Experience in hospital after birth

[CMRC17]

I have a c section planned for next week and something that’s playing on my mind is what the experience in the hospital for the night will be like?
I feel a bit anxious about it particularly considering my partner will need to go home at 8pm as they don’t let partners stay on the ward.
I’d love to hear peoples experiences on their nights in hospital after giving birth, just on a normal basis provided everything with the birth goes well?
as I’m having a c section I’m not sure whether I should expected to feel a bit drowsy / not really with it afterwards? Do people find they are able to sleep much? I imagine I will want to stay awake for fear of anything happening to the baby!
I also wondered about using the bathroom, if they take the catheter out on the day and I need to go would I take my baby with me? Do people find they wanted to be up and moving around the ward or were you pretty happy lying in bed?

Hell. Everyone on their phones or chatting to partners if they are allowed in. Men just talking with no consideration to the vulnerable women. Then when it's lights out you're on your own with a screaming newborn and you're knackered and no one to help you when you can barely move.

@magnoliablooms ah that doesn’t sound great! That’s a good point , did you find it wasn’t easy to pick your baby up after a section? I guess depending on staffing the nurses/midwifes wouldn’t be able to help you with this as much as needed? I guess I’m just going to have to deal with it but it’s nice to have a bit of reassurance on what exactly to expect - if it’s definitely hell at least I’ll know to prepare for that 😂

I'd say its no walk in the park but not the end of the world for one night.
I'd say you don't actually feel that drowsy/not with it.
Your baby will be asleep/feeding most of the time

I had long labour then emergency c section. The aftercare was a shitshow and the ward bedlam.
But I had my baby. So I gazed at her and let it all sweep over me. I stayed in bed all day and night as per orders. When my mum visited the next day I trundled off for a shower. Get up as soon as you're allowed.
She and my DH were there as much a possible. I only stayed two nights then escaped. Midwives are generally evil especially the ones on the wards.

I know you're anxious but it's all ok. Make sure you have cartons of juice and snacks.

Yeah definitely try and get a private room! In my experience zero benefits other than those precious precious walls… no extra care (as it should be really!) and I was definitely forgotten for a drug round or 2, but the walls…! So peaceful! And your own loo so don’t need to worry about leaving the baby.

With DS1 I was in 1 night on the ward - but DH was allowed to stay. Everyone else’s DHs were there too and barely a midwife to be seen, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable or competent without my own partner there.

DC2 I had 1 night in the high dependency room - massive room with 1:1 midwife care due to c section complications. Didn’t move for 24 hours let alone use the loo (catheter in obviously). Then 1 night in private room, lots of pain and not much help as easily forgotten. But lots of peace and privacy :)

DC3 I was only in 1 night, private room; then back again a few days later for 2 or 3 nights for jaundice therapy so private room provided for that for free.

The temperature will be the same or higher than Hell as well. Take light clothing and cooling sprays/wipes. There will be a fan but you won’t be able to use it near the baby 😂

post natal wards are very short staffed. I propped myself up and slept sitting, so I could reach the baby more easily.

you won’t be drowsy if you’ve had a spinal.

toilet the next day leave baby in the crib. They’ll be fine for a couple of minutes. Safer than you trying to walk with them post surgery.

personally I preferred a ward as there were always staff passing and it was easier to grab someone than try and get them to answer a call. A private room felt a bit out of sight out of mind.
plus the ward I was on was basically Jeremy Kyle live and kept me entertained 😂

I've recently had a c section. Midwives did lift baby whilst spinal was still wearing off but once it had worn off. I was able to lift. They did give me a different bedside cot which highered or lowered and made it easier. I left the baby in my curtain asleep if I needed the loo. They're usually only small wards and toilet is in the same room.and plus babies are alarmed too. I didn't feel drowsy at all considering I hadnt slept for 24 hours, but I think that's the adrenaline more than anything. I didn't potter about the ward but I did make an effort to get up every hour and just walk very gently round my little curtained room for 5 mins to keep things moving- I'd heard the secret to a good recovery was still move about and I healed brilliantly! Partners were allowed overnight on my ward and most had them. I sent mine home as we have another child at home and I didn't feel too bad. The other partners on the ward were very inconsiderate however. Loud talking on phones and pacing up and down the ward is extremely uncomfortable when you're alone with your new baby. I couldn't however fault the midwives.

