Although I am not advocating c-ections here, like some might thing. C-sections from what I have experienced and discussed with other's that had natural births are not as painful. There is no squeezing a watermelon through an opening the size of a ping-pong ball. The most pain you get is from the needle they put in your back which is over in 2 seconds. After that you don't feel a thing and then you have a baby in your arms within 20 minutes. While having a baby natural involves a lot of pushing, screaming, threatening of the sig other and tearing of tender tissue for god knows how long. The recovery time is greater for the c-section (4 weeks total, but you feel pretty good after a week or two, just can't do anything for 4).
I will say this though...doesn't matter how much pain you go through when delivering your baby..,you forget it all once they hand you that beautiful miracle.