What to expect in the hospital after delivery

[RaspberryK]

I'm in the uk and was having a home birth but I ended up going to hospital got there approx 3.30 am was fully dilated ds born at 4.07am we fed, I showered with dh and ds in the room and was discharged at 6.30am.
Xx

 

[BunnyN]

Have you looked into having a Home birth? It tends to be quite a different experience and you are much more in control and not so at the mercy of medical staff.

Don't forget you have the right to refuse anything you want to. I refused to have any pelvic exams during pregnancy. I don't believe there is any point in them unless you have a problem. You don't even have to have them in labour but you may not mind at that point. If you have tears you might need to be stitched up but if there are no big problems that is really the only time someone has to mess around 'down there'! Things like vaginal exams are over used and while they can be useful if you don't want them there really is no reason why they are a must most of the time. Stand up for yourself and if they think you are a problem patient that's their problem .

 

[Alyssa Drough]

I gave birth in a midwife led unit so more relaxed than a normal delivery unit.

Once baby was out she was placed straight on me, my husband cut the cord. Once the placenta was out my one and only midwife then just went and left me and my husband on our own for a good while. Another midwife then came in a bit later to weigh baby and give vitamin K. Eventually my original midwife returned and I got on a wheel chair to go and get stitches - so I was laying on the bed with my legs up in stirrups with a midwife sitting at my hoo ha but I didn't care and was chatting away to her! I then had a shower, we were taken to post natal and then left alone until it was time to leave.

It was great. It was all very relaxed, we weren't rushed out of the room and got a lot of privacy and bonding time. We were allowed home about 7 hours after birth and my husband was with me every second.

 

[Alyssa Drough]

As for 'invasive medical stuff' - 2 vaginal exams to check dilation, had to pee after birth (she didn't watch though!), episiotomy and stitches. That was it.

 

[BunnyN]

I'd add that you don't really know how you will feel until the time comes. And I don't mean that in a you won't care when the time comes way because I found that annoying to be told when I was pregnant and it wasn't true for me. I still cared, just some stuff I thought I wouldn't like I didn't mind but some things were still important to me. I thought about telling the MW I didn't want any internal exams during labour and I think she would have been fine with that but I decided to wait and see how I felt on the day. We only called the MW after almost 24hrs of labour. If I had been offered a vaginal exam before then I would definitely have refused. It would have felt it invasive and unnecessary. If I had had a short labour I think I may well have had no vaginal exams but when, a while after she arrived, she said she was going to check dilation I was fine about that. My husband even asked me if was okay because he knew I was sensitive about internal exams and I think he was getting ready to refuse for me. By then I didn't mind though and was interested to know what was going on. I progressed slowly and had a couple more internals but she only did it about every 4hrs. I didn't mind at all, although lying on my back during contractions was very uncomfortable. In fact I almost asked for another one at one point because because I wanted to know what was going on. The only thing I didn't like is that when you are progressing slowly knowing the dilation can be discouraging and puts more pressure on as far as time goes. I would consider not having my dilation checked next time just for that reason. Sometimes I think it can be better just to listen to what your body is telling you and do what feels right. I could feel the labour change and the pain getting lower down even when I "wasn't progressing" so I might have been happier if I had just gone with that rather than having the pressure of timing dilation.

Most women say you wont care if you are naked during labour. I did care. I knew I wanted to stay covered up. Being naked, or exposed would not have been the end of the world for me but would have felt uncomfortable and distracting which might have slowed down labour. By the end of pushing I would not have cared but that was only the last 1/2hr of a 38 labour. I purposely chose a nightgown that buttoned all the way down the front so i could open it to breastfeed or anything else needed without taking it off. If i had been in hospital I would have wanted to stay in my own nightie. When LO was born I didn't care at all about BFing in font of the MW. I did watch lots of youtube videos about latch etc because I felt being taught in person would be awkward. After the birth I was loosing a lot of blood and she was quite rough with my nipples and getting LO latched on. I realized it was to try and get my uterus to shrink q quickly without using other interventions that I didn't want so I didn't mind. By that point I was Enjoying cuddles with LO so much I didn't mind much what the MW was doing. As well as beleiving that it is better for the baby I think delayed cord clamping is great at this point because no one can take the baby off you, lol. Getting stitched was fine too as i was still having cuddles. When i got in the shower after the MW helped me and was trying to give me privacy but strangely at that point, after staying covered for the whole labour, I stripped off in front of her and wouldn't have cared in the slightest if she stayed, which she didn't.

Sorry that was so long and rambling. I thought it could help you to read in detail how someone else who was worried about this felt during labour found the whole thing. Really my point is just that some stuff you will care about during labour, some stuff you wont.

I did not do a pelvic exam at my 6 week check after birth and explained to my midwife why I wasn't going to do a PAP smear (i don't think they are needed if you are low risk and have a high false positive rate). She actually admitted she agreed with me and doesn't get them either but officially has to recommend them.