Hi @BingoMarieHeeler was a private room something you just requested before going in or something given due to your circumstances? I might be too late in requesting this but I guess it’s worth a short if there is an option for that!

Private rooms are given based on clinical need.

however if there are any spare you are often able to pay for one, depends on your hospital.

Literally this 🤣
I had zero sleep, probably part adrenaline but also because there's absolutely zero consideration from other patients to try and be quiet in the middle of the night.
If you have you c section in the morning they are likely to take the catheter out by the evening so you can then get up and walk around. My blood pressure was quite low for a few hours so it made me feel dizzy standing up but overall shuffling about was fine.

You shouldn't feel drowsy from a spinal, if anything once baby is born you will feel completely alert. You will absolutely cope, the postnatal ward is ok during the day but it's the night time that's crap, however providing you are both fine it's only one night.

Request a private room, you might have to pay but if it’s possible and one is available then I would.

At my hospital, DH’s are allowed to stay but because I had twins, I was just given a private room for free because we needed extra room. It was bliss.

Congrats on your upcoming birth! The first few nights you won't notice anything but your baby - you'll be so enchanted.

Though postnatal wards are typically understaffed so would make sure you have everything you need within reach before your partner goes home. E.g. phone charger plugged in, full water bottle, snacks, anything you need for baby & pads for toilet visits.

Would also wait until midwives boot him out instead of sticking to visiting hours.

They're very hot so would recommend light PJs & a fan to hand.

Something I hadn't prepped for was my son wasn't with me but in the NICU getting a fluid top up for 2 nights. Quite a different experience - wish I would have known beforehand how that would be. Things that would have helped would have been having the colostrum syringes ready to hand express and get dropped down to him, having the right PJs for him (you can't use the zipper ones in NICU), knowing the route to NICU to go down when I was able to walk and tbh I wish my partner knicked a wheelchair off the wards to bring me down sooner.

I've done it 3 times post section. It was utter hell 1st and 3rd times. For my middle child my husband was allowed to stay and it was fab.
The problem is you can't move, so you need help getting your baby passed to you for feeding, and nappy changes etc. You're trying to learn how to feed, in pain, exhausted and surrounded by annoying strangers. The nurses are run off their feet so you feel bad buzzing for them a lot. Then when you finally get to sleep, you're woken to take your next tablets.
I'm sorry to paint such a miserable picture. I hope your experience will be better, but I do think it's good to be prepared! My advice is try to get a private room, and otherwise just survive it hour by hour until you get home!

Not a c-section but a forceps delivery with full spinal block. Heating on full so the ward was about 40 degrees. Noisy, awful lighting. Monitored every 30 mins - hadn’t slept for 4 days at this point and wondered if I ever would again. Couldn’t eat any of the food.

Woken and made to change wards at 2am (had to late 3 trips alone) then woken at 6am and instructed to feed (content and asleep) DD. Nurse got a mouthful and told to leave us alone or I would discharge us both then and there.

Forgot to discharge me, (all ready at 10am) then had to wait for meds. Finally escaped at 8pm.

DD is an only and this is part of the reason. (Had planned a home birth to avoid all of this.)

Yeah the stay wasn’t fun. I had a super long labour then emergency section and couldn’t pick baby up myself for 2 days, it was also covid times so visiting hours were very limited, so had to rely on staff handing him to me and back again, so I was on the call button a lot! Some staff were lovely, some were really not.
Prepare for it to be really hot on the ward. And very noisy. And to be disturbed a lot by staff checking on you and baby (we had complications though and both needed antibiotics so maybe if straightforward you won’t be disturbed as much). I had to spend three nights in after ds was born and I begged to be let home after that. I was so extremely exhausted and unable to get a moments sleep in there.

Also advise taking peppermint tea and dried fruits in to help with bloating afterwards.

