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Mine was OK. I was surprised how well I felt within a few days but I had constant pain for six months at my incision site. My doctor prescribed me a numbing gel it was so bad. 10 months out and besides for my C-section "shelf," I'm as good as new.

Horrible. I had to use a toilet lift thing with grab bars for a week after and needed help getting in and out of bed.

I didn't really start to feel physically better until 3 or 4 wks later.

Eta: similar to @justjules I was in labor for 36 hrs before the c section. I wonder if that impacted things?

Both mine were scheduled, and both were fairly easy. With the first I was up and walking that day, home the next day, felt more or less fine within a few days. With the second I had internal bleeding and my hemoglobin dropped really low so I had to have a transfusion and stay another night, so recovery was a bit tougher, plus I had a toddler who wasn't super careful around me, but still I generally would describe it as pretty easy.

I felt better four days after my c-sections than four days before.
I've had three remarkably easy sections. I'd say I'm back at 95% a week out. I can't imagine I'd say that if I had vaginally delivered my monster babies.

@travellingbee: I kinda wonder how much bigger DD3 would have gotten had we waited for labor. If she had gone two weeks past her due date she would have been nearly 12.5lbs. Insane. It bugs me when people say "your body won't grow a baby it can't birth". Cause there's no way I'm pushing that out.

For my first, I was induced for over 24 hours and ended up with a csection. For my second, I had a med free VBAC (not intentionally bc I wanted drugs but they wouldn't give it to me).

My csec recovery was much easier. I was off heavy medication by the next day and walking around. After a week, I was feeling normal. My vbac took me forever to feel better. My lady parts must have been in shock bc it was hurting and swollen for weeks. It hurt to pee.

@mrsmacandcheese: I was in labor for 57 hours with my first and the lack of sleep coupled with the surgery was tough, but I was back to normal fairly quickly and off meds by the time I was home three days later.

@justjules: same exact experience!
A week in the hospital. Unable to walk unassisted for at least a week. 4-5 weeks before I felt comfortable driving. 2 months before feeling normal!
Exact reason I'm going for a VBAC too.

I know I'm lucky - recoveries for both were a breeze (one emergency, one scheduled). Walking by the next day, no pain meds needed, and it really just felt I was sore from doing 200 crunches. The nurses both times (I gave birth at different hospitals) were shocked and said I recovered faster than moms who deliver vaginally.

DD1 - unplanned csection after laboring for about 16 hours. Super easy recovery - walking next day, no pain meds except Tylenol 3 for a few days, felt back to normal within a few weeks

DD2 - scheduled csection. Really hard recovery but there were other circumstances that probably affected that. Needed pain meds for several weeks, walking the next day but didn't feel back to normal for a few months, hard to use the stairs, etc

I'm planning another repeat csection and I'm preparing for a hard recovery bc I'm just older and this is the 3rd csection...

My husband says I have amnesia and don't really remember how bad it was immediately after, but I thought it was a pretty easy recovery. I didn't have any complications and everything healed really well. I did not get up and walking around as much as I probably should have in the hospital (as I've heard that helps speed up recovery) because I was just so out of it and sick after delivery. But I kept up with ALL the pain meds and felt fine by the time I went home. I have friends/family who had very difficult recoveries from vaginal births and difficult recoveries from c-sections. I think t just comes down to the individual circumstances and person!

Disclaimer: I actually delivered one twin vaginally and the other c-section, so maybe my answer doesn't count. But I really had an easy time with my recovery from both kinds of birth at the same time. Or my husband is right and the amnesia is real.

Ironically enough, my emergency C-section recovery was far easier than my scheduled C-section recovery.

DS1 was in the NICU for 2 days after my emergency C-section with him, so I had time to rest even though my emotional state was pretty bad. Once we were home, I just took it easy and made sure I got up and walked every day. 2 weeks postpartum, I was doing really well.

With DS2, his scheduled C-section was a much calmer experience; however, my recovery with him was pretty bad. I don't know if it's because I had a 3 year old to take care of as well, but my incision opened, and I was MUCH more sore. I didn't start to feel better until closer to 6 weeks postpartum. Being 3 years older with DS2 also could have had something to do with it too...I was AMA with him, and he was my 6th pregnancy overall...so my body had been through the wringer and back.

I'm nervous that I will need a csection this time because baby is breech, and after two easy, vaginal births, I really don't want one! Good to know a lot of people have easy recoveries

My physical recovery was fine - I was surprised how quickly my body bounced back from major surgery.

Emotionally, not so well. I'm still trying to process it at 9 months post partum.

Mine wasn't bad. I was up out of bed a few hours later to use the bathroom (which, getting up the first time was kind of scary, but not painful really). I followed dr's orders and didn't do anything I wasn't allowed. Getting in and out of bed was a bit difficult for a few weeks.

I'm 5 months out now, and I still have minor aches in my lower abdomen at times and my scar is itchy sometimes. And sometimes I feel numb still, so its a bit weird, but the initial recovery wasn't bad at all.

This thread has been fascinating to read - the variety in our experiences is amazing!

My first was rough, only because I was pushed for 3 1/2 hours as well so I had to essentially recover from both.

My second wasn't that bad, I was sore yes but I was back to normal after 2 weeks. Best advice is to get up and walk, it sucks, but the more you walk the better an quicker you heal!

@travellingbee: I was in labor for a full 30 hours before my c-section, so I wonder if that impacted my recovery, but it honestly wasn't too bad. Getting in and out of bed was hard. I ran up until my 35th week and even walking around the block took some doing those first days. However, I'd say by 10-12 days out I felt relatively normal, and many of my friends who have had vaginal deliveries have dealt with lingering issues (hemorrhoids, incontinence, tearing, etc.) for months after the fact that I was lucky to avoid having had a c-section. My son's head was in the 96th percentile which is why he didn't fit, so whenever I have a second, I have no problem scheduling a c-section in advance if his/her head is also ginormous. My hope is that I'll feel even better the second time without a body unsuccessfully contracting for a full day before. Who knows!

Mine sucked but only because I had a post-op complication. I'm one of the weird people who lost all feeling at the incision site and for a few inches above and below it. Like-- still no feeling 2.5 years later. So I actually had almost no pain. I never took narcotic pain meds, I was up walking the night of my c-section. I never really had any sharp pain at all, just sort of generally sore in the abs for maybe a week. So if that had been it I'd have said my recovery was awesome. But at 1 week pp my incision opened up and it took 8 weeks to close and that was really disgusting and stressful so overall... sucked.