How many are in the hospital after childbirth? We will find the answer to this question in this article.
Finally, you waited for the birth of a small child. You have dreamed for so long, imagined this holiday, as you come out to meet your family and friends. But when will this moment come? How much do you need to lie in the hospital after childbirth? Now let's try to figure it out. This period depends primarily on the state of health of the mother and child.
How much are in the hospital after natural birth?
If the mother and baby feel good, they have passed all the necessary procedures, then the doctor can let them go home within a week. For discharge, it is necessary that the baby be made all the necessary vaccinations and tests. At the mother, the gynecologist checks the contraction of the uterus, and also whether there is an inflammatory process. For this, a daily examination is done and an ultrasound is prescribed.
Some women have to do a perineal dissection (episiotomy) during childbirth, which is necessary so that the fetal head passes through the birth canal faster. If this happens, then you have to wait a bit with the discharge, because it is necessary that the seams heal. Nurses regularly treat them to avoid the onset of the inflammatory process.
When the doctor makes sure that everything is going well, discharge is possible on the third day, and after an episiotomy - on the sixth.
Cesarean section
Recently, cesarean section is done more and more often. In many cases, women over the age of thirty are asking for this type of delivery. If there is appropriate evidence, then the medical staff goes to meet them.
How much are in a maternity hospital after childbirth at cesarean section? The real term of discharge home is 5 or 6 days, if everything went well: the newborn is healthy and the mom does not have inflammatory processes. Still, a cesarean section is an abdominal operation, so it happens that after it the forces do not recover quickly, and the sutures do not heal in any way. In this case, you will have to stay longer in the hospital, possibly up to several weeks.
If a woman in labor has indications for a cesarean section from the very beginning, then the doctor can tell in advance how many days she will stay in the hospital.
At the time of discharge, after such delivery, several circumstances affect. For example, why in this way a woman gave birth, what were the indications, it was a planned or unscheduled operation. Given all these points, the doctor can determine the day of discharge.
Premature birth
A baby who was born prematurely requires special attention. He has not fully formed organs that cannot yet independently function outside the maternal womb. Therefore, the newborn and his mother will be in the hospital until the baby's health is normal. Most likely, he will be transferred to the pathology department. In such cases, no doctor will tell you exactly how much to lie in the hospital after childbirth. Everything will depend on the state of health of the newborn.
Often, a baby born prematurely has an underdeveloped respiratory system, so it is placed in a ventilator. How much time doctors need to help the baby breathe normally depends on his vitality.
Important factors
What do obstetrician-gynecologists pay attention to before discharge?
Firstly, the general health of the mother, the healing of sutures, the nature of the discharge from the vagina, the degree of contraction of the uterus. Also, the doctor does an examination of the woman's chest for cracks and inflammation.
Before discharge, mom is sent for an ultrasound of the genitals. This is done in order to make sure that there are no parts of the placenta or blood clots in the uterus.
The doctor also prescribes a general blood and urine test. The latter is needed in order to find out if there are diseases of the genitourinary system, as well as gestosis. A blood test is done to identify a possible inflammatory process and anemia.
After this examination, the obstetrician-gynecologist decides whether to discharge the patient or not.
Reasons for the delay
How much time they spend in the maternity hospital after childbirth is affected by the state of the mother. The reasons why a woman in childbirth may stay in the hospital are as follows:
- Pathology of childbirth and complications after them.
- Suturing the internal and external genital organs can extend the time spent in the hospital. However, the final decision in such cases remains with the doctor.
- The presence of bleeding can also delay a woman in labor in the hospital. If a woman had a difficult birth, for example, a placenta was manually removed, then often this leads to a loss of blood. As a result, anemia occurs. For its treatment, iron-containing drugs and vitamins are prescribed. With severe anemia, a blood transfusion can be prescribed.
How many days are in the hospital after childbirth in the presence of inflammatory processes? It depends on the circumstances. With inflammation of the uterine cavity or poorly healing scar, the patient is prescribed antibiotics. Of course, in such cases, you will have to wait with an extract.
A woman in labor who has been diagnosed with gestosis is initially under medical supervision due to high blood pressure. It takes time to lower it.
Kid in the hospital
For a small, just born little man, the care in the hospital is as thorough as his mother. A neonatologist examines the baby every day, his skin, checks to see if the navel has fallen and what muscle tone is. He is also interested in stool, urine and changes in the weight of the child.
The following examinations are prescribed for the baby: urine and blood tests. They are needed in order to identify dangerous diseases in time, such as adrenogenital syndrome, hypothyroidism, cystic fibrosis, phenylketonuria, galactosemia. Mandatory vaccinations are given to the newborn before discharge. Only after all examinations does the doctor authorize discharge home.
Why the baby will have to lie in the hospital longer
The condition of not only the mother, but also the child, affects how much they are now in the hospital after childbirth. What will delay the baby in the hospital? Here are some possible reasons:
- Jaundice of the newborn. The manifestation of this disease is observed with a conflict of the Rhesus factors of the mother and the child. To treat the baby, droppers and phototherapy are prescribed. In these circumstances, the child is detained in the hospital until full recovery.
- Weight loss. The maximum weight loss after birth in an infant is about 8% of the original. If this norm is exceeded, then the child must be examined, and it will take some time.
- Premature baby. A baby who was born prematurely is likely to lose a significant part of his weight, so he is placed in a special incubator for complete nursing.
- Oxygen starvation of the fetus observed during childbirth. After this, the baby may have serious disorders of the nervous system. If any are found during examination, then the child is left for some time for treatment.
- Infections Any of them requires treatment with antibiotics or antiviral drugs. In this situation, the discharge of the baby is also delayed.
Little conclusion
To reassure expectant mothers who are worried about how much they are in the hospital after childbirth, I want to say that for the most part everything goes fine. Therefore, there is no reason for undue concern. Most often, mothers and babies are discharged without delay. You just have to wait a few days, and then you can go home to a happy family.