Congrats to your friend!! And what a lovely, caring friend you are

When I had a c-section, the recovery time was actually quicker than my natural birth (though that was an unusually rough one). For the caesar, I was on stronger painkillers but for a much shorter time. I lost a similar amount of lochia, but it took longer.

I was able to express and breastfeed right from the start, but my boobies never completely stopped lactating after DS1 was born - it just went from a little milk to colostrum during the pregnancy.

The most helpful things were meals - getting things in and out of the fridge and freezer, pulling pots and pans out of cupboards, going to the shops etc were all doable but painful and achey, and I just wanted to be with my baby ... particularly for me, as I already had a 1yo who needed his mummy too!!

I personally would be mortified if someone cleaned my house for me or did laundry etc, but if they offered meals, shopping, babysitting (of an older child, not the brand new bub) or coming over to keep me company (if it was someone I was close to, who'd seen me without pants already) that would be nice I found that particularly handy with DS1 because I needed regular salt baths, which were tricky when DS1 was awake, but were really important to keep the injured area clean.