Up and about after giving birth - how soon for you?

I was in for a week with the first, 24 hours with the second, this was in 1973 and 1976. My mum stayed with me for a few days both times, for which I was very grateful. Husband of the chocolate teapot variety, which has never changed. I had an Austrian friend who was pregnant at the same time, and three hours after the birth she zipped her baby in her jacket and skied home. Then there are the Asian women who just squat behind a bush, and get back to work………

I had my baby at 8.30pm and was up and having a shower at 7am the next morning. Meghan is far too pampered.

My daughter had her baby by Caesarian section late afternoon, was up the following morning, and home that afternoon. The next day was a lovely warm June day, so she and her husband wheeled the baby in his pram up to the local pub garden and sat outside for an hour.

'Ended up discharging myself against medical advice as I felt I’d get better nutrition at hone. One of the midwives had quietly told me to do this and she was absolutely right!'

I wish I'd done that! I only needed a good night's sleep which I struggled to get in hospital!

With 3 children under the age of 4 and a husband who worked away all week I was up and at it very quickly and I didn't have an army of nannies etc as megan as

I was kept in hospital for longer after both of mine as I suffered from high blood pressure. After my second, who was born in December, I was desperate to get home to prepare for Christmas, and allow my mum to go home to prepare for hers! (She was staying to look after my 22 month old daughter after travelling 200 miles at short notice when I was admitted prior to the birth.) After about a week in hospital, when the nurse checked my BP it had gone even higher and I burst into tears. I couldn't sleep in the hospital ward so I felt like I'd never get out. The sympathetic midwife went off and arranged a private room for me - turned down by a women who'd just had twins by C section - and after a good night's sleep my BP had dropped sufficiently for me to be let out. Personally I think the mother of those twins needed her head examining but I was very grateful!

Paperbackwriter

I was in for 10 days in 1978 with my first (forceps). By the end of that I was completely institutionalised and almost scared of being allowed out! Second one would have been 5 days but she was a bit small so I had two extra days to make sure she was starting to gain weight. I was happy with that - dealing with a new baby plus the 2.5 year old at home would have been exhausting.

I think you're right about becoming institutionalised, I felt like that with my first (1976) after the normal 10 days in hospital. I think that it saps your confidence to deal with your baby, especially if you have no experience of infants.

I was forced to stay in hospital for over a week with my first baby as that was the norm at the time. It took me much longer to feel normal again with that child than with my others.
Two of my children were born at home and life continued as normal within a day of the birth. My last child was born in hospital and again I was forced to stay in, but only overnight - however I was up and about and went to a stand-up buffet with the baby the day after I came out.
Personally (barring medical reasons) I think it is better to be up and about as soon as possible.

Up and about on the same day.
Which was a good thing as the then dh was about as much use as a one legged man in an arse kicking contest as far as babies were concerned.

Oh dear. Some of you had husbands (or ex-husbands) as helpful as mine. I remember having to carry the bins out a day after giving birth as husband was having a drink in front of the tv and so far too busy.

Nowadays they are out of hospital within a couple of hours of giving birth. It’s now wonder so many suffer post natal depression. So much responsibility and no chance to rest properly after labour.

In hospital for 6 days with my first who had difficult birth and developed mild jaundice. Meanwhile I developed post eclampsia so it was good job I was in hospital so I was treated promptly. Second had nightmare birth but I was home the same day as I was so quick to recover & she was fine. Third was a c-section and I was in hospital several days with dangerously low iron levels. Ended up discharging myself against medical advice as I felt I’d get better nutrition at hone. One of the midwives had quietly told me to do this and she was absolutely right! I took several weeks to feel back to a semblance of myself the last time round and needed a lot more help than before.
Each birth is different. It’s sad if we feel rushed into normality if we’re not ready for it mentally or physically.

My friend says it’s customary in her culture to have 40days rest if you give birth. For this period everyone (I assume this means mainly women… but perhaps I should have asked) rally round and do all the cooking, cleaning, childcare etc so that the mum can spend this time bonding with her baby and recovering.

I think this would drive me bonkers personally but she insisted it’s “normal”.

I was in for 10 days in 1978 with my first (forceps). By the end of that I was completely institutionalised and almost scared of being allowed out! Second one would have been 5 days but she was a bit small so I had two extra days to make sure she was starting to gain weight. I was happy with that - dealing with a new baby plus the 2.5 year old at home would have been exhausting.

My GD had her baby and was discharged after a couple of hours. Within a few hours of returning home she collapsed and her husband had the presence of mind to take her straight back to hospital where she was diagnosed with viral meningitis as a result of the epidural. It was touch and go for the couple of weeks she was in hospital. Fast forward a couple of years and happily she's now at uni studying to be a midwife herself!

I came home with my second baby the day after he was born, and had to sort out the mess my MIL left in the house, and try to placate my poor 14 month old son.
To say my husband had struggled having his mum around is an understatement.
I was up and about with my other three quickly too. The same day certainly. I didn’t have Caesarean sections though.

