Well, the grip style of the ladysmith might have some bearing on the recoil, and I have no experience with that particular grip. However, I have owned two more or less identical Taurus .357 snubbies, one with hammer, one without (Both were/are great, I just like having a hammer, so I sold the hammerless model back to my buddy) and I routinely shoot CCI Blazer .357's out of them. I don't notice that its particularly uncomfortable, but thats just me. In fact, I probably had, between the two of them, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 rounds fired downrange BEFORE I ever fired .38's out of it! Neither of those pistols was ported either. I think for some of the larger snubbies porting is maybe a good idea, but the .357, to me, just doesn't kick enough to merit porting. I can't think if a time when I ever shot more than about 150 rounds consecutively with it, but thats an issue of economy moreso than discomfort, and I do occasionally shoot .38's out of now and then, and they are just flat out pleasant to shoot. I will confess that I can't shoot very good groups with either of them, and I think thats a combination of real and percieved issues with that short a sight radius. However, I didn't buy it to shoot tight groups, I bought it as a carry gun, ideally as a last resort, and hence as a close range weapon, and in that role I am quite confident of my accuracy with it. With a bigger (4-inch) .357 S&W that my buddy owns, I was hitting golf balls routinely out to a fair distance. I flat out love the .357 cartridge, and I think you made a good choice, as long as you apply some common sense to accuracy and range. For me, I have decided to augment my carry weapon with a Taurus 24/7 in 9mm. I carry the .357 when I am doing things like going to the store, or when I am driving back and forth from school and also as my main backpacking weapon. The 24/7 gets carried when I will be out all day doing things that will put me into situations that I wouldn't anticipate when I just go get groceries.
