What it is
The hospital stay is the stretch between birth and discharge. Nurses run it. A labor nurse hands you to a postpartum nurse, and the shift changes every 12 hours, usually at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The call button is how you get them. Using it is the job, not a bother.
What's typical
Most mothers go home 24 to 48 hours after a vaginal birth and 2 to 4 days after a cesarean. Federal law requires insurers to cover at least 48 and 96 hours. Someone checks your bleeding and blood pressure every few hours and presses on your uterus, which hurts. The baby gets a hearing test, a heel-prick screen after 24 hours, a jaundice check, and an oxygen check. A pediatrician visit is set for 1 to 3 days after discharge.
What's known
ACOG and the AAP say a stay should be long enough for feeding to be going and problems to show, not a fixed number. A lactation consultant is usually on staff but may not come unless asked.
What helps
- Write questions on the whiteboard in your room so the next shift sees them.
- Ask for the lactation consultant, the pain plan, and the discharge time early.
- Send visitors away between 1 and 4 p.m. and sleep.
- Take the mesh underwear, pads, and peri bottle home.
When to call someone
- Now, with the call button: bleeding that soaks a pad in an hour, trouble breathing, chest pain, a severe headache, or a baby who is blue.
- Today, before discharge: feeding is not working, you have not peed, or your pain is not controlled.
- At your next visitanything you did not get to ask.
Who helps
Tools: Postpartum Prep Checklist
Related
- Newborn procedures: vitamin K, eye ointment, hepatitis B, screeningGetting Ready for Birth
- Going home: the car ride and the first eveningBirth and the First Days
- The first 24 hoursBirth and the First Days
- What to pack (and what to leave home)Getting Ready for Birth
What mothers here say
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Experiences and questions are their authors' own, not reviewed advice. The topic's steward lists the ones that help most in a credited digest once there is one. Unusual experiences stay, with a note.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics — Hospital stay for healthy term newborn infants policy statement
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — Optimizing postpartum care committee opinion
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act fact sheet
Sources are named, not yet linked. The steward verifies each one and adds the link.
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