Luckily I am a teaching assistant so had mine so I had Xmas hols off.
You can get a sick note from doctor but they have to state reason why so it depends on how your place of work will be with that. Most employers expect you to use holidays.
I had 18 days in total off work and was still sore.
You will need help with small children for at least first week. I have an extremely high pain threshold so had a good recovery and have daughters age 12,7 and 6 so they where able to help me and each other while my husband was working.
But you can’t really lift heavy things for few weeks so toddler into car etc is difficult.
