All 3 of my deliveries were vaginally with 2 of them induced. I was able to do things like walk and go out a couple days later where my friend had deliveries same time as me and she did c sections. She was weeks before she could do things and go out

most definitely want to keep tummy muscles! epidural I walked out of the hospital less than 24hrs later with my baby. Epidurals make women want more children.. lol Take the epidural .. it works amazingly well.
I have had three, all vaginally .. walked out with all three the next day.

Both my girls were born vaginally (inductions), so have no personal experience with a C-section. I did recovered fairly quickly with both, tho, and also did not need an episiotomy with the second. I have a friend who had both a C-section, then a vaginal delivery for her second, and she said the vaginal delivery was a lot easier on her body for recovery time than the section. Best of luck with whatever you decide! :)

1st and only child at 40 and after 33 hours of labour + kidney stones + fibro he arrived! And yes I got an epidural and had no issues with it except it didn't last for the entire time lol......I tore naturally 2nd degree and that hurt more after than anything else!
I had my Osteopath with me while giving birth and after give myself and baby treatments for a year.....was amazing.....also getting rid of the last kidney stone was a relief.......I was on 8 different types of meds and had constant talks with my MD and pharmacist on what I could and couldn't take.....I can't take morphine wich is common in epidural so got Fentenal and wow amazing......now I have the patch for pain and it helps.
Go with your gut and what you feel is best for you plus you could start out naturally and switch depending how it's all going.....talk to your Dr and the nurses when you go in to labour on what you want and when your getting close to the no drug zone!

I was up walking the next days after both of my c-sections and grocery shopping by day 5. Wish I could say the same about foot surgery ( bone spur ), that took weeks with all the pain.