I had the 3 steps like you. I was a teenager and so the dates were coordinated so I didn't miss school. First one was end of the summer (start of that summer, my doctors tried putting me in the hospital for 3 weeks on liquids only but didn't heal me enough). Surgery 2 to create the JPouch was done 11 months later at the start of the following summer. Then surgery 3 to "hook me up", was end of the summer before returning school. Again, I don't think I had to wait a year between surgery 1 and 2, but we did so, so I wouldn't miss school.
I was pretty sick for the first surgery so it was tough from an energy point of view and recovering but I do agree that the second surgery is the toughest (and longest). The third one was pretty easy in comparison, but I did return to the hospital a week or two later as my system was in overdrive and needed a bit of time to get used to it (but then was fine).
Good luck. It's so tough what we have to go through, but it's worth it to get rid of the ileostomy.