I had an elective c-s because I have a hip thing, which would have made childbirth impossible. As I've had a fair bit of major surgery in my life, I have to say the c-s didn't feel like major surgery at all. I had a rather mean friend who was trying to steer me away from it because she thought I was having a c-s for too-posh, save-my-fanny reasons, and she kept going on about the MAJOR surgery and how I was risking my life.
The epidural was a huge worry for me. I was very scared about the risks of paralysis (it turned out I needn't have been) and because of my hip thing I have a small scoliosis, that no one knew about because I don't appear to be very wonky. But it took ages to get it in. My mum was not numb through her c-s and it has always been a terror of mine. So I just shook and shook when they kept pricking and finally they worked out why I wasn't going numb and then the whole thing was lovely and calm and went swimmingly.
Pain didn't last very long. Stomach is very flat again, so my stomach muscles seem okay, although I don't exercise, so I can't really say how good they'd be under pressure.
Here's where I think I'd advise caution. I had awful trouble breastfeeding, and eventually had to give up. My milk supply came in very late because you have to schedule your c-s more than a week earlier than due date so you won't startle everyone by going into labour. And because there's more going on with the cutting and stuff, it can be - was for me! - longer before you get to hold your baby and I didn't get skin to skin and I can't help wondering if that would have made ALL the difference in successful breastfeeding. There's more - my baby had to have a bit of air pumped into her to start breathing, which is not uncommon with the c-s as she isn't squeeeeezed out of the uterus which clears the lungs and kickstarts them. This air-pumpety procedure, the name of which I'm not bright enough to remember, is often thought to inhibit their suck mechanism. And again, because she was born a little early, she was very small and weedy, and this, too, has an effect on breastfeeding, because I was told her mouth was too small and my nipple too big. How rude! To both of us in fact, as the nurse told me she had a receding chin!
If you go for a c-s and want to breastfeed, discuss skin to skin, discuss suppor, and be aware of the risks. I don't regret the ease of the c-s, but I have always regretted that I didn't know how it might have affected my baby's chance of breastfeeding, so that we lost that chance.
Hope that helps, it's just a personal experience and by no means typical, I'm sure.