I had a c section, on the day itself I was up early and had a very early slot at the hospital. I had to stop eating at 10pm the night before and take a tablet before bed and when I got up.
There was about 6 women all with the same time and we were given an order in which we would be called so there was a bit of waiting around. I was lucky as my hospital had a different theatre for emergencies so we weren’t impacted by this but I know other hospitals don’t have that and you can be left waiting for a long time or even moved to the next day.
My c section was very quick and the baby was out within mins. The rest of it felt like it took a while but I was okay with that.
My dh was able to stay with me for the day but had to go home at night. The first night was difficult as I didn’t know really what I was doing and was in a lot of pain but I kept calling for help. I went home the next day and it was definitely easier at home.
I had 10 days worth of injections. I was given strong pain killers but I actually didn’t use them, I felt okay. I got up as soon as I was able to and tried to gently move around. I do think this helped my recovery.
I had an infection on the c section about 2 weeks later but it’s very common and cleared up instantly with antibiotics.
The hardest bit for me was sitting up in bed but my dh helped with that and passed me the baby.
I think I was quite lucky with my recovery as I was up and about, signed off for driving etc at 4 weeks pp whereas some friends where in a lot of pain and couldn’t drive until much later.
It’s different for every person so I’d say go at your own pace and don’t push yourself. Make sure you’ve got people to help you and forget about housework!! My dh did the washing and we had people drop off food at the begging to help.