I also had an unplanned c section, and despite a great and speedy recovery, needed help from my partner and my mom literally 24/7 for at least 2 weeks, they did it in 12 hour shifts so they could each sleep.
Even with a vaginal delivery, your wife will need a lot of help with feedings.
q3 hour feedings (and that's a LOW maintenance newborn) doesn't sound like that bad, until you realize that a "cycle" as I call it, involves being awake for at least 40-60 minutes each time. Diaper change, breastfeeding, burping, soothing back to sleep alone takes that long. This then gives you maybe 2 hours to sleep before doing it all over again. Then changing clothes, bedding, doing laundry, trying to eat, maintain your own hygiene, bathe baby, tummy time baby, give baby vitamin D drops, massage baby, read a book to baby.... all the little "extras" that are excellent care of everyone, is very, very difficult, let alone trying to make your brain function to study. Seriously, it takes all your brain resources sometimes to figure out which way the diaper goes on! You start doing weird stuff like throwing your socks in the trash instead of the laundry (something I did just yesterday). Making sure people who have to drive or drive baby are getting enough sleep to do so safely! (Even after 2 weeks when baby started sleeping more than 4 hour blocks, that just meant during day q 2 hours, which meant that the cycles came faster giving me and partner less time to prepare for each one or do other things...)
Do you two plan on breastfeeding? Keep in mind you don't really save time with formula feeding when you factor in sterilizing bottles, heating bottles, and dealing with more spit up messes and fussing. If for some reason your wife has to supplement or pump more, like triple feeding or some such, colicky baby....
We needed to average a trip to the doc about once a week for peds appt, tongue tie release, work with lactation in person, etc etc etc for the first 6 weeks. Like I said, our newborn isn't even that high of maintenance!
Honestly it's a "all hands on deck" situation for 2-3 adults for about a good month and definitely the first 2 weeks.
If you have a relative that can be live-in and sleep during the day and do night shifts, that you can stand (ie will truly be helpful and not too much opining and interference with how you want to do things, basically a "serf" to what you want done), this is ideal and would facilitate you sleeping enough to be able to put in a decent day of studying probably starting at about 2-6 weeks (no one can really say, because it depends so much on health of mom and baby and no one can predict that until the time comes)
Don't give up the first 2 weeks of doing the cycles (while also trading off for enough sleep to maintain your emotional equilibrium, drive, help your wife, enjoy your baby) where you are doing everything with your wife and for your baby besides breastfeeding. There have been studies about what this does to the male brain re: bonding with baby. You want these brain changes.
This is your first baby. Don't let anything steal that time and that focus and that bonding. These studies found the relationship and bonding was correlated with differences in the quality of the father-child relationship even years later! You'll never get the time back. They grow so fast. Every minute they are growing away from you. Every development is a cause for celebration but also represents them moving closer to independence and one day leaving you.
Feel free to PM me or ask in thread about infant care or breastfeeding. Not an expert, just a physician mom.
