Hey Bx... get lost (just kidding love). You're bang on about the difference in nerve positioning in different people. The positioning of the baby can make a huge difference as well.

Also, each c/s, regardless of whether it is an elective or emergency, is physically different to any other even if it's the same operation, so our responses to it, I believe, have very little to do with our inherent pain thresholds. And even our emotional state is not necessarily an indication of the subsequent response to pain. Someone with a high pain threshold and who is otherwise in a favourable position (emotionally and in terms of overall health) to respond well to recovery postoperatively can still have a really rough time, depending on the specifics of the operation. So yep, there are vastly different degrees of pulling your guts open LOL.

Labour prior to the surgery can a double whammy - you get to recover from both labour and major surgery. But labour also influences the positioning of the baby, if a c/s is performed once the mother has started pushing, the baby is usually very low in the pelvis which makes it more difficult to remove them.

Oh, Mara, the primary reason that a uterus will be 'removed' for stitching is when there is haemorrhaging, it's not really done as part of the common methodology. This happened to me, and yep, I can testify that it makes for a bloody painful recovery. As does 36 hours of labour prior to surgery culminating in 3 hours of pushing and a large posterior baby securely wedged into the pelvis.

On day 5 after surgery I was still heavily reliant on opiates, and needed codeine for probably another four days after that (I would have liked opiates for longer, but I wanted to go home more). I still found it quite painful up to two months after surgery, with nerve spasms and burning reducing in frequency over the next four months. By about six months I was feeling more or less normal with the occasional twinge.

As for next time, I would have loved a waterbirth first time around and would love one next time, but unfortunately I am not a favourable candidate for a VBAC so will be having a c/s.