Are caesarean's that bad??

[Tobily]

I'll be honest and say that I HATED my cesarean. Absolutely hated it and if VBAC wasn't an option I wouldn't be having any more kids I hated it so much.

I didn't want it in the first place (it was an "emergency" one) so that has a lot to do with my feelings about it.

Physically I recovered well, and I've had no ongoing problems from it. I was back to normal activities (including driving) after a week.
The operation was fine, even though it was an emergency c/s it wasn't particularly traumatic and it wasn't like DS or I were going to die any second or anything so I wasn't really scared or left with any trauma in that sense.

But having had a vaginal birth though, in terms of the "birth experience", to me the c/section didn't even rate as one. It felt like my son was removed from me like an appendix. I didn't feel like I brought him into the world the same way as I did my first child.
I really did hate it and I never want to have another one.
Like you, my first vaginal birth was no walk in the park either - 36 hours, induced labour, epidural, vaccum extraction and a minor tear.....but I still prefer it any day over the emotionless, clinical, surgical delivery of my son in which I felt like I played no role at all.

It's alot to think about, good luck with your decision.

ETA just on the bonding issue, I do think bonding is influenced heavily by other factors besides how baby is born - I actually bonded much faster with my son - instantly actually - despite his birth being a caesarean and despite my negative feelings about that. I also did better with breastfeeding him - breastfeeding problems being another thing that often happens after c/s.
It took me weeks to bond with my daughter and we didn't have a great time breastfeeding either and were finished by the time she was 2 months old. Bonding is very complex and alot of things come into play.