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By Mayo Clinic staffIf your C-section is scheduled in advance, your health care provider may suggest you talk with an anesthesiologist to discuss options for anesthesia during delivery. Your health care provider may also recommend certain blood tests before your C-section. These tests will provide information about your blood type and your level of hemoglobin — the main component of red blood cells. These details will be helpful to your health care team in the unlikely event that you need a blood transfusion during the C-section.
Even if you're planning a vaginal birth, it's important to prepare for the unexpected. Discuss the possibility of a C-section with your health care provider well before your due date. Ask questions, share your concerns and review the circumstances that might make a C-section the best option. In an emergency, your health care provider may not have time to explain the procedure and answer your questions.
After a C-section, you'll need time to rest and recover. Consider recruiting help ahead of time for the weeks following the birth of your baby. This may include household help or child care for other children.
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- Grant GJ. Anesthesia for cesarean delivery. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berghella V. Cesarean delivery: Technique. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berghella V. Cesarean delivery: Postoperative issues. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Norwitz ER. Cesarean delivery on maternal request. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Tita AT, et al. Timing of elective repeat Cesarean delivery at term and neonatal outcomes. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:111.
- About Cesarean childbirth. American College of Surgeons. http://www.facs.org/public_info/operation/cesarean.pdf. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Berens P. Overview of postpartum care. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- ACOG practice bulletin No. 115: Vaginal birth after previous Cesarean delivery. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2010;116:450.
- Pearlstein T, et al. Postpartum depression. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2009;4:357
- You and your baby: Prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/ab005.cfm. Accessed Aug. 12, 2010.
- Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 12, 2010.
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