I had a vaginal birth, induced via drip, with a bit of (useless!) gas and air for pain relief, and ended up with a few stitches.

I was amazed how energetic I felt for the first few days, even though I hardly got any sleep. I hopped straight into the shower after the 10 hour labour, and felt like I could have jogged around the block. I was a bit tender "downstairs", but ice packs in my undies helped enormously.

Mentally, I was fine for the first 3 days. I didn't bond immediately with DS, but did feel a huge sense of protectiveness towards him. I was also feeling very pleased with myself as I'd managed to get through the labour on just gas and air (that had been my aim, but when I had to be induced, I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to do it).

After day 3 (the day I left the hospital), my mood just crashed, and I felt awful and teary for a week or so. My body just didn't feel like mine - insides felt like they were going to fall out, bladder control was patchy (knew I should have done more pelvic floor work!) and my breasts were so sore I couldn't even wear clothes (fun for my DH, but not so great for me!). Took me quite a while until my body felt normal again, but this was probably made worse by the fact that we had enormous feeding difficulties for the first 3 months.