Many hospitals have policies on how many support people can be in there (usually one). This last weekend, my client had a Cesarean, and the OB made an exception, which the parents and I are so grateful for. You have to make sure that the parents do the asking, though, not you. Once they ask...and if you're in the OB's presence at the time, then you could add something like, "I would stand in one place in order to stay out of everyone's way, and I'd be so grateful to be able to continue supporting this couple, as well as for the educational opportunity".
Another possible option if you can't be there for the birth itself is to have mom ask if you can go in to sit with her when her birth partner leaves with the baby to the nursery. In that way, she still would only have the one support person in there, and she won't feel like she's there alone. I don't know how often they would agree to that, but as an alternative to being there the whole time, it's worth trying.  |
Supporting at a c-section?
