I have a question about hospital stay....

Hillbilly Housewife wrote: Were any of you allowed to leave early?

When I had Zach, it was very early Friday morning...and the nurses were talking about possible letting me go that evening, instead of having me stya the entire weekend, because they were starting to run out of room since lots of ladies were coming in to have their babies. We ende dup only leaving Sunday afternoon....it was 2 days of absolute BOREDOM.

Do you know if it's easy enough to be able to leave fairly soon after the birth? Assuming everything is ok and all....if there are absolutely no complications of problems.

With Zach's birth I was pretty mobile about 15 minutes after.... was dressed and walking around the rest of the day.... and was pretty much left alone by the nurses, who only came in 2x to check on me.

I wonder if I'd be able to leave early this time? I don't want to just sit around for 2 days... kwim?

MommyToAshley replied: I only stayed 24 hours. The nurses were always checking on me... taking temp, drawing blood, etc. It was a pain because I just wanted to sleep. But, I was glad I had 24 hours with them to help get the hang of BF Ashley.

Because I left within 24 hours, I had to take Ashley to the Ped the next day to be checked out and then they sent a nurse to my house to check on me the next day.

Kaitlin'smom replied: I dont see why not, if you dont have any complication.

I was not to leave early having an emergency c-section. But by monday night I wanted to go home so bad, I could not sleep there and they were not doing anything for me at that point that I could not do at home. I was relesed tuesday moring but had to wait on the ped to relese Kaitlin, she was not relesed until the later afternoon. I was mad, board and wanted to get home.

Oh I eneded up at the hospital friday night but did not deliver until saturday morning....

Schnoogly replied: I left about 12 hours after the birth, the next morning (he was born at night). When the doc from my practice came by on rounds I told him I wanted to go home. I couldn't stay in the hospital without Iain with me.

My doula told me that the reason it's good to stay at least 24 hours is to make sure the baby is OK, usually with uncomplicated vaginal deliveries mom is fine to go home right afterwards, but they want to make sure baby is pooping and peeing and eating OK, and no signs of any illnesses or anything.

MomToMany replied: Sorry, no advice here. I enjoyed every minute of my hospital stay, and would've stayed a week if they would let me!

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I wasn't allowed to leave early. Claudia hadn't gotten the hang of breastfeeding and I had a few complications after her birth. They wanted to send me home after 2 days, but the nurses told the doctor I wasn't ready. Claudia was born Thursday afternoon and we were sent home on Sunday afternoon. On the Tuesday after we were sent home the Public Health Nurse came to see us and then we had an appointment on the Thursday to see the Lactation Consultant. I have heard of mothers leaving early if they felt up too it! I don't see why you wouldn't be able too. Just as long as you are ready!

aspenblue1 replied: I know people who have left after 24 hours after having their babies.

5littleladies replied: I left early with my second daughter. I was very lonely and depressed and my firstborn was being difficult so my husband couldn't spend much time with me-he kept having to leave with our daughter. I left after 24 hours. Everyone thought I was crazy-that I should use the time to rest, but I felt 100% better when I got home.

CantWait replied: lets put it this way...........I had Anthony at 2:03am, and at 7:00am my ob came in and asked me if I wanted to go home lol

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I hated the hospital stay when I had Maddie. They were terribly busy and very neglectful of my needs. I felt horrible and wanted to go home so badly. They had a policy that if you had your child before 5 p.m. on day 1 then you could go home the next day...otherwise you had to stay 2 nights. Well, Maddie was born at 7:32 p.m. so I had to stay 2 nights. I would have had to anyway b/c I was still hooked up to an I.V. and had major blood clots. Maddie was a little jaundice, but otherwise very healthy. I felt tons better just being able to get home and rest. They were waking me up every few hours to draw blood in the night and check Maddie. Plus, they had a rule that you had to keep your baby in your room...no babies in the nursery without a parent. Hopefully this hospital here will be so much better. I am already having a better experience so far with my new doctor.

So, to make a long story short, you may want to check with your hospital on their policies. Some will let you leave and some have a 24 hour policy.

Schnoogly replied: I don't know about canada, but you can always do anything if you sign a waiver saying you know you are going "against medical advice." They can't keep you anywhere you don't want to be.

Heather replied: I am sure you will be able to. Unless you have a medical problem they need to keep an eye on. I was in the hospital from Wednesday night (Ali was born on Thursday morning) and left Sunday afternoon. Of course I was paralyzed from the waist down. I guess I had no choice. I was happy to go home though..WHEW!!!