Postpartum hospital stays

In the news about today's birth of Nicole Richie's baby girl (yah, I read those sites. I have reformed NEARLY all the vices of my yout.), the report made it sound like she and the baby were discharged on the day of her delivery. I think that's fantastic for many reasons. First of all, it indicates to me that everything went smoothly and mom and baby are doing well. In fact, if she was discharged the same day of delivering, I can't imagine she had a medicated birth.

I was always really anxious to the the heck home after my kids were born. After Chim's birth, I think the care I received postpartum was just awful. I was given antibiotics for far too long (DAYS after the fever ceased, but the nurses couldn't find an MD to sign off on discontinuing the IV) which led to an IV infiltration that was no fun. On discharge day, one of the nurses asked if I needed to stay longer because she could see that I was distressed. I was distressed because of my hospital stay!! And after Zee's birth I was just so happy and I felt great, and I wanted to go home and start enjoying my new addition.

I am sure she has lots of support at home too, which is so important for new moms -- regardless of their circumstances. Thankfully she has myriad resources at her disposal: baby nurses, postpartum doulas, maybe even a private nurse for herself. A lot of moms will have their own moms or sisters there the first few weeks, and especially if the women in our lives can frankly share their experiences as new moms fall into motherhood (the sore nipples, the hormonal changes, the night sweats, the hormones, the vast surges of love you feel... did I mention the bormones?), it can ease the transition and make it less a trial by fire than a loving rite of passage.

Here's hoping that this new family, as well all new families (and yes, it seems there are quite a few in LA especially tonight) have a great start in the big adventure!