Likelihood of going home on day of giving birth

[Dogsmom]

I know it's like asking how long is a piece of string and depends on the labour but if everything is straightforward and both baby & I are ok is it reasonable to expect to go home that day?

I hate hospitals and really don't want to stay in overnight, I wont sleep, I'll fret about DH & miss my dogs etc and just want to come home.

I've heard people say that sometimes you can come home 6 hours after but this is my first so will it make a difference? I've thought about putting it into my birth plan but do hospitals take much notice of them?

Also is there a cut off time? i.e they don't release women after 6pm?

I was admitted at 1.15am, waters broke at 3.55, DD born at 4.44am, sent home at 12pm. This was my first and my only hospital birth (two subsequents at home) they did a "mass discharge" as four babies (including DD) were born in side rooms that night. Don't know if we were rushed out so to speak but I only ever saw that sideroom (no birth suite nor postnatal ward)

I gave birth to my first and went home 8 hours later as no complications. I was clear from the outset with staff this was my intention and it was in my written birth plan. Would have been 6 hours after had the anaesthetist and Dr not been in theatre and been able to sign me off after epidural :-)

I went home at 7pm so not sure of cut off

I had to stay 12 hours for observations as DS swallowed meconium but as he was born just after 5am that was still 6pm the same day. I did stay in overnight in the end because the unit was quiet and they gave me the option if I wanted. I found that actually I did, I felt quite nervous about going home and dealing with nighttime first and DH stayed with us. We went home after breakfast the next morning feeling a bit braver for the sunshine

I went in at 3.30am, had DS at 7.20 and went home at half 11- we were ready to go earlier but had to wait for paperwork :) This was my local MW unit though.

My friend was discharged at 11pm with her first baby, she'd only given birth at around 7pm.

Im having an ELCS and have already been told as long as baby's sugars are good, i can go home after 24 hours... Relief as with DS was stuck in 3 days...

With ds1 he was born at 02.39 and we went home at 16.00, longer than I wanted but I had to wait for the paediatrician to come to do his baby check.

I gave birth at 7am and left the hospital at 9pm. Straight forward birth and I really didn't want to stay. Was asking to leave (also on birth plan) all day. Eventually I was dressed with ds in the carseat. Asked if there was anything else they wanted to do before I left. There wasn't a reason for me to stay, but it wasn't a priority to help me leave. Hope that makes sense.

I was lucky that ds had all his checks pretty quickly. An amazing midwife helped get feeding established.

Hoping for same with next labour, but it all depends on how it happens.

All sounds very positive.
curiosity I plan on doing similar to you and make myself very visible about wanting to go home, I have a friend who had to stay in overnight because the staff were too busy to sort out her paperwork even though her and the baby were fine.

With DS2 and DS3 I left after 3 hours, with DS3 that was 1am. Might be different for a first baby though.

That would have been my plan, but ended up with a c section and a baby who wouldn't feed properly and was stuck in for 4 days. My friend had a straightforward birth but a retained placenta then her baby got jaundice and she was in for a week... Make plans for a quick escape but also try to get your head around the possibility that you might be kept in for all sorts of reasons, have back-up plans in place etc. Good luck!

I was in 5 days with dd (she was jaundiced and needed phototherapy treatment) and in for 3 days with ds (suspected heart murmur) so no straightforward births for me. My sister was out quick with her ds but he was born on christmas eve and she wanted to get home to be with her other children.

I went home 4 hours after having second baby I spent longer waiting for my paperwork than I did giving birth.At one stage I nearly left because I was so sick of hanging around, but I wanted to get my boy's national insurance number so persevered. The unit was exceptionally busy with mother's in early labour sat in the coridoor and the waiting room was full, the midwife was phoning someone asking for permission to close the unit.

I would never advise ignoring a medical need in you or the baby but if all is well it is not a prison, if you want to go home then tell them, it's good grace to give them a little while to sort the paperwork but if they take an unreasonable amount of time you can just go if you want to.

