[sjdahlblom]

I've had two c-sections, one emergency and one elective. With my firstborn I was labour, fully dilated, had had an epidural but this weakened and slowed the contractions down, and in the end they had to put me under to get the baby out as they needed it to happen really fast. I didn't get to be there and that, was the hardest part for me to recover from.
On the physical side, I was up and about, walking around within a few hours (my son was born at four in the morning and I was walking around by lunchtime), and I didn't need the painkillers for more than a few days. In fact, I think I only needed them while I was in the hospital.
We had to stay in the hospital for three nights, DS1 was born on the Tuesday and we got to go home on the Friday, but that was mostly because they wanted to keep an eye on him due to heightened bilirubin-values, but also because he didn't want to take the breast and the nurses desperately wanted me to breastfeed.

They say afterwards that one of the reasons I had a hard time pushing him out was his size (his weight was 4225 g / 9lb 3oz and I'm only 156 cm / 5'11'' and somehow the height of the mother and the weight of the baby are related according to the doctors I've spoken to), so when I was pregnant with my second child I really wanted to "be there" for the birth, and the only way they could guarantee that, was to give me an elective c-section, however they wanted me to try a natural birth if the baby wasn't too big.
After a scan in my 32nd week they estimated that, he would be at almost 10 lbs if I carried him to my due date (yeah I give birth to some big babies), so the c-section was scheduled at 38+0 weeks (he came out weighing 4275 g / 9lb 4oz so it was totally the right thing to do).

This was so different. Everything was done in a calm way, I had a meeting with the anaesthesiologist the day before and he explained exactly what was going to happen and when.
In the OR everybody (and there are quite a number of people involved in actually) introduced themselves to me, and nothing was done over my head (and if they needed to do something over my head the explained in advance why they did what they did) and I felt so looked after all the time.
When the surgeon was cutting and tugging, the anaesthesiologist cracked jokes and the general spirit was high the entire time.

After the baby was out I got to hold him on my chest for a few minutes before he was wheeled off with dh to the labour-ward and after I was stitched up I was in post-op for an hour or so for the spinal to wear off, before I was returned to maternity-ward and reunited with my son. DS2 was born at 11.33 on the Wednesday and I was up and walking again that evening, after having the catheter removed. On the Friday morning I was examined by a doctor who then said OK to me going home.

I have been fully mobile again within a week after both my c-sections, taking walks (slower than normal though) and moving about, albeit not carrying anything heavier than the baby.

This was all done in Sweden though, so I don't know how much of this relates to you, but I hope I've helped, if only a tiny bit.