I've had 2 emerg c/s and 1 kinda elect (about a day's notice). They're definately harder to recover from if you've already been in labour, so going in for a c.s without being exhausted will make a big difference. They tend to get you up and about the next day (make sure they give you some pain relief about half an hour beforehand). I found this the hardest part with my first two.
With my third, I got off the heavy pain killers in the first few days, but was on panadol and voltaren for ages afterwards. I was in low grade pain at home for the first 4weeks or so and this was mainly in the afternoons/evenings. Like everybody else has mentioned, you have to roll out of bed and take things slowly and I usually had some nanna naps in the early days at home. Stairs and low couches hurt. Washing I would have to carry small loads and I got DH to bath the baby in the first couple of weeks.
Check with your insurance company re: driving before 6 weeks.