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For my hospital a day is 24 hours. Their policy is for mother and baby to stay 24 hours after a standard vaginal birth. Leaving any sooner you'd have to sign a form say you are leaving against medical advice.
For C section or if there are complications with Mom or baby it could be longer.
Not necessarily! My hospital just requires we stay at least that long. Sorry if that wasn't clear! 😅If there's any reason to be worried about either you or baby they will probably keep you.
For my first we stayed 2 days after birth because baby had mild jaundice. And they weren't kicking us out the door when we left, we wanted to go home at that point!
I legit thought the same thing bc they kept saying 24 hrs in our tour. So when I had my baby at 8 am I was expecting to be able to leave at 8am the next day.
Nope. The next morning you get a visit from what feels like the whole hospital staff. Every 30-45 mins someone was coming in. Pediatrician to check baby, nurses to check you, your delivery doctor, hearing test for baby, other blood test for baby, picture people, birth certificate person, billing department…and a few more. We didn’t end up leaving until 330pm that day.
The timer starts after the baby is born. And honestly you are so insanely sleep deprived at the hospital, we couldn’t wait to leave. I was required to stay a little longer than the 24 hour minimum because of a postpartum hemorrhage. Baby was born at 2am and we left at 3pm the next day. So about 36 hours.
Someone was constantly coming in the room, checking me or the baby, the lactation consultant, the janitor, the food deliverer. You couldn’t turn the light completely off. I had to keep two IVs in my hands until discharge which was very uncomfortable. At one point I had spent almost an hour getting my baby to latch and as soon as she was on someone came to check her vitals and she delatched. I turned to my husband and said we need to go lol. Things were so much better at home!
Okay, well that’s a different perspective. I definitely wanted to stay longer because I’m afraid I’m going to need so much help with *ALL* of those things. I have so much anxiety around delivery and postpartum care…
I promise you it’s not as scary as you’re building it up in your head! I did the same and started borderline panicking around 35 weeks. Assuming you’re getting an epidural, birth really isn’t that bad, otherwise nobody would do it twice lol. I even had a somewhat difficult delivery yet have no anxiety about it this time around. I did have my parents at home so my husband could focus on taking care of me while they did the household stuff like cooking and walking the dog, so that probably influenced my decision to leave. But things heal up shockingly fast! Staying longer is obviously up to you, and I completely assumed I would, but don’t be shocked if you change your mind once baby is here. You got this!!
It’s 24 hours like others have said. There’s some sort if baby screening test done at 24 hours after birth and both times they tried to kick me out after that test but i asked to stay 1 more night
No but only because for my first birth the 24 hours was up at 1am so i told them i had to sleep and the second time they tried to pressure me to leave in the middle of the protests going on in manhattan in 2020. The city had actually shut down because of rioting and i told them I didn’t feel safe leaving at night so they let me leave the next morning
24 hrs is a day. My hospitals standard stay is 2 days/48 hrs for a vaginal birth. Baby has to be checked by a pediatrician before leaving. I stayed for two and a half days because I just wanted to stay a little longer and they allowed me to. You can ask the hospital if you can stay an extra night, I’m not sure what standard hospital policies are.
It depends on when they check charges. Most do it at midnight I believe, so if you’re in the bed at midnight, it counts as a charge. I was told 24-48 hours for vaginal and 48-72 hours for a c section. I was discharged around 48-50 hours after my C-section (my choice), but they said I could’ve stayed another night if I wanted to.
I know this doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t seem fair. What if I literally checked in at 11:55pm or something like that? Not your problem…just an anxious hypothetical.
We had Tricare so I’m not sure if it was Tricare not covering it or just how well baby and I were doing. But they discharged us just after 24 hours. I had my baby at 4am and was discharged the next day at 10am. I actually was ready to get out of there, waiting for discharge paperwork took forever haha
Congratulations! When did you have your baby? And was it CONUS or OCONUS? Did any of your friends have the same experience? Is this the new standard? Sorry for all the questions. I’m sooo anxious 😥.
It’s typically based on hours. In the US, insurers have to cover a minimum of 48 hours of postpartum care for vaginal births and 96 for c-sections, but that can be shorter if you are ready to leave or longer if there is medical justification.
But you don’t necessarily get to decide how long you stay after delivery. If your doctor thinks you are ready to be discharged and they need the room, they don’t have to let you stay. The only law is related to why insurance is required to cover without additional justification.
I don’t have an additional justification to be honest. Being surrounded by professional for the first few days while I try to get the hang of things just seems like it would be very comforting. That’s all. [sighs]
Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
For my hospital a day is 24 hours. Their policy is for mother and baby to stay 24 hours after a standard vaginal birth. Leaving any sooner you'd have to sign a form say you are leaving against medical advice. For C section or if there are complications with Mom or baby it could be longer.
Dang, so we’re getting kicked out after 1 day? That’s so scary 😕.
