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A Guide to C-section Births

What Dads Need to Know

By Angela Harris

"During recovery, expect frequent vital-sign monitoring and close monitoring of [the] surgical site for two hours," says McNitt. "This is the post anesthesia care required after surgery. If Mom has had regional anesthesia, expect her to be awake and generally pain free. Adjunct medications for complaints of nausea, itching and pain are available as needed. If Mom goes to sleep for surgery, expect her to be groggy and in pain when she wakes up. A patient-controlled analgesia pump will be started to control the pain."

About two hours after surgery the baby will be brought into the room. "The baby can stay with Mom for as long as she prefers," says McNitt.

Expect Mom and Baby to remain in the hospital for two to five days, which varies depending on the circumstances of the surgery and on how the new mom is feeling and healing. As long as everything is well, family and friends will be permitted to visit on the same day the baby is born.

In your role, be prepared to offer emotional and physical support to the new mother. "After my emergency C-section I was violently ill with the dry heaves," says Joanne Smith, a mother of two from Buffalo, N.Y. "It meant so much to have my husband there holding my hand. He was wonderful about asking the nurses for things, getting me things I needed and making sure I was well cared for. I don't know what I would have done without him there to be my voice at certain times."

Want to see more?

• C-section Delivery Stats
• Just in Case: Making a Plan for Cesarean Birth
• The Right to Choose: Elective Cesarean Sections
• Postpartum Dad Series
• Talk about it!