How long should new mothers stay in hospital?

While I appreciate the sentiment of why medicalize a process that should be natural for the vast majority of moms... after all, women have been having babies at home for thousands of years.

Childbirth was also the number one way for a woman to die for thousands of years. Infant mortality and maternal mortality are still amoungst the top killers of women and babies in less developed nations (and in the US, if you're poor).
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/index.html

I'm not saying these numbers are all homebirths... far from it. But I know that before modern medicine, infant and maternal mortality rates were hideous... and I all of the 11 women I know that tried for a home birth with a midwife ended up in the hospital, 4 with cesareans. Not very natural for the vast majority of women I know, at any rate.

So with that little rant of my chest, I do agree that it is not usually nessecary to stay in the hospital as long as we do, but absolutely critical that we have some kind of home-care to support post-natal moms and babies. I could have gone home pretty happily once my uterus had gone back to where it was supposed to after my 47 hour labour... I'd have been a lot more comfortable. But I would have absolutely needed the reassurance of a medical professional (nurse, lactation consultant, etc) that the baby and I were doing okay.

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in the US, you're entitled to 48 hours (after delivery) for vaginal delivery, 72 hours for c-section. I actually wanted to go home right after delivery, but they wanted me to stay for at least 30 hours and wouldn't let the baby go until then. Bah.

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Another homebirther here. The midwife visited twice over the next two days to make sure everything was fine and I went to her office on the third day. You're far, far more likely to catch an infection in the hospital. In an ideal world, women would give birth in freestanding birth centers, be discharged right away and receive home visits from a nurse-midwife for the next few days. Unfortunately, that doesn't line the pockets of hospitals and OB/GYNs so it ain't gonna happen.

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My water broke on a Tuesday at 2 AM. Went to the hospital Tuesday 2 PM. Vaginal delivery Wednesday 10 PM. (That's 44 hours after my water broke) my little girl had a lung problem being born a month early so she was in the NICU. She also pinched a nerve in my leg so I was unable to walk for a couple of days. I checked out of the hospital around noon on Sunday, my daughter came home Monday night. This was at Kaiser and they gave me no problems about staying two *extra* days in the hospital, particularly because my baby was still in the NICU and this way I could still nurse her. [It was all covered by our HMO/insurance - the whole thing was $0 out of pocket.] Having the extra help at the hospital was a blessing. Having my baby in the NICU meant I got some sleep when I wasn't going to the NICU in a wheelchair every couple of hours to breastfeed. I know some ladies left the same day they gave birth, but I would definitely take all the help I can get and stay as long as I can.

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I currently live in Wellington, New Zealand. I am also pregnant with #2. Because of the shortage of rooms and staff, I was informed by the hospital that I wouldn't be allowed to stay at the hospital for any longer than three hours
(assuming everything goes okay). The situation here isn't the best at the hospital, and there is also a shortage of midwifes.

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I suppose I am in the minority. For my first, which was vaginal, I was there for 3 days and 3 nights. For my second (which was born on 1/2), I was in for 3 nights and 4 days. The latter was a c-section.

I loved the nurses, the quiet, the ability to sleep soundly without interruption if I requested it. By the second night it was more of a hotel stay with meds than being in a hospital. I am not sure if my hospital is just a better place than most.

But I have begged to stay each time when they told me when I was going home. For me, someone taking care of me versus going home and taking care of a needy family while recovering from surgery is a total no brainer.

I guess I am just selfish that way.

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Went in for induction 6am on a Tuesday morning, by 7pm had not dialated more than 5 cm (I was at 3 when I went in!) My OB feared my son's head was stuck in the birth canal so I had a C-section and he was right. Baby was born at 8:06 pm. I stayed in the hospital until Friday morning and was glad for the time to rest, be waited on a little, and spend time just getting to know my baby without having to worry about the dishes getting done or laundry piling up.

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Personally, I am comforted by hospitals. I had a wonderful experience when I gave birth to my son, and stayed two days after he was born.

To those who homebirthed and feel the need to tell everyone else what they "should" do -- knock it off. We all have it hard, making mommy decisions everyday. Don't try to add to the guilt by saying that we shouldn't have "medicaliz[ed] the natural process of giving birth".

Adrienne B., you are describing your "ideal world", not everone's. I WANTED the comfort of a large hospital, knowing that there was a pediatric surgeon on call, sleeping in that same building, should my precious little one need his/her services. I would have felt that they kicked me out before I was ready if I was discharged right away. The idea of giving birth at home, then waiting for an ambulance if something did go wrong, absolutely terrifies me. Seconds count if my baby was in that situation.

