[Meiri]

I had mine out when DD was about 6 months old. She could have nursed later that night, but we didn't know that. so she had to wait until morning. It was pretty much treated as an emergency because the doctor did not want to mess around with antibiotics while I was nursing. I don't regret having it out, but wish I'd known a bit more, like that it didn't have to come out the next day.

OTOH, the anticipation for my September thyroid surgery was worse than the surgery itself, so maybe there's something to be said for such "emergencies".

Mine was laproscopic surgery and I had little if any pain that I recall. I ended up on antibiotics 2 weeks later anyway for a post-op infection of one of the incisions though. The oncall surgeon prescribed one he knew to be safe while BF; the ER staff took it upon themselves to scare the daylights out of me with the "need" to not nurse DD while on this lest she have an allergic reaction. They were so completely wrong.

Fortunately our ped knew better and allayed my fears in the morning when I called her.

More useful to you: be prepared for some intestinal weirdness until you figure out what works best for your body regarding the timing of meals and what foods help. I went for years needing to GO within an hour of any large meal until I started this diet and was forcing myself to eat more salads. Whether it was the roughage or just a coincidence of timing, I don't know. I'm not much for salads again, but the problems have not returned.

 

[Meiri]

What I suggest you do is to talk to the anesthesiologist beforehand and ask that they use the types of anesthesia they'd use on a woman getting a c-section and expecting to nurse asap afterwards. From what I understand, with what they use now-a-days, once you're awake the drug is out of your system.

You should be able to nurse him as soon as you can safely hold him.

What also happened to me is I needed an additional pain shot while in recovery. I'd've gone home that evening--and nursed DD--except that that shot made the room seriously spin. At that point they had to keep me as I couldn't safely stand. I probably still could've nursed DD, but hadn't had time to find out, they weren't going to "allow it", and I hadn't known I'd need the extra shot. So find out what they'll give if you have a pain reaction like I did too, and ask that the med be breastfeeding compatible.