Congratulations!
Below is some information to make your Cesarean delivery as safe and pleasant as possible.
Before your Cesarean
You may eat up to 8 hours before your scheduled Cesarean delivery. We recommend eating a regular meal the night before surgery.
You may drink water or a carbohydrate-containing drink up to 2 hours before you come to the hospital for your surgery. Drinking water may help you feel less thirsty and hungry. A carbohydrate-containing drink (Gatorade, Powerade or Vitamin water) may help speed your recovery. Therefore we encourage you to drink up to 12 ounces (or 1.5 cups) of Gatorade, Powerade, or Vitamin Water or water up to 2 hours before you come to the hospital for your surgery.
Please take your medicines as recommended by your obstetrician and anesthesiologist.
When you arrive
Your obstetrician and anesthesiologist will come and talk to you and answer any questions.
You will receive an IV and a warming blanket, and your nurse will prepare you for surgery.
To allow for the safest care possible, your surgery may be delayed if there are any emergencies on labor and delivery.
During your Cesarean
Your anesthesiologist will stay with you throughout the surgery, and will help keep you safe and comfortable.
Most scheduled Cesareans are done with a spinal or a combined spinal-epidural anesthestic. The anesthesia we use is extremely safe.
Your anesthesiologist will guide you through your spinal or combined spinal-epidural. You will be positioned as in the picture above. You may feel pressure during the procedure, but it should not be painful. We use medicine to numb where the anesthetic will be placed, and you are welcome to request more numbing medicine if you feel discomfort during the anesthetic procedure.
Within a few minutes of your spinal, your legs will become numb. The anesthesiologist will test several times to make sure you are numb. Surgery will not start until we are sure that you are adequately numb and will be comfortable during surgery.
The spinal will make you numb and heavy from the mid-chest down. You may feel some pressure and tugging during surgery but you should not feel surgical pain. If you feel pain or discomfort please let your anesthesiologist know. You wil be awake during surgery. Sedation can be used, but we prefer to avoid giving any so you can enjoy and remember the birth.
Please feel free to ask any questions or express any needs that you have during your surgery.
Recovery
You will stay in recovery for about one hour. As the numbness wears off, you may feel discomfort at the surgery site. You will be offered medicine to help treat this.
You may be itchy, feel naseous or shiver after delivery. If you do, we have medicines to help treat these symptoms.
You are welcome to continue skin-to-skin and nursing in recovery. We encourage sips of water and ice chips.
After your Cesarean
You will be asked to rate your pain from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable). Pain after Cesarean is usually very well controlled and we try to keep pain at 4 or less. Pain usually peaks on the second day after surgery (when the pain medicine placed in your spinal wears off and you start to move around).
You will receive pain medicine at scheduled times (without needing to ask) in order to keep you comfortable. If you are still uncomfortable, you can ask your nurse for more medicine. All of these medicines are safe for nursing mothers.
An anesthesiologist will come and visit you and check on how you are doing a day or two after your surgery. Your nurse can call an anesthesiologist back sooner if you have any questions or needs.
