Hi, I just wanted to post on this topic since I have had personal experience
with it.

I heard both points of view on having the tubal immediately post-partum and
on delaying it until later.

My sister had a tubal ligation when her daughter was just over a year old.
 The difficult part about that was her daughter was quite small and missed
her mother terribly.  She also wanted to climb onto her mother's lap and my
sister was extremely tender due to the fact she had a lower incision and the
incision through her navel.  She also needed help with housework, lifting,
and her small children for about a week and a half.  She often had quite a
bit of discomfort and pain and needed to take it easy a LOT!!

The pros to having it done later is that you know your baby is going to be
healthy and happy and survive.  The cons are what I pointed out above.

For myself, I decided to have my tubal immediately post-partum.  I talked to
my O.B. and asked to have an epidural so that I wouldn't need to be put out.
 There was a snag with this.  The epidural wouldn't go high enough to provide
pain relief in my navel area.  So, they did end up giving me sodium
pentathol.  I had the surgery when my son was 1 day old.  I nursed him well
and the nurses held him during the time of my surgery.  I expressed to them
that I did not want him to have a pacifier, bottle of ANY kind, nor water.

I returned to my room and the stipulation was that I was to be able to keep
down a can of Sprite in order to have my son back in my room.  I drank it and
then asked them to bring me my son.  The worst problem I had was that the
I.V. was strung through my sleeve and I had to undress to nurse him.  (I did
start out in a hospital nursing gown.)  I asked them how he had done, and
they told me he had slept the whole time I was gone.  I was also told that I
could have the I.V. out as soon as I felt up to it.  I then asked them to
take out my I.V.  Which they actually did pretty fast.  I was then
unencumbered and could nurse and hold my son again.  The only other glitch
was that they kept urging me to take some sort of painkiller because the
epidural would be wearing off soon.  I told them as long as it took care of
the pain and didn't make me feel like my head was spinning, okay.  (Well they
brought me Darvicet, (sp?)  I felt like the room was spinning!  (I hate that
feeling, I'd rather have PAIN!)  I refused any medication after that.  I
nursed and cared for my son (totally rooming in) and had slight tenderness.
 Then went home the next day.  The nurses did comment on how amazed they were
that I didn't complain, I nursed my son and had minimal problems.

For me, I could recover from everything at once.  I had no one to help me if
I had the surgery at a later time.  And I could lift and hold my newborn son
without much problem either.  (I also tandem-nursed my newborn son and my
three-year-old for a year together after that.)  My three-year-old was old
enough to understand to not climb up on me and I could lay down and nurse him
easily.  My sister (who I had helped with her surgery) commented on the fact
that I could get around so well.  I only had the one incision--which I think
also made a difference.  The other thing about post-partum recovery is that
you tend to wear stretchy, loose clothing for a while afterward anyway.  I
would think a C-section would be much more traumatic and mothers breastfeed
after that.  I will say that I felt pretty crappy the day of the surgery, but
part of that was the strong-painkiller that they gave me.  (I'm not one much
for drugs or even taking acetimenophen,(sp?) or ibuprofen.)   I think my
experience was pretty positive and I was not away from my son for very long.
 I also think that you can plan this with your physician, ask questions, get
a realistic answer.  You can then be better prepared.

Connie Chiavario, ACL of IL