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Ask A Midwife

Q. I am 4 months pregnant and am interested in getting a tubal ligation after the birth of this (my 2nd) child. Is there an additional stay over in the hospital? Will having this procedure within days of giving birth have any adverse effect on me? Any other information will be helpful. Thank you.

A. This is a good question to ask your health care provider, as individual providers and facilities do things differently. In general, a tubal is done 6 hours after your birth, or sometimes the next morning. Sometimes, if done in the morning, you could go home in the evening. It might require an overnight stay, though recovery is quite quick. Please do some Internet searching to investigate the side effects and long term consequences of a tubule libation. Again, discuss this with your provider. There are many good and reliable birth control methods available, and sometimes doing a Tubal Libation too soon can cause more problems as you get older. On the other side of it, having a tubal right after a birth isn't much more than giving birth. Also, if you were to have a cesarean birth, then the tubal could be done at that time.

Pat Sonnenstuhl is a semi-retired nurse midwife with over 30 years of experience in health care (first as an RN, then as an ARNP, CNM). She has experience with hospital nursing/midwifery and home and birth center midwifery.

Two areas of special interest to her are GBS and nutrition.

She is about empowerment, and helping folks find their own answers, what is right for them, not what is right for her. But, she wants you well informed.