Olivia was born, my DH cut the cord, she was checked for her Agpar scores and then placed on my chest straight away.....blood and muck all over her, just wrapped in a cotton cloth.

Prior to giving birth I had always said I would like a clean baby to cuddle, but it was only about a minute after my final push that I had my first cuddle with her and it was the best moment of my whole life and I wouldn't change a thing about it....

(Actually, if you check out her little website (link is under my sig) there is a photo of this.....you can't really see much muck!)

Also, they generally don't bath babies for hte first few days as it affects the babies core body temp and natural skin sebums etc so they generally leave them, which soudns a bit gross, but wasn't an issue at all for me...)