I think a big part for me was just accepting that it was happening. I aimed for a VBAC but at 14 days over needed a c/s.

I did surrender that day and was quite firm with what I wanted, baby with me in theatre, first feed to be a breast crawl and not in recovery just cuddles in recovery plus recovery isn't a very nice or private place IMO! I also put things in place to help my milk come in so we were feeding baby every 3 hours and expressing in-between to asset my supply - tough going but it helped and worked, also taking pain meds so that I made sure that I was feeling ok to look after him.

That is all stuff after the birth but for me the actual c/s felt like it went for about 10 mins because once bub was here and in my arms I didn't really care about everything else! I also think that an elective c/s tends to be a bit calmer but then you said your previous ones weren't joyful or calm. Could you go back and have a think about what made them like that and then write a list of things to do to make this experience what you want it to be.