Syag, I think absan is from EY, which is where I live. It is very, very common for women to go to what we call Beit Hachlama for a couple of days. I really enjoyed those times, not in the hospital anymore but there is plenty of good, healthy food, which I did not have to prepare,that helps restore a new mother’s strength, as well as extra hands available for her baby so that she can really focus on herself. I remember being able to soak in a bath after delivering an almost 11 pound baby naturally (with epidural but lots and lots of stitches, ouch!) for as long as I felt it was helping me, without anyone knocking on the door needing his/her pajamas or anything else. I never went until my 4th child as I had no coverage on my health plan until that point, but my daughter, who just delivered her first, has coverage from birth #1, so she went for 3 nights. She was able to speak to other women, get tidbits of advice from them, get help from a lactation consultant if she wanted, rest when she was not feeding the baby or herself, and this was in an environment where she came back to my house for a few good weeks until she was able to manage more or less with the new baby. A lot of women who have boys choose to go right after the bris so that the nursing staff can keep an eye on things.
It is different in America, but I can tell you that without a lot of family support over there, it is definitely more challenging coming home after birth. I had my first 3 over there and my 3rd was actually a surprise C-section. B”H all went well, but I came home after 4 days in the hospital and found myself standing in my kitchen preparing dinner for my husband and two children because my family had forgotten to ask for any community help with meals for us. Not fun at all.
I think it is all a matter of where you are coming from (literally in this case) and no one should judge how one population handles women after birth versus another, like a mamim said.