I've not had a section but these are tips from friends

1. BIG pants! Get cheapo ones with the low leg and the high waist for the first few days and posher support ones (also a high waist and low leg) for the weeks following that - in the early days it stops rubbing and the support ones are great for supporting tired sore muscles as they heal.

2. Nighties - several friends have told me that lifting your legs up to get trackies or PJ-bottoms on can be really hard for a few days, so take a few longish nighties to wear for the first few days too. If you're not a nighty girl then when you're getting dressed or changed roll the legs of the bottoms up and tuck the pants into them, so you're putting your foot through both the pants and the PJ's leg-holes at once and you don't have to do it all twice.

3. 2 kinds of pad - maternity pads for the obvious and normal AF pads for the suture-line - as others have said, stick them onto the big pants to sit against your scar.

4. lie flat, stretch your legs RIGHT out in bed and stand up straight. Straightening up/out for the first few times can be utter agony, but the earlier and more fully you do it the less pain you'll be in later on. You can use those labour breathing exercises afterall! Take a deep slow breath and as you straighten up breathe out slow and steady - it will hurt! Vocalise if you need to (low moans, just like labour) and focus on keeping the breathing slow and steady.

5. Follow the prescribed programme re: recovery. If they say don't drive for 6 weeks then don't drive for 6 weeks. Only one of the women i know with sections did this properly, and she is the ONLY one without post-operative adhesions/burning on activity/random pains and a raised scar. All the rest lifted too much and too soon, drove, returned to normal activities far too soon etc. The first 2 or so weeks it's easy to stick to the programme because it hurts, but then you start to feel better and the temptation is to do more and more. Most women feel this is positive - that they've recovered faster than normal, but in fact the doctor isn't telling you how to heal fast, he's telling you how to heal PROPERLY. Taking that time to heal properly and well will make future VBAC AND future c-sections easier and safer, and make your general life more comfortable (adhesions can HURT!). This is one thing with the pain-relief - it's good to take it in the early days because you NEED to get moving again ASAP, but taking it to allow you to do things you were told to avoid is a big no-no!

HTH hun, best of luck with it all, i know how hard it was making this decision, you have really done your homework on all this and deserve a great experience.

Bx