 

[Mummymoo_x]

I went into hospital at 5.50pm (give or take a few minutes) my boy was born at 6.14pm !! I was ready to go home at like 7/8pm. But they asked me to stay overnight on the ward and for my OH to go home as he couldn't stay on the ward. But we was given time to ourselves, I had a shower, tea & toast on the labour ward. I would of been happy going home the next day but unfortunatly my baby was admitted to the neonatal unit at 8pm ish. So me and baby had to stay in for 5 nights on the ward but I was lucky as I had a side room to myself. It was quite lonely though as my OH had to go home as visiting time finished at 8pm and I felt lonely in there especially as I didn't have my baby on the ward with me. X

 

[baileybubs]

I think it may a depend on how your birth goes and how well you are on how hands on they are. I had a traumatic birth ending in EMCS I also had high BP and was sick after having the surgery, as well as being over-numbed so u couldn't actually move my left arm for 6 hours after my dd's birth! Then also with BF you can refuse to let them see however if you have any problems (which we did) then I had to let them see and try to help! For 3 days I did unfortunately have my boobs manhandled on many occassions as well as being attached to an electric pump for what felt like all day! But in the end even the MWs agreed it wasn't going to happen as I wasn't producing any from one side and my dd wasn't latching properly.
Saying all this though I had lots of issues and complications arising from my dd's birth an it still wasn't too bad in terms of invasive. I showered alone the next morning (dd was born at 4.13pm and I was sick til almost 10pm anyway), I had the catheter taken out the next morning too (again as I was numb so couldn't move anyway) and with the exception of the BF issues I was just checked every 6-8 hours fr my BP and given any meds.
I did wish we could have had a private room because it was so hard sleeping in a shared ward because whilst one baby slept there was always another awake!! I couldn't wait to get home!

 

[chulie]

I'm in Canada

From what I can remember.....I had dd at 11 am we stayed in the labour room for a while..I had one little tear my dr stitched up and then after them checking dd she was placed on my chest and we had our first feed there....I was so in awe I don't even remember who was around but it felt like it was just me, dh and dd....hahaa..after I passed the placenta I was then moved to my recovery room..about an hour later???..A nurse helped me because I was still wobbly from the epidural but I could stand..(mine clearly didn't work very well if I could stand haha).....they removed basically the epidural and everything right after labour..the only thing I still had was my IV...as soon as I got into my recovery room that got removed. They did check my pad once or twice to make sure I wasn't bleeding too much but other than checking my BP and they had to check my glucose (because I had gestational diabetes).....they were sorta in and out pretty quick. they definitely checked baby more than me ever..hahaha...and they would come in and ASK if I needed any help with nursing. How was I feeling about it and did I have any questions. They also said there's a lactation nurse who comes around so if I'm interested to let them know and she can come see me. Since I wanted those things I said yes but you could easily say no. I actually found the family visitors more stressful than the nurses to be honest...hahahahahaa..

 

[messica]

Both my kids were born in hospital and I loved my experiences overall. I am an incredibly private person so I know exactly how you feel. I wrote right in my birth plan that I preferred hands off (I detailed what that meant to me specifically), that was very well respected.

I went in at 3-4pm respectively and delivered between 7 and 8pm for both. I had minimal amount of staff coming in unless I requested it although both mine were born 3 and 4 weeks early so there was a small NICU staff to evaluate just in case. During delivery it was just those 3-4 individuals standing outside the door, otherwise it was just my husband and I, the ob, midwife and a nurse. I started to hemorrhage about 10 minutes after my first delivery so there was a small temporary swirl of additionals but after I delivered placenta and things slowed down with my bleeding everyone but the single nurse disappeared. She was mainly around to clean up the room and get me prepped to move to our private room. A half hour out we were moved and then left alone. We had to stay in hospital 2 full days due to their prematurity (monitoring) and really we just saw the very occasional nurse and doc (once a day for me and pediatrician for babies upon discharge). The nurse walked me into the bathroom to pee for the first time because I had an epidural with both but left me alone to do my business once in there. My IV was removed before we were moved to our private room. No one checked my pads but they did ask a couple of times how large my clots were if I had any. I never tore so no one needed to do anything but palpate my belly on occasion. No one checked my latches but with my second I had a lactation consultant come in because let down was EXCRUCIATING due to the hormones (actually caused contractions, the strongest I had!). My husband stayed overnights right in the room with us and they didn't come in while we slept at my request. My husband walked with both to the nursery for once a day weight checks and that's the only time they left my side.

If you're in the US you really have a tremendous amount of say in your experience if you're having a fairly typical vaginal birth. Advocate for yourself and they'll largely if not completely leave you alone until discharge.

I agree with chulie, visiting family and friends were actually far more overwhelming to me than the very quick in and out bp and temp checks the nurses did a few times a day.