I should add that this time my ELCS is 21/12... I am already anxious about not being home for chrimbo with DS.
I plan to much more vocal about wanting to go home, and I also plan to actually request to be told DS' target sugars and actual sugars this time, and being much more pushy about them actually doing the second reads on time! all of which delayed us last time. I also feel much more confident about the birth etc and so if it came to it, I will be discharging myself to get home! Although given the time of year Im hoping that the staff will be sensible and of a similar opinion to me.

Gave birth at 12.25am....was home by 6pm so 18 hrs later.

I might add that I was technically 'high risk' - am on Fragmin injections for 6 wks (which I have to give myself), had episiotomy with forceps delivery..baby was 36.5 weeks, was induced early due to OC..baby also jaundiced (ended up back in 3 days later for light treatment)

They seem quite keen to get everyone out asap these days! So unless you have C section, I reackon you'll be out!

I think a lot depends on how busy the hospital is really. With my first I went in at 5pm, DS born at 7pm, home and tucked up in bed by midnight.

With DD I had complications because the placenta wouldn't come out so I had to have an epidural to get that out and lost a lot of blood. In hindsight I think I possibly should have stayed overnight because I felt quite ill, but we went home the same day (think it was because they needed the bed!)

DS1 was born at 1636, was home at 7, DS2 born at 1508 home at half 9, our hospital wanted at least 6 hours with DS2, with our first there was no room on post natal ward so we didn't go anywhere bar labour suite

Obviously, if there are reasons you need to stay in, stay in.

Having said that, there is a lot you can do to get yourself out faster if all is well.

First of all, try to get discharged from delivery suite, not go onto the post natal ward if you can. Our local hospital does this. It saves them on paperwork and beds. Win win all round. If you tell them you don't want to stay unless necessary, they will work on that basis.

If you do need to go to post natal, make it very clear you want to go home ASAP and get the ward sister on board (job for your DH/DP/whoever is supporting you). Busy hospitals want to free up beds. The person who is trying to juggle those beds will want to put the effort in to track down the paed or whoever is needed for the discharge. The busy locum just staffing post natal in our case didn't give a shit and just shrugged and said we would be seen in the morning. Speak to those with authority!

I had an instrumental with DD1, but was still out same day. She was born at 4am and I went home mid-evening. I was told initially I 'needed' to stay in overnight because it was an instrumental. But I pointed out that, if she had been born at 10pm they would have been happy to discharge me the following morning. They agreed with that logic and home I went!

I preferred to be at home with my own household germs than in hospital with everyone else's.

I was lucky enough to have 3 straightforward VBs and went home within hours of each. Twice straight from the delivery suite (late night births, home following morning after paediatrician had been round as MWs thought it all ok and not worth the transfer to post-natal). Once to post-natal, and it was grim - too noisy and busy, MWs overloaded and not able to help much, loo floor swimming with water etc). They wanted us to stay, but we said we'd take our own discharge and suddenly the admin swung into action and we were on our way home very shortly after.

You do need to be sure that there will be someone at home looking after you for the first few days, though.

Stayed overnight with first baby - am due in Jan and would push to go home same day as don't like to leave DD for too long as have never left her overnight (she is 19 months). Also don't like hospitals. First time I had induction and epidural but natural delivery. Small haemmorrage but felt fine after an hour or two and an iron tablet. I just stayed overnight because they said so!! This time I will say I really want to go home asap!!

First baby: Admitted 2am, gave birth 7am, discharged 5pm. Birth was straight forward, baby was healthy so no problem. It was in my birth plan that I didn't want to stay overnight and I was determined that I wouldn't. However, he had not latched on by that point so If I hadn't put it on the plan and been so firm, I think if have been moved to the ward and made to stay until he was latching on. I felt being at home, relaxed and with family was far more conducive to feeding successfully than a busy hospital ward full of strangers. I was right and he started feeding the next day.

You won't have much control over this, so I wouldn't worry - pack, assuming you'll be staying and if you get lucky you won't have to.

We went in at lunchtime, baby arrived at 4am, was released that afternoon. We all slept on the bed for a few hours after breakfast. If you have a situation like us, you really won't care where you are. We could have fallen asleep in a supermarket, we were so tired!