How soon after birth can you leave the hospital? Or can you discharge yourself??

[Nikki2ol6]

I ask this because my baby is unwell, he has major heart defects and he's being taken to another hospital very soon after birth. I really want to be with him and they said only if I'm discharged in time, but that was when they thought he would be staying in that hospital for a few hours now it's became apparent He will be going there within around 5-10minuets after birth so how soon will I be discharged if all goes well with my birth? Is there a certain amount of time you have to stay?

After DD was born they said I was fine to go after two hours - which was how long it took to deliver the placenta, clean us both up, sew me up (2nd degree tear), demonstrate a feed and do the paperwork.

I was discharged straight from the delivery room, never went onto the ward.
The six hours some others are citing certainly isn't the case everywhere.

We were home within four hours of leaving for the hospital. MIL, who was at our house looking after DC1, was shell-shocked to see me back so soon. She said in the 80s, when she had her children, it just wouldn't have happened.

Every case is different though, and it really depends what pain relief you need and how well you are following the birth.

I remember this, reading your words and tone reminds me exactly what I was like- I'm sorry to hear you are going through this.

You can't control much of it & it's frustrating to not get any answers that you need. But the problem is they don't really know what's going to happen exactly until it happens so you need to try and go with the flow (easy to say!). You may have a c section or etc which changes things. When it all happens they will be much more clear about what you need to do.

I didn't see mine for 3 days as I had more complications. It's important to look after yourself though as you will be no good to anyone as I was reminded several times. Put something lovely and snugly on when you go in as that will be kept with the baby during the transfer so they can smell you.

As it happens when I got to see her, I didn't know which one was mine! (Of course not, but I felt embarrassed) they said that my baby had just been asleep the whole time & hadnt really responded to anyone including my husband.

I was scared to pick her up because of the wires but you really are just delicately shoving them out the way. When I picked her up, she opened her eyes and I swear she smiled. The machines showed a reaction too. It was just so surreal!

It just reminded me really to say that although you have this info now, there is little you can prepare for unfortunately. The best thing you can do is look after yourself and try to stay as relaxed as you can (again- sorry v easy to say!) But you will get your magic, it's just in a different way to everyone else. And it's important to look for that in whatever situation you are in rather than get so stressed now. (I'm sorry if I've worded that badly - there would have been no telling me at the time!)

Best of luck, hope not written a load of garbage!

My partner will be with our baby and my sister will be taking me from one hospital to the other. With my last pregnancy I was home the same day I gave birth 6am and was ready to leave by 9am, my baby had fed and I had peed and my bleeding was good and so was all else but some lady had a fit in the bathroom and I was forgotten about until that afternoon then by the time papers were signed it was gone 8pm!! But I wasn't bothered about waiting around I had my partner and baby with me there was really no rush. When I got home I was straight to bed. So hopefully this time anther straight forward delivery, but that's never gaurenteed.

And yes they have said this may happen or that may happen but he will be in the other hospital and I won't have a clue what's going on

I know of 3 places you might want to get in touch with for support:

Heart Mummy www.heartmummy.co.uk is run by a lady who went through what you describe and might be able to give you a mum's perspective.

Little Hearts Matter and Lagan's Foundation are both CHD charities.

Good luck x