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You're definitely not going to feel up to having visitors on the day of your cs. I delivered at 8pm and we had visitors the next day which sucked because I was still in bed and unable to shower. I felt like a hot mess. We were there for 10 days and nobody visited after day 3.
I'd recommend having people wait until you're able to get up (usually after 24hrs).

We had a bunch of people at the hospital and it wasn't bad at all. They came the day after the birth and all of them came within a 2 hour window. It was nice because after 3 days in the hospital, I was ready to break up the monotony. I didn't sleep as much during the day, so it wasn't interrupting that and if I needed to feed her, I just sent everyone out.

The only exception was my parents and sisters who were there for the birth (not in the room), so they came in immediately after.

No advice since I'm not there quite yet (I'm only 13 weeks), but it's something I'm dreading as well!
We plan on not telling anyone we're in labor until baby is born! Except my parents since they're a plane ride away anyway...they probably won't be there till a day or two after. And even then we are putting them in a hotel nearby.
But my ILs? Ummm no. They aren't coming until the day after and we're also limiting visitors. They aren't allowed to bring anyone, and DH and I will each get to invite one best friend and their spouse.
I really don't know how some of our friends just invited everyone they knew to come to the hospital.

As for home after the hospital...I'm dreading that almost more. I think my MIL will be persistent about coming daily and helping but I really don't want her to! I am a loner and I like my space. I hate being fussed over and when I want to be alone and I'm not, I'm a huge bitch!

Glad to hear your DH is going to spell it out to her, definitely seems that it's necessary! The hospital was a mess for us - I thought I'd be thrilled to have visitors, but being awake for over 24 hours dealing with all the newborn stuff, and every time I thought I was finally going to get some rest, having more visitors stream in? Ughhhh! I won't be making that mistake next time!

Is your MIL the type to just drop by without calling beforehand? If so, I've found that you can fix that fast by just not answering the door! This happened to us a few times when I wasn't ready for company, and I just ignored the door then called later to say sorry we missed her, but I was napping/nursing/showering/whatever, and encouraged her to call next time so that we would be expecting company.

Could you maybe setup a day in the future where you can go to the ILs house for lunch or something and she can invite over some friends that want to see the baby? That way you're not stuck at home with visitors you feel awkward about telling to leave.

Oh lord we had this really loud gay couple that are friends with MIL show up like an hour after birth...they just walked right in! It was so awkward & mil was mortified so yeah....no one is coming this time. MIL can come when she brings DD after we've bonded with new baby and I've showered/cleaned up

I really don't understand the obsession with visiting a new baby OMGRIGHTAWAY! Don't people realize that no matter how you give birth, mom is going to be exhausted and will have a tiny fragile susceptible to new germs baby who is her top priority, not you and your need to see the baby?

Yeah, obviously I did not have a flow of visitors! Most of my family is a 4-5 hour drive away and ILs are across the country. So we let people know once I was definitely in labor (um, 14 hours after the first contractions), my one local BIL knew because he took the dog, and then we just texted people once she was born. My parents came up that day, and BIL came, and those were our only hospital visitors, which was exactly how I wanted it.

No one visited for the first few days then we had very few visitors for the first few weeks. It was so nice to have the quiet time at home-- though tbh, having people bring food would have been nice.

I'm glad your DH will spell it out for her. Honestly I'd rather have her be offended now than you be stressed out immediately after the birth when you should be bonding with your sweet baby.

We plan to have my mom come during labor and then we'll call everyone else once she's born. Our hospital has a pretty strict 1-2 hour window for bonding/feeding post-delivery so that will be a good buffer for visitors.

I think my MIL had originally hoped she'd be invited into the delivery room, but wasn't necessarily expecting it. Luckily, DH ran interference there and told her the real plan. We're delivering at a hospital an hour away, so other than them, SIL, and maybe DHs grandma, we probably won't have any hospital visitors. We also plan to limit visits at home for the first week or so.

@Dandelion: Oh, right, I forgot that you are scheduled so can't pull the old don't-tell-anyone-I'm-in-labor trick.
Well it sounds like you and DH are on the same page and I'm glad he's playing defense for you!

@Foodnerd81: same. I get people are excited, but they sort of need to chill on the OMG MUST SEE RIGHT NOW.

I'm in the opposite camp of most people that commented here. We didn't limit visitors. We called our immediate families when I went into labor, and while my water did break, I went on to have my scheduled c-section. Our parents and most siblings were the first to meet our little one. Then, we welcomed family and friends with open arms - more often than not, we got a phone call or text before a visit, so there really weren't any surprises. And while it was a bit overwhelming one afternoon when a group of people came at the same time, we were honored and thrilled that so many of our loved ones were so excited to visit and show their support.

Our hospital didn't have visiting hours but I totally lied and told people they did

I loved having visitors, but I had an easy delivery and am a huge people person.

We also live 3 hours away, so it was just our parents for the most part. We had 2 friends come by too. The 2 weeks after were very overwhelming though - we had people there constantly! I loved having them the first 2-3 days, but wish we could have had like a week of downtime.

We had some of our parents friends (both mine and ILs) show up announced for DS1, it was so annoying. For DS2 I didn't allow anyone to come visit until 2 days later (and then only our parents) since I didn't want to see/talk to anyone. My advice would be to let DH be your guard dog.

I guess the big day is coming soon, good luck!

We didn't want anyone at home after the birth so we compromised by having people come to the hospital. Bad choice! We got zero rest and it was awful. Next time, I'll need the help with LO1 so everyone will stay at our place while we are at hospital. Now that I've had a newborn once I don't feel as bad about having people in my home.

@MsMini: I don't know if I could have handled 12, but I did love having my parents stay with us. It was fantastic!