Hi, Bonnie --

Up here in enlightened No. Cal., at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, our
mom's do recover in the same LDR's that vaginal deliveries use. (Unless a general was used, then they must go to PAR for an hour after c/s, then come down to the LDR for the second hour (or more) of postpartum recovery.) There are several advantages to this.

1)  First and foremost, there is least amount of time of separation between
mother and infant.  Unfortunately, we do have to separate them for a short time -- once mom has seen baby, daddy and baby go off to the nursery, where they are babysat, unless more intervention is necessary, until mom is
closed and moved back to the LDR, usually 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

2)  Mom is given a longer "recovery,"  since the PAR ships 'em out in an hour,
but in the LDR we do a two-hour minimum postpartum recovery.  In that time
mom has basically one-to-one care, so RN has time and attention to spend in
helping baby and mom get to know one another, and to get to breast the first time.

3)  Mom's, babies and family members get to recover together, as they would
in a vaginal delivery, instead of three different places -- i.e., nursery, PAR and
waiting room.   Also other family members can be present, though I'm not to keen on that myself -- there's enough going on without having to interact with the rels.

     We have not yet, that I know of, actually gotten babies to breast in the OR itself.  Besides the problem of getting the doctor to agree, there is the problem of having a nursing staff person available to be with mom and baby, since neither the scrub or circulating nurse are available to that end of the table.  (But I've been on vacation a month, and who knows what new changes have occurred.)

Sincerely,  Chanita