Getting baby in recovery with you

[happyblessedmama]

I'm planning a repeat c/s for this baby. Had an unplanned emergency c/s with my last. 

I would like to request baby be brought to me in recovery instead of us being reunited after my recovery period is over. What are my best chances of doing that? I want to minimize separation of baby and myself as much as possible.

Im willing to "fight" for this if necessary but would like to keep conflict to a minimum as well. If you were successful in getting baby in recovery, how was it facilitated? Was it a "big deal" as far as hospital policy?

[alittlesandy]

I was holding my baby within fifteen minutes. Then I held him on the way to recovery. They examined him one more time in recovery, but put the warming table right next to my bed. He was only out of my arms for a minute and never out of my sight. This was a mainstream hospital that doesn't allow VBACs, so I don't think you should have trouble making this happen. Make sure to assert that you will breastfeed exclusively and do not want the baby to have any formula. You can ask for a lactation nurse to meet with you in recovery as well.

I found that for all of my requests, it helped tremendously to speak with the doctor and nurses both ahead of time and in the OR. I also phrased them as hopeful requests rather than demands. I find that if you are super sweet to nurses, they will throw themselves under a bus for you.

[cameragirl]

I would speak to the doctor and have it noted in your chart ahead of time by the nurses, too. I had DD at a big hospital that does VBACS, but takes a lot of high risk cases and has a high c-section rate. DD would have been able to go straight to recovery with me if she didn't have trouble transitioning. It shouldn't be a big deal to have baby with you, especially if there is a support person with you as well.

[AlexisT]

At mine, they did the exam while sewing me up (they did a quick exam in the OR, then did a proper one in the nursery after showing me the baby... I was ok with this because I knew closure would take a while), then he joined me back in the LDR for recovery. No big deal, it was standard policy. He was all ready for me when I was wheeled in. I really liked that they did my pre-op and recovery in an LDR BTW... felt less like just going into surgery. Last time, I don't think I even saw the regular L&D rooms. 

First birth, they also did the exam while I was being sewn, right next to the OR.  That wasn't in the USA though.

I'd say my hospital was pretty middle of the road... not "crunchy" in any way (they would not have allowed a dropped drape or breastfeeding on the table), but they seemed into updating their policies and procedures in line with current practice. So routine baby exams were done in room, they did couplet nursing, night nursery only, that kind of thing. It's certainly not out of line for you to ask but hospitals can be surprisingly inflexible about policy. The other hospital here used to have a mandatory nursery stay--I've heard they've changed some policies recently, but I don't know details. Certainly, that was in effect a year or so ago, so if it has changed it's very recent, and I know other hospitals that still have old fashioned policies.

[thorn]

It depends on the hospital what the policy is - are you having the baby at the same hospital this time?

At the hospital I attend most of my births at, the policy is to keep the baby in the OR with mom until she is moved to recovery, but then the baby goes to the nursery while mom is in recovery.  The reasoning behind this is that the recovery room is too small for the mom's bed + the bassinet, and the nurse is "too busy" attending to post-op mom to also keep an eye on the baby.  However, if you are insistent, they will make it happen.  It will help if you say "dad/doula/grandma/whoever will attend to the baby while you attend to me" or something similar.

At the hospital my cesarean was performed at, the policy was to remove the baby from the OR right away and take it to recovery, and mom joined the baby there when surgery was finished.  

So, I think it will definitely depend on the policy where you are.

[LiLStar]

My first was an unplanned cesarean after attempted homebirth, so I had no prior relationship with any OB or the hospital, and went in blindly

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[LiLStar]

Ahh, touch screens. I was wiping away a speck off the submit button... anyway..

I went in blindly as far as having no idea what the policies were. So I have no idea if my success is due to my stubbornness, luck of reasonable staff on call, a general hospital culture of fexibility, or a combination. It was definiely not a natural birth friendly hospital andin a pretty non crunchy area altogether.

What I did was altered the consent form. There was a section on baby care and consenting to routine treatment at physician's discretion. I said NO. And wrote in what I did not consent to, including any nursery stay or separation. Or rather, ordered dh t do that because I was kinda busy laboring.. but it worked. She stayed with me.

