Also take a couple of nighties. I had to have a catheter in till the following morning, so pj's would of been a no no! My c section was ok, and I was terrified, but my recovery was pretty horrendous. If you feel sick during the procedure, let them know and they can give you anti sickness meds. I was allowed skin to skin as soon as he'd been weighed and briefly checked over. He couldn't come in to recovery with me as he had to go to nicu though. I agree with pp about the shoulder pain, no one warned me about that and it was horrible! As soon as I mentioned it to the midwives they got me peppermint tea, which really helped, apparently it is quite common. A year on, I still get pain along my scar and don't like things touching it and still have numbness around it, I was told its common for feeling to never return and have pain for up to 3 years afterwards. I had a very slow, very long recovery, with a lot of pain. But, I was sat up in a wheelchair, and walking, within 2 hours as my son was seriously poorly in nicu. I had bruising up to my belly button, right round across my hips, and all the way under, it was just black, but I assume this was from getting up too soon. Take stool softners!! No one mentioned them to me. I had my c section on the Monday, and went to the loo on the Friday night. I ended up throwing up from the pain, which hurt even more!! Have a pillow on hand to hold over your incision for coughing, sneezing, laughing, and for resting a car seat belt over it. Makes those first few journeys a lot more comfortable. My other half had to inject me in the stomach every day for 3 weeks, no one mentioned that either which was a shock!! Be prepared to need help and gratefully accept it. Think about your movements before you make them! A couple of days after, I woke up and just went to sit straight up, ouch!! Just take things slow and easy, don't push yourself too much. It took me a good 4 months to feel somewhat normal. I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant and hoping for a vbac this time. I had to have a c section because of iugr and he was transverse breech, along with low fluid. I still feel like I kind of failed my son by not being able to do the most natural thing for a woman to do. After being on these forums, and friends that have had c sections, I've also realised that this is quite a common feeling. Just remember that you haven't failed or done anything wrong, you're just delivering your baby into the world in the safest way for them. Just remember it is major abdominal surgery, let people look after you!! Hope it all goes well x