Asking to go home 24 hours after C-section?

[Number3cometome]

Hi all,

Currently pregnant with DC3 (14+5).

EMCS with DC1, ELCS with DC2.

This baby will be born by c-section.

It's a long way off I know, but I am thinking about options before I see my consultant next week.

Does anyone know if I am able to ask to leave the hospital 24 hours after my C-section if all is well?

I do not want to be stuck in hospital when I know from previous experience I am much more comfortable in my own home.

I have support at home and can manage my own pain, so do not see the point of wasting a bed just because that is their rules.

Any experience of this?

With DC1 I was in hospital for a week (eclamptic seizures, not related to C-section)

DC2 was 2 nights, I was desperate to get home after 1!

You should be able to. I'm due to have a have a second ELCS and the consultant has told me I can have a 24hr discharge because it's my second baby (if all is well).

I had my second EMCS last year (in the afternoon), and left the next day (would have been under 24 hours if they had sorted out the paperwork more quickly - I had already left my bay so someone else could have it, and was sitting in a waiting room with my baby waiting to get the stuff to be allowed to leave for 3 hours! It was only when I said that I was off to get my other son, and they could post it to me that they finally found it.

Nice guidelines state that women should be offered discharge after 24 hours if well. The earlier you get up and start moving afterwards the more likely you'll feel ok enough to leave. Warn your midwives early on of your plan so they get painkillers ready for you to take home, etc.

I'm having a second ELCS in 2 weeks if all goes well, but when I asked the (very young male) doctor I saw this week if it was likely to be a shorter stay the 2nd time he looked at me disdainfully and said 'actually second sections are usually a longer stay'.

I was in for 3 nights last time, the 3rd night because I was having trouble feeding and they wanted to observe me. I barely slept in all that time and was hysterical to go home by then.

This time I'm expecting two nights but would be wonderful if it could be one.

In a room of 4 other women we all had csections at approx. 6pm and we all got to go home at 11am the next morning!
I did not want to stay any longer as I had other children at home I wanted to see, I was able to shower, eat, use the loo and felt well and wasn't taking hospital pain killers.

Our hospital had a 24 hour stay rule for elcs. 6 hours for natural birth. My friend is currently being asked to leave but wants to stay another night. Personally I prefer to be home asap as i hate spending time in hospitals.

I had a section at 11 pm. They wanted to discharge me to the midwife unit at 4pm the next day so far less than 24 hrs. As the midwife unit was half an hour away my husband was expected to drive me and baby there i said no .
As it was they kicked me out the next day anyway. Busy ward. Busy midwives who didn't care two hoots. Rubbish food and showers.
Went to the midwife unit and it was like a hotel. There was only me and one other mum. We had a full staff to show us bathing, they took the baby for a bit at night so I could sleep and they helped me establish feeding. The hospital midwives just didn't have the time to do any of that.
I had complications which means a midwife unit delivery was never an option but I'd go there for the recovery every time

Pinkr that sounds like bliss, though not ideal that the MW unit was half an hour away. Since I had DD1 my local hospital has opened a MW led unit too, in the same building, didn't even occur to me to ask if I could go there for recovery.

Mind you it also seems they don't offer it to women in natural labour as standard either - a friend of mine rang our local labour ward in quite early stages of labour but she had a sense things were progressing quickly. The labour ward said 'we're full right now, why not come in in the morning?'

She asked 'what about the MW unit?' and the response was 'oh yes we could check if they have space' almost like it was an afterthought and not something they even thought to offer people. Turns out there was space in the MW unit and good job my friend went in as her baby was born that night!

Because we're rural our midwife unit is half an hour away but the hospital for consultant led care is over an hour in good traffic soi think that's why we were offered the recovery. That said I don't see why they wouldn't.

They're trying to fight the unit closing so in actual fact the more occupants etc they have the more valid the argument for it to stay open so I was pleased to be able to stay there even if delivery wasn't an option.