I had mine in 1978, '81 and '82. Fortunately all three were normal births so I was back on my feet quite quickly. I had a seven day stay with the first and couldn't wait to get home. For the second and third, I was allowed home after 48 hrs. We had no outside help, I think my DH took a few days off work with each birth. I remember making a big dish of rice pudding after coming home from second birth as the bottles of milk had piled up! While I was in hospital with my third my sister stayed to look after the two older DS but she left for home the same afternoon I came home as she had her own children and work to take care of.
The midwives were great coming to visit at home and checking that all was well.

I was in hospital for a week with my first child - I had lost blood and had stitches and he was jaundiced. I couldn’t wait to get home, and as we were living in the Far East we had domestic help. My second child was born in an American military hospital and the Americans cosseted their new mothers in hospital to a ridiculous degree. I felt fit enough to go home after a few days but a week was the norm, and frankly, I was not in that much of a hurry to leave any earlier?!

I was in for 10 days with DS No 1 as labour didn't set in, although they induced me, and in the end they gave up and delivered by ventouse, with me under general anaesthetic. I am still furious about the way it was handled. OK, the waters were turning milky which was why they were in such a hurry, but I also have my suspicions that it was because it was a Friday and they wanted to get it over with by the weekend. This was in January 1982.

Because it was the weekend I didn't see the midwife for at least 3 days and no one came to check up on me or give me a hand with breast feeding. When the midwife finally came in, she asked how I was getting on with feeding. I looked at her blankly, not having any idea how to do it, or that I should have been doing it at all.

Probably the nurses had been bottle-feeding him because I only seemed to have had him for a couple of minutes at a time.

After about five minutes of trying, they decided I couldn't breast feed and he was put on bottles. Fortunately, this doesn't seem to have caused any serious damage, and he's made it to nearly 40 with no after effects.

I loved my time in hospital and enjoyed it very much.

The other two children I breast fed with extreme determination - the youngest till he was 19 months. I had loads of milk.

I was lucky to have a mother-in-law who had been an infant nurse until she married and she was marvellous with them when they were tiny, and she came to help. DH being a teacher, was home in the afternoons, (they only have school in the mornings here in Germany) so it was fairly relaxed.

No such thing as midwives or health visitors here, though. You're on your own once you get home, and have to get yourself to the gynaecologist and paediatrician for the check-ups.

I was in hospital for about a week with my first, maybe a bit shorter but it seemed like a damn long time. Too long really I'd have been better off at home, the bathrooms weren't particularly clean, when my husband visited he cleaned up the bath before I got in it. I had a lot of stiches that were proving quite painful that I do remember. When I got home I was certainly up and about, albeit moving slowly.

With my second child I was in hospital for maybe 48 hours. The thing I remember the most about those times was my husband saying he'd take child number one to school for a couple of weeks until I got more organised, that couple of weeks turned into 2 years unless he had an early meeting then I had to do it, I didn't find the whole getting one child and baby washed, dressed and fed and into the car particularly easy but muddled through somehow. At some stage later I took another child who lived round the corner to school too because his mum was pregnant with her second and didn't drive.

When I had my first child, in '81, it was normal at that particular hospital (Ronkswood) to stay in for seven days.
However, by day four we were expected to change our own beds every single day, so it wasn't all rest and relaxation!

About 48 hours with 3 of mine and about 4 days with the first one. Couldn’t wait to leave the hospital and get home. In the uk, where I had my first two, there is a wonderful system of midwives and health nurses which we don’t have here in Australia, more’s the pity. We emigrated when the second child was still a baby in nappies and there was no support then- not that I cared because she wasn’t my first. If you seek support I guess it is there but most don’t feel like chasing after clinics at that time. The NHS is wonderful and I wish we had such a good system here.

Has she been churched?

Perhaps whoever wrote that piece thought she shouldn't be seen in public before that.

I had 2 c-sections on both occasions I was led to the bathroom for a shower the next morning. I pottered around the ward after day two.
Once home I was driving and pram pushing 9 days post op despite advice otherwise.

I was in hospital ten days with my first, born in 1969.
DS was born at home in 1971, I gave birth on a Saturday morning and DH went back to work on the Monday morning.
I had a two year old to look after so no lying around for me, I also hosted Christmas for the whole family seven days later.

First born in 1980 I haemorrhaged and had to have a blood transfusion so stayed in 7 days. I think that was normal anyway then. I was sent hone feeling very weak but still managed to do everything myself, my mum just said you have a baby now get on with it! I was very envious of friends who had their mums to stay,husband at work. The midwife came every day and said my house was way too clean and tidy, she threatened to send me back in hospital if I didn’t rest up. 2nd dc normal birth 48 hour stay, dh straight back to work again, me out shopping the next day felt fine.
Wish my dh could have had paternity leave as they do now. I would have loved it.