What was your first week with newborn really like?

[Boxiboxi21]

In the final stretch with baby due soon, and am wondering how best to prepare!

I don't know anyone personally who has been really honest / upfront about what it's really like in the first week. My cousins I feel put on a brave face about it and my older relatives don't seem to recall what it was like.

What has been your experience and any top tips for me? What items did you find most useful etc.? Were you mostly on the sofa in those first few days feeding and cuddling?

For context I have a very supportive partner but extended family live 30 mins' drive away and I haven't been to any antenatal / baby classes yet, so don't have many friends locally who will visit.

I am a Christian and it was Holy Week. DS was passed round all the old ladies at church while I drank tea.
My mum and MIL were so happy. Only grandchild for both. Mum was the bottle pro and DH was like an excited schoolboy again.

I loved my first week. Luckily had a smooth birth and we were home 24hrs later. It was summer so I enjoyed the light nights and warmer weather. She was born on the Thursday, we went out for a Starbucks and food shop on the Sunday. I felt good but did overdo it a bit that day. The emotions are real, but it felt good to cry about how much I loved her. We had people come round every day (1 visitor group per day) and we also had midwife and infant feeding appts at home. Went out to a breastfeeding group at 6 days old. Apart from that spent most of the time on the sofa with snacks and plenty of tv to watch. My partner was amazing.
She turned 1 recently and I fondly think back to those early days. Lots of luck to you, enjoy the bubble!

really difficult. i had 3 nights in hospital with no more that 1.5hrs sleep on any of the nights. My baby was in NICU. By the time we got home i was so tired i actually had a hallucination it was honestly the worst week of my life. Also, when she got home she screamed in constant pain pretty much for 5 or 6 months because the antibiotics they gave her “just in case” of an infection in NICU wrecked her gut. we are actually still dealing with the ramifications several years later.

second baby we left hospital as soon as we could and it was much better.

Horrible. Painful and stressful. Never managed to get DS to latch, was in post c-section pain and visitors invaded. I really wanted to be left alone in peace.

The first week we were both absolutely high as kites in a beautiful newborn bubble finding our feet and having lots of cuddles. It felt like a magical time. We only had grandparents visit that week as I was quite unwell. It wasn’t until around 4 weeks in that we felt we were properly in the newborn trenches and I thought I might actually die from sleep deprivation. It’s just a phase though and it all changes again once little one starts sleeping longer stretches. We dont have a village even though both sides of the family live very close by, but we managed ourselves. I just wanted to say it’s also completely normal to start nipping at each other over who’s more tired! Wishing you all the best!