If you had to stay on post natal ward...

[CarrotPuff]

...what was the reason? I mean, why you couldn't be discharged the same day?

I was quite lucky with DS, had straightforward labour, some issues with placenta coming out but nothing major. He was born before 11am and we went home about 8pm. I was actually wondering why we couldn't go earlier, but I am Rh neg so they were waiting for lab results on DS's blood.

It's a bit early to be thinking about labour with DC2, as I'm only 17 weeks, but I wonder why they make you stay? What was your reason? And how long for?

Emergency section so had to stay another 2 days after . Meh, I liked it :)

Dd was in scbu for a week so I stayed on postnatal. It was hell but I wanted to stay in order to establish breastfeeding.

If she hadn't been in scbu they probably would have wanted to keep me in due to having prolonged rupture of membranes and a forceps delivery. However I would probably have discharged myself on the grounds that I would have had much better care at home with dp...

My waters broke two days before dd arrived so we were kept 24 hours in case of infection.

I had GD so had to be in for 24 hours so DS's sugars could be checked. The hospital I was at recommend that you stay for 3 days though (which I did) if you're wanting to bf. I'd have been more comfortable at home but I had a private room and was very greatful for the help from the midwife who specialises in bf. She worked night shifts and without those 3 nights with her visits I doubt I would stuck at it.

3 nights, difficult birth so I was in pain and he wasn't feeding properly. Went home and then was back in again when my stitches were infected and everything burst open... yes I know they tell you it wont happen when you go for a poo.....

I had GBS - picked up in pregnancy but no-one bothered to tell me, so I was expecting to not have to stay :( boo!

Was actually quite glad I stayed in because it was nice having professionals around for that first night! Would have hated it if DH couldn't have stayed though.

A caesarean doesn't necessarily mean two nights in. The actual guidelines suggest you can go home on day 2 (with day 1 being the day of delivery) if all is well.

I had two emergency caesareans after very long labours (31hrs and 38hrs respectively). First time round dd was born at 10pm at night and I was discharged the following morning so a 12 hour stay. They needed the bed though. After DS I stayed in two nights and it was bloody lovely. Staff were fabulous and I couldn't have felt more looked after. I only stayed in that tiny bit longer as DS was a bit early, struggling to regulate his temperature and they wanted to keep an eye on him. I was fine and could have gone home after one night.

Septicaemia. 5 days stay...
I had it during labour so had IV antibiotics for 3 days then 2 weeks of oral antibiotics.
DS blood tested for infection markers so they had to treat him as if he had it so he had 5 days of IV antibiotics and on day 5 his day 3 blood had cultivated to show he never had it so we could go home and I could carry on my medicine there.

I was in for a week and a half with DD1 (pre-eclampsia) and discharged the next day with the other 2. I've been told the turn around is 3 hours now as long as there's no issues, so fingers crossed.

I had emcs with dc1 so stayed 2 nights (as he arrived at 8pm). Was gagging to get home.

With dc2 I had an elcs and I made them discharge me after 1 night - I couldn't take another night in that hell hole! The heat and the fucking snoring - Christ!

I had an EMCS at 2am and was home in about 36hrs. DS was forceps, again at 2am, and we were discharged around lunchtime.

dc1 - emergency c-section, huge pph, phototherapy needed for jaundice caused by haemolytic anaemia (in for 8 days)
dc2 - elective c-section, phototherapy again required for same reason (in for 5 days, had own room this time, bliss).
dc3 - intrauterine death, stayed in for one night after delivery & had to go to theatre to remove retained placenta, had another pph
dc4 - c-section, monitored on assessment ward (jaundice as dc1 & 2), out in 3 days
dc5 - c-section, no other problems in for 2 days.

DD and I both had high infection indicators - high temp, high white blood cell count, so had to stay in on IV antibiotics for over a week. It was the hottest place on earth - not surprised we had high temperatures!

I had an elcs with my third and was discharged after 24 hours! I was up on my feet, weeing etc well and had established breastfeeding.

Phew. Just one night in hospital.

Cholestasis, HELLP syndrome, sepsis, forceps, blood loss. 2 days prebirth plus 5 days post natal.

DS was completely fine. I had to sit there until the renal consultant said I could go.

I had DD at night so by the time I got moved to postnatal ward it was 1am. We stayed that night and I could have got out if I had asked but DD wasn't feeding and the midwife encouraged me to stay one more night for support so I did. I left the next morning. From giving birth to leaving it was a total of 38 hours.

With dc1 it was because they wanted to do a blood test on me, so had to hang around 3 days for that. (Only they lost it, so had to come back so they could redo it. So completely pointless and would have been much happier if I'd left straight away.)
With dc2 it was because of their incompetence. Waited all day for a paediatrician to do a quick once-over. He miraculously appeared as we were walking out saying we weren't hanging around any longer / wanted tea at home together / my own bed / see eldest before he went to bed ....
Dc3 refused to move there from delivery room. Just went home. By far the best experience.
So think it must be common practice.

Forceps and baby had head trauma, plus baby wouldn't latch.

Didn't like it at all, but I think I was treated unusually badly. We recently found a note my DP wrote down recording something I hysterically said (and we did forget, so I'm glad he did) - "Getting out of here is harder than giving birth! We need to call the forceps man back to come and drag me out by my head."

No.1 - ds stopped breathing in recovery room despite being an hour old, resuscitated and taken to SCBU. They concluded it was one of those things and put him on 3 days of IV antibiotics, so I had to stay with him - and didn't get my catheter and drip removed until 6am, 14 hours after birth.

No. 2 - by the time I'd done 19 hours of labour with a cold, and two hours of puking all over a theatre, it was 11pm and I was exhausted so didn't argue being put into bed. The next day I wanted to leave and agreed to do heparin injections at home because they were paranoid about DVT, so left about 6pm in the end.

DS was born by emergency forceps / episiotomy / crash team etc at 9.20am after a traumatic 4 hour labour. The hospital discharged me at 11am despite knowing I had no partner and was going home alone.

My mum called our local hospital which had a midwife led unit and they said to bring me and ds in, they admitted us there and we stayed another 4 days until my milk was in and I was feeling more comfortable about going home alone. I was very lucky as the hospital is brand new and all rooms are ensuite with a fab team of midwives in there who really helped me get my head around what had happened and how I would cope practically going forwards.

8 days. Crash c section due to placenta praevia, blood transfusions and DS lost weight because I was struggling to breastfeed (born at 36 weeks)

I had an overactive thyroid before and during pregnancy and so they wanted to monitor the baby for 72 hours after the birth to make sure she had no problems. Felt like a prisoner...watching all these new mummy's being brought into the ward and getting discharged 30 seconds later while I continued my sentence...took on the role of 'top dog' (Prisoner Cell Block H)