To want to stay longer after c section

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I’ve read few posts and the general consensus is that most mums hate the post natal ward experience and can’t wait to get home.

Im going to have to have an elective with DC3 as had a category 2 EMC first time and tried for a VBAC second time and had a crash section under GA. Just a bit unlucky.

First time was covid and I got discharged within 24 hours but baby got poorly and I got a scar infection and we were back a day later for 2 more nights. I think going home after 1 day was a huge mistake.

Second time they tried to discharge me after 1 day and I begged the midwife and managed to stay 2 nights.

I don’t know if anyone will agree with me but I just think it’s awful you have to leave hospital so soon after major sugeey. My mum had a straight forward vaginal birth in the 90s and it was normal to stay a week to 10 days when you had absolutely zero complications. I know the NHS is on its knees so can’t afford people to stay in hospital an hour longer than needed.

I guess I just wanted to know if anyone had stayed 2-3 nights. I can’t go private fully but I could pay for a private room if there was one eg £100-200.
i just really valued having midwives on hand to help with feeding, to check worries (I had some huge clots), to give pain meds (needed morphine after the crash section) and easy to access showers, food brought to me (I really liked the hospital food). I’m dreading going home after 24 hours this time especially as I found the hospital bed so helpful to sit up and reach baby and feed etc. it was agony both times getting out of bed at home.

I don’t know what I’m asking other than has anyone else felt the same and have any ideas. My thoughts are private room or maybe even go to a hotel?!

I recently had an elective c section booked but baby had other ideas and I ended up with an emergency c section. On my pre op for the elective I was told to pack for 3 nights and encouraged to stay for 3 nights. In my head I was pretty certain i would stay one night and get home. After the first night I was up and about going for a wee and walking up and down the ward, baby was feeding well and I felt OK with pain relief but the doctors had no discussion of me going home that day. After the 2nd night again I was healing well and baby doing great the doctor asked me if I wanted to go home or stay another night. In hindsight I wish I had stayed the third night but I went home. But I was under no pressure either way from the hospital. I know this may depend on which NHS trust you are under but if you want to stay another night because you think you need it then tell the doctors when they examine you. All the best with your new baby when they arrive 🥰

I stay longer but was really ill. They ignored my concerns that I thought I had infection and I ended up being readmmited with spesis.

I’m so sorry to hear

Thank you so much for replying!! Sounds hopeful if I speak to doctors and say I don’t feel ready I may be able to stretch it to 3 days (that’s all I want really, I’m not expecting to stay in for days on end for no reason).
it’s good to hear it’s a possibility. Are you in the south east by any chance? I wonder if it’s because hospitals around London are so busy the turnover is so quick

I think if you choose to breast feed, yet it takes ages to get it established and you continue to be unconfident about breast feeding being successfully established, then they will keep you in a bit longer and any spare time that a health care assistant has available they will support you with it. I don't think they could send a baby home that not yet had a good feed.

Ah man I’m not sure if they will believe me if I say that as I’ve BF to babies to 12 months +. It might feel a little silly to fib but it’s worth thinking about

You can't choose to stay longer if it's not required for you or baby though?
I was begging to get out with all 3 of my sections. I received no support as staff were run off their feet. It was utter living hell. Why would hospital be better than home for you? That may lead them to asking questions about your home environment.

I was in for four nights after an emergency c-section. I could have gone home after three but chose to stay for the extra. Private room. Would definitely recommend.

I was in two nights after a straight forward delivery and didn’t mind being there.

The second night I was the only mum on the ward.

I had a private room and stayed 2 nights after planned C-section. They would have let me stay another if I wanted.

I had an ELCS just over a year ago, I was just asked each day how I felt if I wanted to go home and if I said not yet they just said okay. I was there 3 days absolutely no pressure to leave if I’d said I want another night they’d have said okay. Medically baby and I were fine to go after 24 hours but I didn’t feel ready and they understood that so were fine with me staying and my husband stayed the entire time as well

I had an elective c section due to low laying placenta but straight forward surgery and they tried everything to keep me in, I had to fight to be discharged. This is in south Wales so could be hugely different of course.

I had DD2 earlier this year in London - vaginal birth, delivered 1hr after going into active labour and 3hrs after arriving at hospital. I was due to be discharged the next day but I asked to stay one extra night (DD1 developed sepsis 24hrs after birth due to me being GBS+ and needed NICU - i was very anxious about the same happening to DD2). I said that if the ward was full and there were other women who needed the bed, I would of course be happy to be discharged, but luckily it wasn't a busy 48hrs on the ward.

As it was, I kind of wished I had gone home the second night, as everyone else on the ward was on their first night with peacefully sleeping babies whilst DD2 screamed her head off as babies are prone to do after the first 36hrs. But it was reassuring me for that the midwives took my worries about DD2 seriously.

