2nd timers - how long after the birth did you have to stay?

[June2008]

I am pregnant with no 2 and starting to think about what to do after the birth.

With the birth of dd1 (nearly 2yrs ago) I had a drip and epidural as I had been in labour for over 48hrs, in the consutlant led unit at the local hospital. However the birth itself was quite straight forward and dd was born with no further intervention at about 6am. At 10am I was allowed to leave with dd and my dh took us to a nearby midwife led unit where we stayed for 3 nights.

I am obviously thinking about doing this again assuming all goes to plan, and I am fairly likely to have an epidural again - so am I likely to be let out again as quickly? If I don't have an epidural will they let me out quicker?

And does anyone have experience of staying in a midwife led unit postnatally with a 2yr old coming to visit - or is the best thing just to get home as soon as possible?

I just wanted to add that last time we were at the midwife led unit the care we received was fantastic - own room (thats all they have), two midwives there all the time along with a HCA and actually for two out of the three night I was one of only two ladies there. Unlike the night I have on the antenatal ward at the hospital but thats another story!

Thank you for any wise words!

Hi,
I had my baby at 6.55am and left about 11 hours later at my request.

I had a natural birth, no pain relief, otherwise I expect I would have had to stay at least one night.

I think the minimum stay is 6 hours and they dont tend to discharge you after early evening so it depends what time of day you deliver I guess.

With dc2 they asked me on the labour ward if I was staying or going straight home. As it was 2am and we hadn't put the sheets on the moses basket I stayed on the postnatal ward until the morning and didn't really get round to going home until after lunch. I was a bit about going straight home as i thought you had to stay 6 hours.

I was in for 24 hours after dd because there was meconium in my waters, and 24 hours after ds because I had had gestational diabetes and his blood sugar needed to be monitored.
Otherwise I'd have prob left after about 6 hours.

Ive literally just returned home with number 2 after her speedy birth at 9.30am yesterday.

I really envy the speed at which you can go home these days! Was in 8 days with DD-was supposed to be 5 in those
days but she had a dubious rash. DS was born by emergency CS so another 5 days. I think as long as you are both well and have help for the first couple of days, then the quicker you can go home the better. I certainly didn't enjoy the extended stay although only the food was unpleasant. Too old to try again for a shorter stay