Home After Birth

ShalomLani · June 2014

Good evening, fellow Bumpies!

I have a question for the mommas who have given birth with a midwife.

This is baby #1 for us, and my midwife plans on sending me home from the birthing center about 3-4 hours after I deliver, as long as all goes well and I don't end up in the hospital. My mom was all on board for my having a midwife until she asked how long I'd be staying at the center afterward. When I told her only a few hours, well, she wasn't thrilled. She mentioned how it's not long enough to make sure I'm safe and the baby's safe, and that if something happens to either of us, she's bringing us to the hospital. (She's planning on flying out here a few days before I'm due.)

How long after birth (if you gave birth at a center) were you sent home?

I'm 36 weeks as of Saturday.

TIA

MandMLeona · June 2014

I didn't make it to our birth center, but their average stay was 6 hours. The key difference between them and a hospital that makes this ok, in my mind, is that the midwives then come to our house 24 hours later to check on everyone and then again three days after birth. Plus, they would come to us in between if we felt the need.

GPeterson24 · June 2014

We don't have birth centres where I live but if you birth with midwives at the hospital you have the option to discharge after 2 hours.

BloomingMomma · June 2014

Births are unpredictable. I would ask midwife if that is a hard number, or subject to change based on how you feel, how breastfeeding goes, etc. I probably would not tell your mom details like that as if your mom is like mine, she'll ruminate on that and contribute to debates, leading to stress, which may affect your labor.

Wyn · June 2014

Typical stay at my birth center is 4-6 hours, but if YOU need to stay longer (for comfort or med reasons) of course they will let you. They're not going to force you out if you're not ready.

painttheair14 · June 2014

We had a home birth but the midwife stayed for 3 hours after birth then returned the next day.

rooftop · June 2014

I left about 11 hours after birth but I could have left as little as 3 hours after. I had had a really long labor and delivered early in the morning so I slept before we went home.

TrendyTina · June 2014

My first birth was a hospital birth and we stayed for 4 days afterward (baby was sent to the NICU). I COULD NOT WAIT TO GO HOME! I HAAAAATED being confined to that place.

Baby #2 was a birth center birth and was the most beautiful perfect experience I could ever imagine. Labor was 5 hours and baby was born in the tub into my arms. I was ready to go home after 2 hours. I felt so amazing that, even though it was the middle of the night, I could not wait to get the heck out of there and get into my own bed. The midwives thought I was hilarious because I was the one who packed up all our stuff and got everything ready to go while my husband slept in the bed with our newborn. Florida law requires a stay of 4 hours so I just paced around until it was time to go. It's amazing how good you feel when you don't have all the drugs in your system (I was medicated with baby #1).

Go home to your bed and your own things or hang around for days in a germy hospital while stranger after stranger handles my baby? Birth center is the way to go, mama! Trust me, you won't regret it!

barnwife · June 2014

I have had 3 HB. The MW stays at least 2 hours after a normal, routine delivery. It was longer than that after all of my births (3+ hours). It just depends on how you/baby are feeling/doing. She also returns various times in the first few days (24 and 48/72 hours, I think). Or at any other time if we call and ask.

She leaves guidelines for what is normal and not normal. Then under the "not normal" section is various things that fall under "don't bother calling her, call 911 and get to the hospital ASAP."

ShalomLani · June 2014

Thanks for all the advice, ladies! I'm excited for our LO to arrive, and of course, I'm nervous, since he's our first. Thankful to be able to have a midwife and not have to deal with a hospital. My mom had to be in a hospital with all 3 of us.

One of the midwives believes I'll deliver sometime in the next couple of weeks, because I'm 60% effaced. I'm hoping he waits until the end of June at least, since we have quite a bit left to do. Still have to find some NB cloth dipes, put the crib together, install the car seat, etc...

marriedinaugust · June 2014

My first as a hospital birth and we left at the minimum which was 12 hours. We met with our birth center today and they said 4ish hours is the norm for them. They check us before we go home and then do a home visit at 24 hours and multiple post natal care visits after that.

catsinawindow · June 2014

The birth center I delivered DD at allows you to stay 4-12 hours after the birth. 4 hours is the minimum for monitoring, if you need to stay longer than 12 hours you need to transfer to the hospital. I stayed 5 hours (1 hour longer than the minimum because my BP became high after delivery and they needed to monitor it back down to normal). I honestly would have been ready to leave at 4 hours, I felt fantastic afterwards.

With DS, I had a hospital birth and stayed for 3 days after the birth. Really the only nice thing about being at the hospital is that they feed you 3 meals a day that you don't have to cook yourself. Otherwise, I found it very annoying that the nurses had to come in to check me and baby every few hours, inevitably just when me and/or baby had just gotten to sleep. Plus, I received a lot of conflicting BFing advice that really just confused me and one of the nurses worried me unnecessarily about needing to supplement with formula when, really, there was no need for her to be saying that (and I didn't need to supplement).

So, long story short, the 5 hour stay was a much better experience than the 3 day stay for me.

deux · July 2014

I haven't delivered in a birth center but I used to work at one. I'm sure different states have different laws, but for a free standing birth center here there is a minimum stay of two hours so they can record post partum vitals during that time, and a maximum stay of I think six hours. Because they are not a hospital, they can only keep you for a limited amount of time, otherwise you have to be admitted to a hospital if you aren't well enough to go home. I remember a mom who hemorrhaged after the birth, and they managed it well, but when the max time came she wasn't feeling able to walk to the car, so they had to be transported to the hospital. The hospital didn't do anything that the midwives weren't already doing, but she couldn't legally stay at the birth center any longer.

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