Tell me what it’s like

I've had two planned c sections and I can tell you they have gone pretty well both my recoveries have been pretty good and fast

Like the weirdest dentist appointment ever! The lights the room, the floor, the clutter in the entrance…
I was worried about the spine thing but it was painless and I couldn’t see a thing. I picked my music which was nice and everyone was super friendly.
The numbing was weird. You can feel everything but no pain. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but feeling them lean on me and squeeze him out like a giant spot wasn’t expected!
For the last bit they can lower the curtain but so you can see them lifted out. Witch was amazing and like a scene from Alien at the same time. It was only 20 min from starting to him being put on my chest, and from that point I stopped paying attention to everything else. It took about 40 min to stitch me all up and then I was wheeled off to recovery with him still on my chest wrapped in a blanket

I've had one emergency (cat 2) and one elective (although I didn't actually want it, was needed for medical reasons) and I honestly think I found the elective harder.

I think with the emergency the adrenaline really did a lot for me and I was just focused on get baby out alive, whereas with the elective I was so much more aware of everything and it took longer too.

You’ll come in at your scheduled time and some nurses will start to place IV’s as well as get vitals(for you and baby). You’ll have some antibiotics before hand. I had to take an industrial strength liquid anti acid as well. You’ll answer questions about things like the hep b vaccine, vitamin k, eye ointment, etc. You can talk about your birth plan, see about being able to play your music in the OR. You’ll get dressed into the hospital gown. You’ll meet the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Eventually be wheeled into the OR and the anesthesiologist will place the spinal block. One of the nurses will insert your urinary catheter. The medical team will prep your skin with an antiseptic, shave the area they’ll be cutting, and put up drapes. You’ll likely have an oxygen cannula just as a precaution. Electrodes placed on your chest for monitoring your heart rate. One last test where they pinch the skin hard to make sure the anesthetic has kicked in and then they’ll make the first incision.

A lot has been covered on this topic in the comments but I wanted to add afterwards with my planned C-section (my emergency one was a blur) I remember after my baby was born I had the worst chills like I was shaking so bad they had to come out extra blankets on me. That was probably the worst of it for my planned C-section. Otherwise the rest went pretty smoothly.