Okay, give me the lowdown on C-Sections.

I just logged on to write this post and the last comment from Izzy in the previous post started to answer this exact question. She's on top of helping me out, no?

I have had 15 surgeries where I went "under" with full anesthesia, so I'm not scared of surgery. But I've never had an awake surgery like what I'll have with a c-section, so that freaks me out a bit. It also freaks me out that I've literally had 6 epidurals (2 with ella and 4 with allison) and none of them worked - I felt some for a few minutes, but each one faded within 15 mins or didn't work at all. I don't know if this is the same type of thing you get with a c-section or not, but yes, freaked out I am. (ooo - that's a good impression of yoda.)

I pretty much know nothing about c-sections except they cut you open and pull out the baby. They probably sew you up too, as I don't meet many women with their midsection hanging open, so I'm going to go with my assumption being a good one.

So, tell me what I need to know. Here's what I want to know about ...

~ Could my non-working epidurals talked about above be an issue?

~ What's the recovery time? (how long will I have to be in the hospital? how long until I'm "back to normal?)

~ When do I get to breastfeed? (With both babies, they were breastfed within the first 10 minutes of birth)

~ When will I get to take "ownership" of the baby? (with both babies, I had them for about an hour, they went to nursery for tests/cleanup for a few hours, then I had them from then on.)

~ If I don't get to take ownership right away, who gets to be with baby? Will my mother in law actually get to hold/cuddle my newborn before me?

~ Do I get to eat? Do I get to drink? (afterwards - not before.)

~ What kind of restrictions am I looking at?

I guess that's all I can think of. Any and all comments/hints welcomed! THANK YOU!!!