Does anyone have any positive/good postpartum stories?

I feel confident as a mother and postpartum wasn't that bad overall. Even though baby isn't sleeping through the night I feel pretty rested overall. But body wise, I'm not confident with the weight gain 😂

It's definitely realistic. I had a lot of support postpartum. I have a terrific husband, my parents are incredible and make an effort to be involved while still respecting our boundaries and parenting choices. Some of my husband's family is not as supportive as they could be, or they live far away, but on a whole, we have a good system. I was of course recovering from a C section and we went through the newborn haze as anyone does, but it's so much easier with the right help. Being in pain wasn't so bad when I had a husband who literally did not even allow me to lift a turkey roaster or do the dishes. The only thing I struggled with was breastfeeding, and I regret agonizing so much over it because if I had just accepted my own limitations from the start and not beaten myself up over feeding my baby formula, we both would have been much happier and I wouldn't have wasted hours trying to pump and getting nothing, while I could have been bonding with my baby.

But otherwise, the whole experience has been pleasant. My mom tells us she thinks we have excellent instincts and have fallen naturally into parenthood. I think that having the right support really makes a huge difference. so many new families push their parents and in-laws away these days, but having that support and our child's grandparents so invested in her life made an incredible difference for us.

I agree with @Melissa I also had lots of support and my husband had 3 months of paid paternity leave. We even went on holiday in Orlando. My mom came from Europe and my in laws from the next state over. Lean on your support system. I had a similar experience with breastfeeding and didn't wanna accept that I just couldn't. Ended up relying on donor milk and we've been doing it for 8 months and baby is a huge chunk now. I also had a natural unmedicated birth and was home 3h later. I wouldn't stress 😉

I felt like superwoman after my second child was born! I had a natural home birth with no tearing and I just felt amazing afterwards.

My mom claims she did, like after she had me (I'm the oldest) she finally came into herself as a person. That's when she felt confident about something for the first time in her life and trusted herself and her instincts. I've heard that does happen with some women. I didn't have that experience, in part due to my mom's influence in the long run (ironically) but she is and always has been great with little ones. It is possible! She didn't even have or want a lot of outside support. I think it has to do with if you can get in touch with that mothering instinct but don't beat yourself up if it's hard and doesn't feel natural. I did and it got me nowhere. You can do this mama!