I just work really hard to NOT tell other mommies what they should or shouldn't do with regards to their labor/birth/child-rearing decisions. I believe that we all do what's best for our families. Why can't we all do that and leave the "shoulds" out of it?

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I hemorraghed after my first child's birth, and wasn't even allowed to sit up for almost 16 hours. I still had to leave after 48 hours, but it was rough - the world was still spinning.

My sister-in-law had a c-section, and was booted out after 2 days, because a hurricane was coming and the hospital wasn't sure they'd be able to take care of her. So she went home to face a hurricane, with c-section staples and a newborn. They lost power that day, and didn't get it back for 2 weeks.

I thought we had it bad. Sounds like New Zealand has it far worse.

And yes, I'dve liked to have had a home birth, both times. However, both my 1st child & I were lucky to survive, and my second was 5 weeks premature. We needed doctors. It doesn't always work like you wish it would.

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Due to complications my daughter and I both had, we stayed four days. But I was never so happy to see home as I was after that hospital stay.

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I guess I`m in the REAL minority! I was in the hospital 12 days after my son`s birth. Almost 2 entire weeks!

I had an emergency c-section, with no particularly horrible complications on my end of it (IVs are virtually impossible for me, so it was all oral antibiotics... Also no pain killers as my son needed every drop of milk I could produce and trace amounts of pain killers could have killed him.) The pain was gone after 3 or 4 days, so the last week was really just waiting for them to let me go home. I seriously couldn`t wait to get out of there! My son, however, didn`t get out of the hospital for another 5 months... So I guess I had it easy.

I hear that they`ve lowered the length of hospital stays to 7 days for normal births and 9 days for c-sections recently though.

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Had him Wednesday and was begging to go home they finally let me go on the following Monday.
I think it should be at least 12 hrs. Not this 2 hrs garbage.

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Birth is a natural human event, not a medical one. Doctors and hospitals are usually not at all *necessary*. Home is the best place for a normal, healthy body to adjust to giving birth.

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I was admitted Sat Jan 2005 at 6:30 AM in active labor and 4 cm dialated, had my son at 1:07 PM after roughly 11 hrs of labor. Then left sunday afternoon about 2pm.

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I had my son at 7:26pm on a Wed and was released at 7:30 that Friday. I had a vaginal birth and other than a bit of shoulder dystocia that was quickly remedied my delivery was unremarkable, which was wonderful after a hyperemesis pregnancy. We could have left earlier but I chose to stay so my son could get the PKU test- I believe that is the one that is done 48 hours after birth- pardon me if that isn't the right test, I am 8 months pregnant with #2 and have no brain cells right now. I am having my 2nd in the hospital and how I deliver will affect how long I stay.

I too second the comment about the homebirthers knocking it off and stop pushing their agendas. In the hospital where I deliver you can have a midwife assited, non intervention birth, which reassures those that like having emergency services close by if needed but want the experience of a "natural" childbirth. As far as I am concerned, if the baby and I come out of the delivery healthy the birth is a success and natural. You want us to respect your choice to homebirth but at the same time you have no qualms about accusing those that chose hospital births of being uncaring and unnatural. Respect goes both ways ladies.

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I had my son at 8:29 the morning of Christmas Eve, I stayed until around 9 pm on the 26th, we were allowed to leave earlier, but they kept telling me the paperwork for my son wasn't done yet. They finally came and told me at 9ish that they weren't releasing him, but since my release was already completely processed I had to leave. I was furious. They kept me out of the loop for 12 hrs, failing to always bring him to me for his feedings, then made me leave without him. My milk never came in properly and he wound up having to be formula fed. They were keeping him in the nursery so that he could get the "billi light" treatment for his jaundice. Another doctor later told me that he would have been better off if they had let me breastfeed him.

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I had two very different experiences. With my first baby I had an emergency c/s. I live 1.5 hours from the nearest hospital, so they kept me four days. However, b/c my DD had jaundice we ended up staying yet another day. I did end up getting alot of help with nursing. With my second, I had a VBAC. I could probably have left after one night, but my doc recommended two. Going home to a toddler and a baby on a jaundice bed was hard, so the extra day was nice.

I think everyone is different. I personally liked being taken care of, but some people like to go home. People should not be forced out until they can walk and care for their baby.

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