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Harder. Sleep deprivation. C-section recovery (not so much because of pain, but because of the physical exhaustion healing caused). Baby blues. A big family event at 3 weeks (X's baptism). I caught a horrible, horrible, horrible 5 day stomach flu at 4 weeks, and passed it to X and DH. The following week I developed mastitis. We also had BFing issues that didn't resolve completely until 9 weeks. X was overall, an easy baby during that time, thank God. He did't get tough until later. But the newborn period was really rough for me because of all that extra stuff, and I'm afraid of next time because of how hard it was.

Much, much harder. I was dealing with some serious trauma and PPD and C was a colicky baby who screamed whenever she wasn't sleeping and didnt sleep nearly enough. The first 3 months were an absolute nightmare.

Yikes, so I'm getting a 50/50 "it's lucky they're cute".

Good thing the sleep deprivation won't phase me one bit because of my job. The trouble is going to be if he is a round the clock nurser, if I have any trouble breastfeeding, or if we somehow can't handle driving 7 to 8 hours a day when we move.

I almost wish this kid would come a little early to have some time to get things figured out before we leave. I'm probably most afraid of BF'ing issues. (Because if we're in transit, who could I see?)

@Espion: I think the thing that got to me wasn't just the amount of sleep I was (or wasn't!) getting, but that it was so unpredictable. Some nights it was a three or even four hour stretch, while others it was up every hour after 2am or even earlier.. But if you're not a control freak the NB stage might be easy for you. I had a hard time letting go..

so much harder! i was prepared for not sleeping, and LO wasn't even a bad sleeper. i think my expectations for how a newborn would affect the rest of my life, my sense of self, and my marriage were a little off. not that it was all bad, just that there were lots of unexpected things, and apparently i don't do well with a lot of unexpected change.

but also so worth it.

Reading this thread, it seems like maybe expectations play a big part? Obviously, if you aren't anticipating a C-section / breastfeeding issues / colic / etc., it would be harder. But if you are bracing yourself for horrific sleep deprivation and you have an "easy baby," then it would be easier. I'm sure it just varies baby to baby / mama to mama!

@Espion: Forget getting a dog, the being paged endlessly sounds like great practice!

for me newborn days were harder than I thought. Much harder

so so so SOOO much harder. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I wasn't ready for a baby that cried 24/7 and needed to be held constantly. I also wasn't prepared for the super wave of hormones and PPD that hit. For the first 3-4 months I had serious thoughts that I'd made the wrong decision. Luckily at 11 months I couldn't possibly love her more.

I'm scared for #2 but feel like it couldn't be worse. I think if I'm gonna have a fussy baby, I'm glad it was #1. I think having an easy #1 and a fussy #2 would be a huge shock.

Much, much harder than I thought it would be. I had a c-section so my recovery was not the easiest. Once Dh went back to work, I was so tired from the lack of sleep, I don't know how I functioned. Plus DS only wanted to be held. He refused to sleep in his crib at night, and ate every 4 hours (at his longest stretches). It was tough. But that was only until about 2 months. He is now 6 months old, and it is so much easier. He finally sttn in his crib, but gets up between 5-6 am EVERYDAY. But my baby is worth it, lack of sleep and all.

With my first I thought the early days were so hard.
With my 2nd I realized how easy they are.

Yeah, I'd say that ditching your expectations and schedule and worries about how much they're sleeping and eating and pooping and how often and all that helps a TON. I don't worry about that stuff much, which really helped me to feel relaxed.

I would suggest finding a ped who is low stress, first thing. My girl has always been little, and I might have worried about it here and there. But he just pointed out that she was a) always following her growth curve decently, and b) ate plenty and was happy afterwards. Stress over.

My baby has, from birth, not needed much sleep (like her daddy >:-<). As a newborn, she'd be up for three or four hours, then nap on me for 30 minutes, maybe 45 on a crazy day. Then repeat, with longer stretches of awake in there. And she was always perfectly happy, so she was clearly getting what she needed. I would have gone utterly mad trying to force her onto some schedule or some set amount of wake/sleep time, and I'm glad that it never even occurred to me. We just did our thing, and we had a pretty chill life. I would highly recommend it to anyone.