and I stayed til just after lunch the next day but I lost loads of blood in labour and my pregnancy was more complicated so it made sense but it was still a reasonably straightforward birth. My second was 2 weeks early as well and my first was 10 days late. All these things make a difference I guess.

The norm in England is depressing and it is women get discharged asap, as in hours post birth if possible. This isn't because it's best, it's because there's no beds or staff and overall maternity units are really not safe places.
The concept of leaving hospital so quickly is unheard of in most countries though, and women are usually expected to stay 1-3 nights post birth minimum.
Health visitors have now picked up a lot of what the maternity units used to do.

In my unit a woman who has had a normal vaginal birth without any complications can go home within 6 hours, as long as baby has fed and mum is confident with attaching baby to breast. The women are offered to stay overnight for support and guidance re feeding if they wish to.

Elective CS and emergency CS if there are no complications for mum or baby can go home after 24 hrs.
Years ago this was very different but people want to go home much more quickly now.

Postnatal wards are busier than they ever were with partners staying over and visitors in abundance, they aren't the place of rest that they used to be.

The culture has changed people are a lot less social now with curtains drawn around beds day and night and people on mobiles 24/7. Partners/birth partners also stay overnight, so on a 26 bedded ward that's 52 adults plus babies which is not great if you need rest and sleep.

1st - out next day
2nd - out same day
3rd - emergency c-sec stayed 5 days.

It’s not a race. You stay for as long as deemed necessary for health of baby and mother.

I had my C-section at 10pm at night on a Saturday (technically classed as an emergency but I wasn't in labour). Stayed Saturday night and they would've discharged me on the Sunday night but because the 24 hour mark was so late in the day they kept me one more night and discharged me at 10am the following day. I'd have happily gone home on the Sunday if allowed.

ETA: I should add for context, this was whilst some COVID restrictions were still in place, hence why I was keen to get home for family support.