My c/s birth plan

My c/s birth plan was mainly made up of things that didn't happen during my first c/s that I wanted if I had another c/s or things that did happen that I was happy with and wanted to have happen again.  I will say that overall, I was very happy with first c/s (and my second one as well), but like most of us, I wasn't really prepared or educated about c/s the first time around.

A little background: my first c/s was "planned".  Jack turned breech 5 days before my due date and I had my section 2 days later. With X, I labored for almost 20 hours and had an unplanned c/s.

 * I wanted to have the cath placed after my spinal. With Jack, my cath was placed in pre-op and I had no idea until my SIL said something a couple days later that I could request it wait until after the spinal.

* If X was breech (he was breech until about 35 weeks), I wanted the attending anesthesiologist to administer the spinal.  I had a bad experience with the resident and my spinal. It took 4 tries and was because I couldn't curve my back because Jack's head was in my ribs.

* I did not want my arms tied down. They weren't with Jack, but I wanted to make sure that they weren't again.

* If requested, I wanted to have the curtain lowered so I could see the baby being born. I was told they would do it, but I chickened out.

* Allow DH to stand up and look over the curtain to watch the baby being born. He did this with Jack and did it again this time.

 * Show me the baby before he is cleaned up. With Jack I didn't see him until he was cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket. This time, they showed him to me right away and again before they wrapped him up.

* Do not send DH to recovery ahead of me and the baby. He was sent ahead of me last time. I was fine with that until they handed my Jack as they wheeled me out of the OR. DH didn't get to see me hold Jack for the first time.

* Breastfeed as soon as possible, preferably within an hour of birth.

* Keep baby with me at all times and if he needs to be taken from the OR, have DH escort him if possible.

Some of these items were irrelevant as they didn't apply with an unplanned c/s. But if they did apply, my requests were all followed.

One other thing I did was really push for what I wanted post-op as well. With Jack, they forgot to put in an order for my clear liquid food until the next morning (he was born at 12:26 pm) and I didn't eat anything substantial until 24 hours after he was born. This time I asked in post-op for food. The resident ordered me a dinner tray (X was born at 12:49 pm).

I also requested to get up and walk that night about 9:00. With Jack I didn't get up until 24 hours later. This time I still had my cath in, but the nurse walked me into the bathroom to wash up a little. I also requested that those darn compression socks be removed ASAP.

I think that is pretty much it. I didn't have a formal written plan. I just knew in my head what I did and didn't want. Let me know if you have any questions.