The warmest welcome to you at such an incredibly stressful and testing time in your life. My heart goes out to you so much.
While my babies are now 23 (daughter) and 20 (son), I still recall how incredibly it hard it was in their early days all those years ago. Those days tested me in so many different ways. I can relate to
- The sleep deprivation being brutal (based on a number of factors)
- What it does to your self esteem when you've got well meaning people trying to guide you while telling you all the things you're doing wrong, on top of them suggesting 'You just need to try harder'
- Struggles with breast feeding
- People not fully understanding how you're feeling a massive challenge you've never faced before
- Not being able to access a number of the things that led you to feel happy before the baby came along, such as jumping in the car and going out for a catch up with people or a change of scenery
and the list goes on.
I'm wondering what support you have in your life right now, in the way of your husband, family and friends, maternal and child health services etc. As they say 'It takes a village to raise a child', meaning it's typically not left to one person when everyone has a role to play in a baby's life. It also take a village to raise a mum, especially when she's struggling so much.
Being a first time mum can be a massive challenge, more so for some mums than others. For some mums, a lot of stuff runs fairly smoothly. For others, there can be so many challenges.
