The main reason I was given is that recovery is not strictly for c/s recovery - for example there could possibly be women in recovery who have just been thru a D&C or some one recovering from major heart surgery etc.

I don't know that it is as simple as asking DH to step out of the room. The recovery room where I was had about 10 beds (maybe more) in it and was on the surgery floor (2 floors below maternity and our room). Not sure where DH would have gone if he had been asked to step out.

There were only 2 or 3 nurses in the recovery room taking care of me and the other 2 men - not sure if there would have been more had recovery been busier. Also, there are no midwives on the recovery floor. I hear you say "if the baby is healthy you probably wouldn't need a midwife", but if something did happen in the half hour - an hour after the birth there would be plenty of midwives available to help your baby if it suddenly needed any sort of medical assistance. I know where I would rather my baby be had she needed help breathing etc.

I was also quite out of it for around 20 - 30 minutes immediately after the surgery so would have been useless when it came to the baby anyway.

Just my observations on my own experience...not trying to justify seperation - only trying to make some sort of sense out of it.