Experiences leaving toddler while admitted at hospital post partum

My baby is due via C Section on Tuesday and I'm so excited, but I'm also worried about having to stay in hospital for a few days, or maybe even be readmitted post partum due to BP issues, and having to leave my 18mo toddler for several days/nights. I miss her terribly when we are apart, and I dread the thought of leaving her longer than 24 hours :(
What are your experiences? I don't know if it's best to let her visit if I stay longer than 24 hours, or if that will distress her more because she'll have to leave without me. I can't bear to think about it :(

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Might be slightly different because mine is a daddy's girl... I was induced so first night dad went home to do bedtime. Baby born 6am and 18m old visited in the afternoon with grandparents. Dad met them at the car and walked them back down after and she was fine. But if your not sure and think it best they wait then do. Mine coped really well. Good luck!

I completely understand how you feel, I’ve just been through this last month, i had an emergency c section and had to stay in hospital for a week, my toddler was 16 months old and i had really bad anxiety being away from her since I’ve never been away from her.
However she was home with her dad and I’d video call whenever I wanted to see her and my partner would just update me all the time on her, send videos and pics of her during the day and it did help. She only visited me once on the 3rd day so I got some cuddles but honestly she seemed okay and didn’t pay too much attention on the fact that I was away from her.
It’s really scary to think about but honestly I think everything will be okay and you’ll be home sooner than you realise!

We had never spent a night away from her, so I was very nervous when I went into hospital to have my son. Honestly though she loved it, my mum flew in to stay with her and she didn’t ask for me once. She did lots of things just her and nanny and it really gave us time to focus on just baby boy. I stayed 2 nights but then got readmitted and in total ended up spending about 12 nights in and out of hospitals that first month. It really helped my daughter actually, she got less dependent on me, spent time with daddy, broke a bad cycle of needing me at bedtime only. No tears at any point, just excitement.

We didn’t bring her to the hospital as some toddlers get freaked out and obviously that first day I wasn’t up and mobile for 10-12 hours. I didn’t want her to think mummy was hurt because of the new baby.

We brought him home in the night and she woke up to him in bed with me. She got in the bed and cuddled me for a bit. Baby boy brought her a present for being a big sister ❤️

mannn i didn’t do good when i had to leave my son to have my other son lol i was panicking so i totally get you

in our community

Oh my God, oh my God I hope this is not true!!!! I’m kind of scared

I’ve been throwing up and taking a shit all night!!! I just hope that it’s not what I think it is

Small head reported following 20 week scan

Has anyone else had it flagged that their baby is in the bottom 5th percentile for head size?

They said everything was fine whilst we were in the scan and then I got a phone call the next day saying that it’s on the small side and we’re being referred to a paediatric specialist at St George’s. Has anyone else had this and how did things go??

Would you bring 9 week old to a family party of 35+ people?

These are also people who will want to pass the baby around and get a turn to hold him. He just got his 2 month shots two days ago

Exercise 6 weeks after c section

What movement did people start to introduce? I won’t do anything too vigorous until I’ve seen the pelvic physio as I don’t want to compromise anything that may have been extremely weakened through pregnancy! But just wondering what types of classes/movement people started off with?

It’s my birthday tomorrow.

Ok so I am going to be 35 years young. I can’t believe how much this life has thrown at me but it’s okay I’m a survivor. I am truly blessed to be alive. 🥳🧁🎂 The only downside is I won’t be celebrating my birthday because my man can’t take me out. So many emotions right now.

Induction experience

I just wanted to share my experience with being induced as I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought it may help others.

I opted for the foley balloon which was inserted at 8am Saturday morning, I had to stay in hospital due to hypertension and protein urine however usually you can just go home once this has been done. The insertion of the balloon was not painful, was slightly uncomfortable as there was slight pressure. I actually found having the cervix checked prior to be worse (again not painful at this point just uncomfortable) The balloon had little effect and after having it removed I was still only 1cm. Removal also was pain free and hardly even noticeable.

I then had my first dose of the gel and definitely noticed a difference, I started experiencing period like cramps almost immediately however they were light and manageable. After 6 hours I had another cervix check and although my cervix was soft it was still only 1cm and was only open at the front. I had another dose of the gel and felt an increase in pressure and more intense cramping where I now required pain relief (codeine). After another 6 hours I had another cervix check and I had now dilated to 2-3cm however was still quite difficult to get all the way through so a third gel was recommended which I agreed to.

Almost immediately I noticed the difference and was in considerable pain, I had paracetamol and codeine however the contractions had now become intense and a lot closer together (around 3 minutes apart). After a couple of hours I had my last cervix check and was 4cm and taken down to the Labour ward to have my waters broken and an epidural.

I had been in my room for approx 20minutes when my waters broke by themselves and I was now 10cm and actively pushing…. There was no time for the epidural and my beautiful girl arrived into the world within 2 minutes of pushing.

All in all I would say the cramps/contractions were manageable up until the third gel where it became pretty unbearable however it was for a very short time a gas and air helped take the edge off. The worst part about any of it was actually the later cervix checks where after stimulating the cervix my contractions were at their most painful.

If I had to be induced again I would skip the balloon and opt for the gels immediately as thy had a quicker effect and I would have been out a lot sooner if I had done this to begin with.

One more thing, I’ve never believed when people say “you forget the pain once they’re here” but I can honestly say this is true. It’s been 4 days and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.