I think if you want to guarantee it, then you probably need to consider private. But you could be lucky and just ask when you arrive. Alternatively, what about hiring a private postnatal doula or midwife to give you some 1:1 care at home?

I think from the other replies theres other women who have stayed longer and been asked if they want to stay longer.

Ive explained in my OP my reasons, perhaps you skim read?

I was trying for a VBAC but ended up having a cat 1 c-section due to baby's heart rate plummeting. 24 hours later they said that I could go home. I asked if I could stay longer because I was very much struggling to bf and having struggled so much with my first very much wanted the support, plus we had no family to help us once home (DH would be largely looking after our eldest, & I was struggling to move/go pick the baby up never mind anything else - at least you get meals and a cup of tea in hospital). They were fine about it - didn't object at all just moved me from the high dependency ward to a normal post natal ward. All you can do is ask. It does seem a bit shocking to me that you are expected to just go home & get on with it 24 hours after surgery though - without any painkillers either & by the time I was discharged all the shops were closed 🙄 (I asked if there was a pharmacy at the hospital where I could buy paracetamol or whatever but they said no). I'm not aware of any other surgery where you get discharged so quickly but maybe there is I don't know. Even if you were you wouldn't be having to look after a whole new human solo whilst at it so I don't feel its quite the same anyway. Do ask though if you feel you want/need to stay longer, and best of luck xx

Yes in the south east, close to London but outside M25. Probably worth discussing 3 night stay at your pre op too. If they are expecting you to want to stay for 3 nights but you want to go home after two nights I doubt they would have issue with that on the ward x

I read it, and I guess my response reflected the markedly different hospital experience I had with all 3 of my babies. I was made to walk down a long corridor to collect my own breakfast 16 hours after the section. I had to buzz to remind them to bring me pain meds. My buzzes were ignored through night when I needed someone to hand me my baby to feed them (before anaesthetic wore off). I lay in bloody sheets. It was absolute torture. And this is a well respected hospital in SE. They were simply stressed and understaffed.
I begged them to let me out after 1 night each time. On one occasion they said they didn't have staff to discharge me, and I had to say I'm just walking out if you don't discharge me before night fall.
I'm so glad your previous experiences were better, I'm very jealous! I hope you have the same this time round too.

I think it really will depend on how busy your particular hospital is. I had my daughter in April really early morning (just after 1am) and there were 2 mums brought up to the ward not long after me who had both had C Sections, we all had to stay the following night, the lady in the bed beside me was really begging to stay an extra night, she had a toddler at home and didn’t feel that she was ready to go back yet but she was told quite bluntly that they had to be discharged as they needed the bed for other mums coming in and there was no medical need for either of them to stay so they had to be discharged. I know she was told they had 2 private suites which she could have chosen to pay to move into for an extra night but it was expensive, significantly more than £100-200.

I had EMCS under GA 18 months ago at 4:30pm and was discharged 11am the following day, wasn't even asked if I was ready to go home or wanted to stay in longer! They weren't full either.

I had EMCS Tuesday night and they mentioned I could go home Thursday morning but I told them I would prefer Friday evening when my DH starts his off and they told me I can stay as long as I want go. I suppose it really depends on the hospital.

I was very grateful for my 6 night stay with dc5 after an emcs. I don't recover well but even though I could have been discharged after a few days, baby wasn't ready. I was very happy to have been given a side room and just have every meal brought to me, lol! Our hospital has great food though so I felt like it was valuable recuperation time for me.

It’s going to really depend on the hospital at the time that you’re giving birth. If it’s busy and you’ve got no clinical need to stay; they’ll need the bed back - but you’re also unlikely to get the support you need then. I didn’t have any midwives come and help me get my son, feed, change his nappy etc when I had him, I was pleased when the painkillers started to wear off and I felt more mobile because I felt awful struggling so much to help him. I was discharged 18 hours after an emergency cat 1 section two years ago.

You can definitely ask for morphine to take home with you, so do that regardless.

Soend the money on help at home

I had an Elective C section second time around and after one night they asked me how I felt about leaving and I said I'm not ready, so I stayed for another.
I was worried about how to pull myself out of bed at home, at hospital I was able to recline upwards and then use the strap to pull myself up.

I'm in my 50s and when I had a section you stayed for 5 days minimum wether you liked it or not. I can't believe people are encouraged to leave after such a big operation!

I had abdominal surgery recently and was told I'd be in for up to 5 days but they wanted me out after a day (no idea why as I was the only person on the ward!) I couldn't even sit on a chair at that point let alone get in a car. I managed to persuade them to let me stay another night but as soon as I went home I got an infection which really set back my recovery. If id been in hospital another night the infection could've been dealt with by IV antibiotics instead of messing around at the GP with tablets that I was allergic too.

Anyway,long waffle but I absolutely agree you should stay in as long as possible. ( I also like hospital food 😉)