Kaz - of course, sorry if my words upset you and also that you had a traumatic experience What I was trying to say in my OP is that for many women, c/sections are a horrible experience because they just are a horrible experience for them, and for *some others* they are made a (more) horrible experience because they go into it expecting it to be, or they are suprised by a c-section & come out of it confused and as they read other people's feelings, those feelings become incorporated into their own interpretation of their own experience. I didn't mean to imply that pre-concieved ideas are the only factor in causing the bad experience - just that they *are* a factor, and quite possibly a big one for *some women*. If there was nothing bad about the experience, those ideas wouldn't stick or resonate, so I certainly didn't mean to imply that people feel bad about c-sections solely because they choose to be.

I think, essentially, we're saying a very similar thing:

I'm using my (very different) experience to illustrate that maybe pre-conceived ideas can set a woman up to feel additional (?unnecessary) disappointment/sadness when the outcome is a c-section but often the real, lived experience is bad irrespective of the woman's attitude to c-sections.
and

I don't think having one opinion or another is enough by itself to cause negative feelings.
But, I do believe that having that opinion can make it very difficult to have a positive c-section experience.

When all you read before you go into one is that c-sections are bad, then that's what's in your mind, and all the bad parts are more prominent to you than any of the good.

Maybe more of us need to post our positive c-section experiences so that there is a balanced range of experiences for new mothers to read. It doesn't really feel like they would be welcome here as it goes against the grain, but perhaps there is a need anyway. Afterall, some women are always going to have to face c-sections and it would be nice for them to know that it's not always horrid for everyone.