I had an emergency c section and found the post natal ward ok. Buzzers were always answered, there was a regular round offering pain relief and you could also buzz if you needed some at another time. The only noise really was other babies.

ah I’m not looking forward to the heat, I already have a portable fan packed and I’m going to see if I can get some cooling spray / wipes. I was at the hospital for an appointment earlier this week and I was already feeling hot and bothered from that, and that only lasted an hour!

do the nurses / midwife’s tend to be instructive on breastfeeding much or do they leave you to it? It’s something I want to try and do but to be honest everything I learnt in my antenatal class about it has gone out of my head. I’m hoping it’ll come to me naturally and that it’s just a case of the baby latching straight away! I didn’t think they would want you to wake baby up for feeds though, I assumed I would know when he’s hungry if he starts crying etc. that’s interesting to know!

In my experience it wasn’t THAT bad. One benefit was establishing breastfeeding was easier as every time I fed I called the HCA who was breastfeeding trained to check the latch. I just left baby in the cot to go to the toilet and let the midwives know I was going. Mine was the baby who wouldn’t sleep and was keeping everyone awake but their wasn’t much noise other than babies

Babies that don’t have a straightforward vaginal birth often struggle to feed.

They squeezed my daughter’s head so hard with the forceps they dented her cheekbones. Trying to feed was probably agony for her. :(

In addition a fast exit can leave mucus in their tummies. If they have full tummies they won’t have an instinct to feed. I was getting pressure from nurses to feed all the time (including during the very brief visiting hours, when weirdly I had visitors - they also considered that an appropriate time to want to do an internal check).

There was one very lovely nurse in the the night that said we needed to get the mucus out of DD, and she showed me how. She used a syringe of formula and squirted it into DD’s mouth. It immediately bounced back with a load of mucus. Then she got me to hand express some colostrum
for DD to lick off. Took 3 days to get all the mucus out.

The next night the nurse that woke me at 6am told me DD had gone too long without a feed and that I wouldn’t be allowed to go home if they didn’t see me feed her effectively. I told her to get me a syringe, and some formula and while I effectively woke DD to make her sick she could look up whatever legislation she thought could stop me walking out of there then and there.

Never did manage to breastfeed but I exclusively expressed for her for a year so at least she got my milk. Not sure that’s something I would recommend now though!

Bf- the m/w simply don’t have time to be helping and if you have any issues will offer to get you formula.

i just got in with it as best I could, and fed pretty much constantly as baby seemed happy and once latched it was easier just to leave them there.

i found kellymom invaluable learning what’s normal- constant feeding is, so don’t expect them to be going significant periods between feeds.

every time a m/w saw me feeding they’d say oh feeding again, shall I get you formula so you can have a break. I got good at smiling and nodding and saying no I’m fine.

my advice with bf is feed as much as possible and leave them latched as much as possible. I reckon I didn’t get sore because it’s the latching that is painful.

No they didn't help. Keep everything at waist height or above

They kept me in 3 nights but yeah one night would be just about tolerable

I got lots of support with breastfeeding, and had to wake the baby to feed the first night (apparently they're extra tired from the whole being born experience and make up for it the second night - mine certainly did!).

I had my section at 3pm, they got me up out of bed at 9pm and took my catheter out at 6am the next day. I didn't get much sleep as it was noisy and we both had various obs at different times, and painkillers for me. But overall it wasn't a bad experience, all of the staff were brilliant. I was very glad to go home after two nights though.

I had a really helpful midwife during the day to help with breastfeeding but at night they just wanted baby to be quiet so I was pushed to use formula

The midwives can provide advice but generally its best to ask if there is a breastfeeding specialist around - some hospitals have them to come and help during the day. Initially you have colostrum and baby only needs about 5ml (a teaspoon) per feed for the first day. Your full milk will start to come in from day 3-5. Until then, put baby on the breast as often as possible.

For the first couple of weeks, you need to wake baby every 2hrs for feeds (maybe up to 3hrs if you had a big baby - mine were small so needed the feed every 2 hrs). Then once they are gaining weight, you can leave them to wake naturally.

Dont be disheartened if baby doesnt latch straight away. Its a skill that you both have to learn and can take time. The best thing to do is to find support for once you get home - either a local la leche league, or a breastfeeding drop in, or an IBCLC lactation consultant. Your community midwife / health visitors will usually have details when they do the first visit. Also get baby checked for tongue tie - hugely overlooked and can cause issues if not caught. There are some really good breastfeeding instagram accounts - i like lucywebberfeedingsupportibclc and rockabyehub