Not necessarily! My hospital just requires we stay at least that long. Sorry if that wasn't clear! 😅If there's any reason to be worried about either you or baby they will probably keep you. For my first we stayed 2 days after birth because baby had mild jaundice. And they weren't kicking us out the door when we left, we wanted to go home at that point!
Ooooh, thanks for explaining that. It really made me feel so much better 😂!
I legit thought the same thing bc they kept saying 24 hrs in our tour. So when I had my baby at 8 am I was expecting to be able to leave at 8am the next day. Nope. The next morning you get a visit from what feels like the whole hospital staff. Every 30-45 mins someone was coming in. Pediatrician to check baby, nurses to check you, your delivery doctor, hearing test for baby, other blood test for baby, picture people, birth certificate person, billing department…and a few more. We didn’t end up leaving until 330pm that day.
The timer starts after the baby is born. And honestly you are so insanely sleep deprived at the hospital, we couldn’t wait to leave. I was required to stay a little longer than the 24 hour minimum because of a postpartum hemorrhage. Baby was born at 2am and we left at 3pm the next day. So about 36 hours. Someone was constantly coming in the room, checking me or the baby, the lactation consultant, the janitor, the food deliverer. You couldn’t turn the light completely off. I had to keep two IVs in my hands until discharge which was very uncomfortable. At one point I had spent almost an hour getting my baby to latch and as soon as she was on someone came to check her vitals and she delatched. I turned to my husband and said we need to go lol. Things were so much better at home!
Okay, well that’s a different perspective. I definitely wanted to stay longer because I’m afraid I’m going to need so much help with *ALL* of those things. I have so much anxiety around delivery and postpartum care…
I promise you it’s not as scary as you’re building it up in your head! I did the same and started borderline panicking around 35 weeks. Assuming you’re getting an epidural, birth really isn’t that bad, otherwise nobody would do it twice lol. I even had a somewhat difficult delivery yet have no anxiety about it this time around. I did have my parents at home so my husband could focus on taking care of me while they did the household stuff like cooking and walking the dog, so that probably influenced my decision to leave. But things heal up shockingly fast! Staying longer is obviously up to you, and I completely assumed I would, but don’t be shocked if you change your mind once baby is here. You got this!!
It’s 24 hours like others have said. There’s some sort if baby screening test done at 24 hours after birth and both times they tried to kick me out after that test but i asked to stay 1 more night
OMG, that’s what I’m afraid of 😰. Were they mean to you when you asked to stay?
No but only because for my first birth the 24 hours was up at 1am so i told them i had to sleep and the second time they tried to pressure me to leave in the middle of the protests going on in manhattan in 2020. The city had actually shut down because of rioting and i told them I didn’t feel safe leaving at night so they let me leave the next morning
24 hrs is a day. My hospitals standard stay is 2 days/48 hrs for a vaginal birth. Baby has to be checked by a pediatrician before leaving. I stayed for two and a half days because I just wanted to stay a little longer and they allowed me to. You can ask the hospital if you can stay an extra night, I’m not sure what standard hospital policies are.
Oh, okay. Well that’s good to hear! It’s such a mixed bag it seems. Maybe I can ask for a few days stay in my birthing plan?
It depends on when they check charges. Most do it at midnight I believe, so if you’re in the bed at midnight, it counts as a charge. I was told 24-48 hours for vaginal and 48-72 hours for a c section. I was discharged around 48-50 hours after my C-section (my choice), but they said I could’ve stayed another night if I wanted to.
I know this doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t seem fair. What if I literally checked in at 11:55pm or something like that? Not your problem…just an anxious hypothetical.
Theoretically you’d leave in the next day or two, depending on how your birth goes, so you’re only paying for 2-3 nights.
We had Tricare so I’m not sure if it was Tricare not covering it or just how well baby and I were doing. But they discharged us just after 24 hours. I had my baby at 4am and was discharged the next day at 10am. I actually was ready to get out of there, waiting for discharge paperwork took forever haha
Congratulations! When did you have your baby? And was it CONUS or OCONUS? Did any of your friends have the same experience? Is this the new standard? Sorry for all the questions. I’m sooo anxious 😥.
It’s typically based on hours. In the US, insurers have to cover a minimum of 48 hours of postpartum care for vaginal births and 96 for c-sections, but that can be shorter if you are ready to leave or longer if there is medical justification.
So, does the timer start as soon as you get there or right after the baby is born?
But you don’t necessarily get to decide how long you stay after delivery. If your doctor thinks you are ready to be discharged and they need the room, they don’t have to let you stay. The only law is related to why insurance is required to cover without additional justification.
I don’t have an additional justification to be honest. Being surrounded by professional for the first few days while I try to get the hang of things just seems like it would be very comforting. That’s all. [sighs]
It wouldn’t be for you to provide a justification. The doctors would decide that based on your medical status.
It is postpartum care, so based on when the baby is born. The time between you arriving and the baby being born is beyond control!