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[Katie8681]

At the hospital where I worked as an L&D nurse, it was routine procedure to do the baby exam on a warmer next to the table while the mom was being sewed up, for mom to hold the baby on the way back to recovery, and for her and the baby to room in just as if it were a vaginal birth. Staff really worked hard to keep the mom-baby unit together. 

[happyblessedmama]

No, this is a different hospital than last time. My hospital last time has a 4% c section rate. I'm in a much bigger city now so have to deal with a big hospital.

[Storm Bride]

This really depends on the hospital's policy. I'd start out by asking what the policy is. You may not have an issue at all. My hospital's policy is to have baby with mom in recovery. I didn't get it with dd1, because the post-cesarean recovery rooms are the L&D rooms, and there wasn't one available when I got out of OR, so I had to go to the big, main surgical recovery room. They couldn't bring dd1 there, because it was full of people, and she needed monitoring, too. So, I had to wait until I was out of recovery. But, the policy is to have the baby with mom asap. I think that's becoming more common than it used to be.

If the policy is not to have baby with mom in recovery, i'm not sure where to go next...maybe ask your OB who you need to talk to about it.  I hope you get your wish - that hour and a bit away from dd1 felt like an eternity! (I was separated from ds1 for about 14 hours, but I was knocked out for almost all of it, so it didn't seem that long.)

[hildare]

i mentioned this in another thread, but i had an issue with this... the hospital in which i delivered (and will again) has an OR for the OB/GYN/Maternity and several other ORs just for general surgery.  If you're having a scheduled c then you might have more leeway, but ours, while not emergency was pretty unexpected. 

In this particular hospital, the OR for maternity allowed babies with mamas in the recovery area (which was just for one person at a time) while the general OR had a rule against anyone, babies or not, being with the person after surgery. 

in my case, the OR for the maternity was occupied and they wanted to put me in the general OR.  i made a huge stink (which i can't believe, i was pretty freaked out about all of it at the time) so we got to wait.

i think just asking, especially if you do a hospital tour, will help you figure out what you need to happen. 

[WaitingForKiddos]

My hospital took baby to the recovery area and mom met up with baby when she was finished being repaired. My repair was quick and it took about 10 minutes to get me into the the recovery room,  switched IV poles, new warm blankets, and then DS was brought to me. The recovery room is attached to the nursery where the babies are taken post cesarean. 

[Monkey Keeper]

I was separated from baby when I was being closed (got to see her, kiss her, etc, and then she went to the nursery) but she was back with me in recovery. Not soon enough, but I was too freaked out to think to ask for anything different. I now know that all I would have had to say was that she needed to stay with us, and they would have done it. She had some temp issues, but DH would have kangaroo'd her had we been thinking clearly. I say just ask. NO, tell. 

[JoyFilled]

My OB tried to get the baby in the recovery room with me but the nurse there said the baby could only stay if a baby nurse stayed as well.  My OB said that my DH could take care of the baby and she said no she was not taking any responsibility for the baby.  The recovery nurse did send me back as earlier then she should have. 

This was a reluctant scheduled repeat c-section in a very friendly VBAC hospital.

So my point is that it may be out of the hands of the OB.  And you may have to ask other people.

[4midablemama]

I'm not sure it was even a question after I had my daughter. Her first checks were done in the OR while I was getting sewed up; I THINK she might've gone to the nursery long enough for a bath (I had 30+ hours of labor and then an unplanned c-section, things were kind of fuzzy) but she was in the recovery room waiting on me when I was wheeled in. She spent part of one night in the nursery, but it was completely my choice, I sent her because I was exhausted and needed to sleep. The rest of the time, she roomed with me. 

[Katielady]

My first was an "emergency" c-section. They tried to bring me the baby in recovery but I was shaking too violently and was afraid to hold him for fear I'd drop him. I think I was also in shock and just felt too wounded to connect with him yet. I do think that women having planned c-sections have fewer problems like that- they're not going in after a long labor and they're not dealing with the shock and fear of emergency surgery. But just be aware that regardless of hospital policies, you may just not feel well enough right away to hold and nurse your baby. But you will soon. And as my husband said, "We're not birds, we're people. It's not a one-time chance, imprint now or you're screwed forever." :)