I went home from the hospital six days after I was born.

No, parents of 2024, there was nothing wrong with me or my mother.

In 1954, mother and child spent something approaching a week in the hospital. The idea was to make sure the baby was fine and that the mother had recovered sufficiently to care for her newborn.

So I can only imagine the look on my parents’ face when I told them…

— Their grandson went home less than 48 hours after he was born. We didn’t think anything of it, mainly because the hospital considered it staying an extra day.

— When I taught journalism at a state university a few years ago, one of my students showed up at class two days after she delivered her son. Yes, she was a really good student. But, two days?

— A woman who worked in my office came in the day after delivery in order to finish up some stuff she was doing before starting maternity leave.

It’s pretty standard that mothers and children go home as soon as they can. Part of it is the exorbitant cost of hospitalization. Part of it might be that doctors believe women recover better in their own home.

I don’t know how those of you who have delivered children feel about the amount of time you and the kid(s) spent in the hospital. I only know my Mom would have shuttered if she knew she was going home on day two or three.