With a vaginal delivery, the mother may have trouble sitting comfortably for a week or so, especially if an episiotomy was done. With a c-section, she would have to avoid a lot of bending and stretching for a week or two.

I don't know why you think a c-section would be harder on your body or make it hard to lose the baby weight. I didn't pig out during my pregnancies and didn't have extra weight from that, so getting back to my normal weight was no problem. Breastfeeding helps that process.

Vaginal deliveries are preferred. Lamaze training or Bradley preparation will help. Just remember that labor is a productive effort by your body -- a GOOD thing. The increasing strength of the contractions help push out that baby. The best thing to learn how to do is RELAX with instead of fight each contraction.