✨ C-section Support ✨
This is a shortened version of my guide. Did you know I also support planned C-sections? I help you prepare beforehand and can be there with you on the day.
Let's make your birth day feel safer and more peaceful together!
Key Questions Around C-section
To discuss with your partner, midwife, care team
Over the next pages you will find a set of questions to ask yourself, but also discuss with your partner, doula, care team, to feel prepared and informed for the birth.
Before the Birth
- • What are my feelings right now about having a cesarean? (Fears, hopes, past experiences, expectations…)
- • What helps me feel calm and grounded when I'm nervous?
- • Who do I want to be with me on the day of the birth?
- • How can my partner or companion support me emotionally before, during, and after?
- • Is there something I would like to do the day(s) before or on the day to mark this moment, as a rite of passage? (see some ideas later)
- • Do I have all the necessary supplies for the postpartum times (list available in this guide)
During
- • What will the timeline of the day look like?
- • How long before the surgery can I eat or drink?
- • Can I walk into the operating room, or will I be wheeled in?
- • Can my partner/support person be with me the whole time?
- • Will someone explain things to me step by step during the process?
- • Is hand-expression of colostrum* recommended? Why so, and how should I proceed?
- • Can we request a gentle cesarean? ** Sanfte Kaiserschnitt nach Misgav Ladach
- • How common is it to use instruments delivery for a planned c section/ or fundal pressure?
- • Can we play our own music during the birth?
- • If I want, can we use a clear drape or lower the screen for the moment of birth?
- • Can photos be taken? At what moments?
- • Will I be able to talk, hold my partner's hand, or ask questions during the surgery?
- • How many companions can come on the day? In the OP room?
- • Is delayed cord clamping possible for my baby?
- • Can baby be placed on my chest - or my partner's chest if I prefer- right away?
- • Can I let my baby latch on its own (recommended, see "breast crawl" topic, babies are allowed to latch on their own and this promotes breastfeeding)?
- • If baby needs extra care, how will that be communicated to us?
- • Can we have skin-to-skin time in the operating room or soon after, to promote bonding and breastfeeding?
*Hand expressing colostrum before a c-section can help ensure your baby receives this rich first milk soon after birth, especially if there's a delay in breastfeeding or if the baby needs extra support.
**The Misgav Ladach method is a gentle cesarean technique that uses fewer cuts and more natural separation of tissues, often leading to faster recovery and less pain.
After
- • How long will we be in the recovery room?
- • Can baby stay always with us in the room and after we leave the operation room?
- • Will I be supported in breastfeeding/chestfeeding soon after birth?
- • What pain management options are available after surgery, for how long?
- • Will I get help with movement and caring for my baby during recovery (at the clinic - outside)?
- • When will baby be checked by a pediatrician? How will we be informed of the process and results
- • Is there anything specific I should observe in my baby after a cesarean birth?
- • For small baby, premature, or multiple: how will we know if they need extra support with feeding or temperature?
- • Who can we ask for recommendations for baby care and breastfeeding if the need arises (e.g lactation consultant, etc.)?
- • Would it make sense to consult an osteopath or other gentle practitioner after birth — especially to support digestion, sleep, or tension from the cesarean birth process?
My Body
- • What do I need to know about in terms of recommendations of do's and don'ts for my body (e.g. hygiene, exposure to water, sun, products, sex life etc)
- • What's the average timeline for recovery? How long should I expect to need help with lifting, walking, or daily tasks?
- • What does normal healing look like for the scar?
- • What can I do to support healing?
- • What's realistic to expect in the first weeks in terms of physical/emotional changes and challenges?
Suggested Rituals: Feel Unique and Celebrated!
Before the Birth
- • Write a letter to yourself as you are now or to your baby
- • Light a candle or take a moment of silence
- • Take a warm bath with calming scents — lavender, rose, chamomile.
- • Gently massage your belly. Explain softly what is going to happen to baby and how you feel, honestly
- • Guided meditation
During the Birth
- • Sing to accompany your baby coming out, play music, and center yourself in your heart space.
- • Visualize your loved ones by your side, holding you
- • Visualize a bubble of love surrounding your baby: the baby leaves the womb in this pocket of loving energy and stays there as long as needed.
- • Speak to your baby (out loud or innerly), guiding them gently through their transition between two worlds: aquatic and air.
- • Say a welcome message for your baby's arrival, fully connecting to the present moment.
After the Birth
- • Energetically close the scar: gently massage it, honor it, and make peace with it.
- • For the baby: revisit the birth canal through a gentle osteopathy session.
- • Take a beautiful photo of your newborn beside your cesarean scar — to honor your journey.
- • Write your birth story.
Postpartum
✨"Hold the mother, not just the baby. (...) So instead of saying, "I'm coming to see the baby," try, "I'm coming to see you—and meet the baby, too."
Because during the postpartum season, the mother needs to be held more than anyone."✨
— by Danielle Sherman-Lazar
Key questions to ask yourself and discuss with your partner/support person before birth:
- • What is worrying me about postpartum, and how could we plan around it, to optimise this period?
- • What kind of organization is possible once paternity leave is over/once my support person is gone?
- • How do I imagine a typical week? A typical day?
- • How do I envision my free time?
- • What are my expectations of you (my partner/ support person) during the postpartum period (first days, weeks, months)?
- • What expectations do we have about the baby and baby's capacity to sleep in the first months? How does it match the reality of real newborn sleep patterns?
- • What are our fears about our baby's sleep and how it could compromise us individually and as a couple?
- • Where will the baby sleep, and how do we feel about it? Are we both in line with it?
- • How will we divide night duties — and adjust if needed?
- • How can we let each other know when we're exhausted or need support? (joker card... "What's said at night doesn't count", clearly formulating my needs/emotions/expectations etc.)
- • What are our expectations around intimacy and sex after the baby arrives, and how can we stay close even when we're tired or touched out?
- • Who can we ask for help if it becomes overwhelming?