Going home from hosp after C section?

I'm now a month away from baby no 2 arriving via a planned C section, and just starting to think how hard it will be on my 14mth old daughter, while I'm stuck in hospital with her baby brother. DD arrived by emergency C section, and I was in hosp for 6 days afterwards... am thinking that's way too long to be away from home this time

If you had ceaser (or know a friend who did) - how long were you in hospital for? And anyone who came home early, how did your recovery go?

Would love to hear a few of your experiences thanks

This is of interest to me too. I would like to think that after an elective (and a second baby) it would only be a few days. I also had an emergency and part of the long stay afterwards was due to pure exhaustion from the long labour prior to the section!

I had an elective c-section due to a breech baby. I stayed 2 nights in Chch Womens, then transferred to Rangiora and stayed there for 2 more nights. They wanted me to stay longer.
I would have been happy to go home after 2 nights, but I didn't. I think 4 nights would give you a chance to recover a bit more before going back home to look after a toddler - cos you won't be able to pick her up, or do too much with her in those first few days anyway.

And FYI, I had a very easy recovery from the c-section. I think an elective is much easier on your body than an emergency c-section. Had bub at 11am and was up and about that evening, showered myself the next day etc.

Hey, I had a 14 month old when I had my DD via elective CS(my son was an emerg CS).

I went in and had her at 1.03pm on the Thursday, I transfered to the maternity unit on The friday at 12pm and then home by 2pm the Sunday

Like LF said, you really need at least 2 night in hospital for pain relief and breastfeeding etc before you go home.

ETA- I was in hospital for 5 days with DS due to a lot of post op issues and some issues with DS but with DD everything went perfectly hence going home earlier.

Edited by Sheza

I think medically there will be a minimum stay and as someone else said it's probably around 3 days to ensure no serious complications occur. But I guess also just don't underestimate how big a surgery a c-section actually is and how much tissue they actually cut through that needs to heal. Also a bit of blood loss might knock you around and you might have bowel or bladder issues (constipation or urine retention) that don't sort themselves out straight away. I guess plan for 5 nights and you can always go early if you're feeling good.

I was up and walking within hours of mine but my girl was in the NICU so I was keen to stay as long as they'd let me (6 nights). Although I'm normally okay with pain I think that from a pain perspective I wouldn't have wanted to leave before 3 days anyway.

Thanks SO much for all your stories ladies! And yep I think my recovery from ceaser no 1 was worsened by the long+stressful induction that preceeded!

I think I should keep planning for the worst case scenario of say 6dys, but now I know there's a good possibility that it could be just 3 nights But yeah, I'm not worried about coming home early to actively look after DD - just think we'd both be happier under the same roof iykwim? DH is taking SIX WEEKS(!!!) off work to help out with toddler care this time around, so I'm really lucky to have a hands-on mega supportive partner through it all.

Thanks again for sharing all your experiences

I've had 2 electives, both on Friday afternoons and I've been home on the Monday.

I had my emergency c/s 4am Wed morning and i was home Friday lunchtime. I begged and pleaded with my midwife to go home. I was lucky as 13mths later #2 arrived and i was only in hospital for 12hrs before i went home but i had a VBAC.