[MissM86]

When I had DD I went private and had a 5 day hospital stay. I don't think I made the most of it- I got up and showered pretty much straight away every day and then sort of tried to do 'stuff'. I didn't rest much and ended up sick and exhausted when I got home and my stitches burst whilst in hospital - probably because I was moving around too much.

I am due to give birth again this year and plan to do things differently. I will go private again so I am wondering - what do you do during your hospital stay? Do you stay in your PJs all day, stay in bed, watch tv? I need lessons in relaxation! I felt like I had to get up, get showered and get dressed because of all the cleaners, food staff and nurses coming and going all day.

[cluckybeez]

When I had DD I went private and had a 5 day hospital stay. I don't think I made the most of it- I got up and showered pretty much straight away every day and then sort of tried to do 'stuff'. I didn't rest much and ended up sick and exhausted when I got home and my stitches burst whilst in hospital - probably because I was moving around too much.

I am due to give birth again this year and plan to do things differently. I will go private again so I am wondering - what do you do during your hospital stay? Do you stay in your PJs all day, stay in bed, watch tv? I need lessons in relaxation! I felt like I had to get up, get showered and get dressed because of all the cleaners, food staff and nurses coming and going all day.

I'm like you. I did far too much. Hair, make-up... clothes for goodness sake.

If there's ever a next time, I will be in PJs, no make-up, potentially no visitors and just focus on our new arrival and BF.

Given the issues we had with BF, I think I will spend most of my time focused on getting this right.

[JustBeige]

I showered, but put on tracky and soft tops. I did private for my second and tbh, once they realised I knew what I was doing and didnt need help, I was lucky to see them once or twice a day, especially towards the end of the stay.

DH and I just hung out, took bubs for a bit of a walk around the ward, watched TV, ate and I read when he would go home.

Was very nice.

Oh they also had me tucked away into a back corner, so I think that helped with the peace and quiet too.

[Shellby]

With my second (my first was far from normal after birth hospital stay.) I still got up each morning and had a shower and got dressed after I had breakfast otherwise I felt yuck - but then I found in the first week after birth I had about 3 showers a day anyway.

Then I spent my day watching TV, sleeping and reading. I found with my second I only had 2 visitors over 5 days, so didn't have to entertain whereas my first I had about 15 visitors in the first 12 hours before finding out how sick my son was and we were transferred.

Only work I did was tend to Ben if he woke up and wanted a feed or needed a nappy change, otherwise he pretty much just slept, sometimes when he was awake I would lay him on my bed and just talk and stare at him and enjoy it. For the first 3 nights the nurses even took him for me so I could sleep - so I really relaxed.

Also the hospital offered a candle light dinner one night of your stay with your partner, had a fancy menu to choose from, they would take the baby if you wanted and yes you ate at a nice table done up and brought in with 2 candles. It also included a bunch of flowers and a card to go with the teddy they gave on the first day.

I treated it like a hotel stay really, didn't clean my room or make my bed, they did that. Just sat and ate and slept. It was bliss.

[Kay1]

I liked getting up and sorted in the morning. This took ages because of pain from c-section. Then the rest of the day would pretty much be a blur of feeds, crying baby, expressing, sterilising, feeding, expressing, sterilising, crying (me as well as him)....repeat. Last baby I did get to watch the Olympics while doing all this....and I saw it all, there was no sleeping LOL.

In all three stays there was a moment when I lost my shiz in the nursery and just broke down sobbing and begged them to have him for just one hour so I could sleep.

But I believe my experience is not the norm and that some newborns actually sleep a fair bit.

This post has been edited by Kay1: 13/02/2013, 08:04 PM

[karkat]

DD1 was a c/s so spent a bit of time getting over pain, learning to breastfeed and all the new baby stuff.

DD2 was fantastic, was only in for about 36hrs but basically slept and feed DD the whole time. I did get up and dressed tho. Nursing staff mostly left me alone when they realised I had some idea of what I was doing and only came in if I buzzed them. Best day and a half ever.

DD3 I only spent just over 24hrs in. I'd been so looking forward to spending a couple of days in hospital relaxing and just worrying about new bub, however, the maternity unit hadn't had a baby in just over a week before DD3 was born (small rural hospital, had 3 babies in the day after I went home), so the nursing staff kept wanting to "do something" for me, when all I wanted to do was sleep and feed! So I went home the next day, disappointed not to have my 2 days of doing nothing!!

[House.of.blue]

With DS1 hubby stayed with me 24/7 for the 5 days I was in hospital so I was preoccupied keeping him entertained and trying to be a new mum. DS1 just slept for the 5 days I was in hospital would wake and feed but then sleep again. The first time (apart from being pulled out during c section) that he cried was the trip home so I was worried I had a "broken baby".

This time I am going private again and I have two books, ill but some magazines the weekend before I go in, I have my music playlist and some DVDs for my laptop. I didn't BF DS1 but this baby I plan on trying so ill have a lot of skin to skin and feeding time in between taking time to relax and enjoy myself.

This will be my first ever time away from DS1 so I think I will be a tad anxious and confused as to what to do with my time :/

[Lokum]

DS1 - hand expressed, then pump expressed and tried to feed up my little 2.5kg boy. I was desperate to fatten him up, and he was slow and sleepy. I did snooze in the afternoons. Always had a shower and dressed in comfortable day clothes.

DS2 - BFing was easier. Showered every morning, comfy day clothes. When not looking after DS, I snoozed or watched TV. DH was with me a lot of the time so sometimes we chatted, and DS1 visited us every day for an hour or so. Still got home feeling sufficiently rested.

Each time, I've only sent them to the nursery for one 3-hour stint about 24 hours after the c/s, when I hit a wall and was afraid I'd drop them and needed the sleep. Felt guilty both times.

[bjk76]

I had a CS with DS, so couldn't move around too much at first. I showered and dressed in my comfy maternity clothes, then pretty much spent all my time focussing on breastfeeding - getting DS to have a go, expressing with a pump, expressing by hand with a nurse 'catching' drops of milk with a syringe (!). DH was with me all day and we'd sit and chat and he'd feed me my meals, as DS was on the breast pretty much every time my food came! I didn't have the TV on at all and was pretty exhausted from a very long pre-labour and active labour, so wasn't too hard to just chill out.

[premmie_29weeks]

With my first I thought it was going to be a nice time with visitors and having new baby. I went private on a very busy weekend in September where it seemed all of Sydney was having babies. We were overwhelmed with visitors in the first 48 hours and exhausted. Ds1 was a screamer so no sleep. I had no time for more than a quick shower mornin and night. Bf was a disaster because I was so tired and a horrid dose of third day blues. I was happy to go home frankly.

2nd time very different birth and we had ds1 at home. I got up and showered every morning, and focuses on bfing, and trying to relax as much a possible. He slept more so I was better rested on coming home. But I was lonely in hospital, the midwives still gave a plethora of conflicting advice, and I found being cooped up just as awful as the first time. I discharged myself after 3 days...I missed Dh and ds1 I'm used to noise and people, and I told visitors to stay away so I was actually pretty lonely