Recovery takes longer than you were told, and that is normal
Measured week by week rather than assumed.
Women are told six weeks. In a study that actually measured recovery after scheduled cesarean, using a validated overall health score from 0 to 100, the trajectory was: 78 before the birth, dropping to 64 at 24 hours, 69 at 48 hours, 75 at one week, then 88 at three weeks, 88 at six weeks and 90 at twelve weeks.
Two things stand out. Recovery mostly plateaus around week three rather than week six. And the pain and usual-activities components of quality of life kept improving out to three months, well past the point at which most women are discharged from care.
Meanwhile only about 72% of US women attend any postpartum visit at all, with reported rates across studies ranging from 24.9% to 96.5%. A woman who is still struggling at four weeks frequently has no scheduled contact with anyone until six, if she has one at all.