What are the chances...

[Danni]

of Junior being able to be placed onto my chest for b/feeding immediately after a c/s??

Was anyone able to hold there baby immediately for longer than 5 mins?

[BellyBelly]

All depends on your Ob. If you go public you never know who its going to be so it's pot luck. It's worth asking, begging or pleading with your hospital though if you are public, so they know it is an important issue to women.

[Danni]

yep im going public...ill definitely beg!! It seems that most babies get taken away straight away for "checking" and the mother goes to recovery while dad has the bub.

I want my baby straight away and to feed him straight away and I dont want him "checked" until Im ready to go with him. I wonder if they will listen to me?

[Danni]

not definitely-- ill find out more next week.

[{sarah}]

Danni I think with the majority of us, the c/s has been emergency so we've not been in the frame of mind to fight IYKWIM. After a long labour ending in c/s I had no idea what was going on so didn't even think about BF or anything at the time.

If you're having an elective c/s you can make sure your intentions are known before the date, as well as having the presence of mind to argue at the time. It is most definitely possible to have bub stay with you so long as he's ok. Usually in the time when you're being stitched up bub will have their apgars (which can be done as normal) but also their first injections, but they can wait until you're ready anyway.

[Pandora]

At the (public)hospital I went to you can't.

They say its to do with the room temperature in theatre being too cold - I thought skin/slin contact would regulate the baby's body temperature?

[{sarah}]

Surely they can put a blanket over the two of you???? Sorry Rachael, not directed at you, that just sounds like a silly excuse to me.

[Pandora]

Yep, I know. I was arguing about it at the ante natal classes!

[Inanna]

Danni,
This is a HUGE issue and one that needs women's voice.
The largest public hospital closest to me has brought in a policy that babies go straight to their mother. Ray Ray you are absolutely correct skin to skin contact has MANY benefits one of them being an aid to regulation of body temp. Sarah, you are so right - a blanket over both Mama and baby is an answer to the cool air problem (mind you hospitals are airconditioned so go figure. )

Danni, if you require a c/section and you feel this is very important then you need to be VERY direct about it. It needs to be written in your chart. You need to tell everyone who comes near you. It may not be possible to b/f until you are sutured up but your baby can be placed onto your bare chest. Some obs will pass the baby straight onto the mothers chest as a matter of course.

I hope you can get your needs met -

[Danni]

thanks guys, its reassured me a little! So i need to march in there and have it written on my forehead and on my lower abdomen too

[Danni]

Caro: breach baby

[Danni]

Im a public patient though so there is no chance of a breech vaginal birth.

Yep there is time for him to turn but he may not. In the mean time he is putting a lot of pressure on my cervix which is killing me...so the sooner the better!

[visitor1]

I hope he turns for you Danni......!

[AnyDream]

Hi Danni, I have a friend who had an elective caesar in the public hossy at Wollongong a year ago. She managed to get in the head midwife's ear about BF in theatre, and the midwife came in, attended the birth and made sure she was able to BF bubs straight away when he was born.

My friend says it made a huge difference in her empowerment and also her recovery time after the surgery. You will need midwife support as well as OB agreement, so maybe work on the midwives as much as the OB.

Good luck, I'll be very interested to hear how you get on, as I'll be having a CS this time in a "Breastfeeding friendly" hospital so will be advocating for the same thing.

[Danni]

no it doesnt seem fair but i guess they are a very busy hospital? i dont know...there is no excuse really

[{sarah}]

Danni, have you checked out the spinning babies website?

[Lea13]

Dani a friend of mine just had her breech bubba turned. It took mere seconds (thankfully bubs was cooperative) and she is a public patient. In fact she's had all of her babies turned as they all sat breech lol. Also the spinning babies website is fantastic!

[Liz]

Sending some turning vibes for your danni!

Tallon turned when DH told him to with a firm voice at the bottom of my belly one night LOL. We also did the torch thing. I physically couldn't stay head down and bum up for the amount of time you're sposed to to turn the bub, so we just did those things. Whether they worked or he was gonna turn anyway, I guess I'll never know

WRT the skin to skin.. I thought they could check bub on you these days without taking them away? Tallon was only taken after a while to be put on the scales and measured.. but all the 'checking' was done on me. Of course.. that wasn't c/s.. but I don't see why there'd be a difference?

Good luck