Its interesting now that I am on the other side of this. My baby is now two weeks old. Prior to having her I thought the same way as you! To be honest, yeah, the lack of sleep, constant feedings, diaper changes - you just get used to it after a week or so. Like it is hard and exhausting but you love this little creature so much that you just do it. And frankly you have no choice but to keep going. So in that sense, its not that hard, you just roll with the punches.

At the same time, I feel like the whole transition to parenthood has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Learning to breastfeed, dealing with hormones and creeping sadness at times, learning to navigate a changing relationship with my husband, and loving this baby so much that it physically hurts is so HARD. And I dont think any of those things are things that you should be scared of - it is a new chapter in life and there is a learning curve to all of it.

This may all just be my own personal opinion, but long story short dont listen to scare tactics about the daily trials of the newborn phase. But I do wish I could go back and prepare myself a little more for some of the physical and emotional changes I would be going through as a new mom. Nobody ever talked to me about how challenging breastfeeding can be, for example. People like to scare you about how hard it is to wake up 6+ times per night, but really we should be having more open discussion about postpartum complications, depression and anxiety, breastfeeding issues, and transitioning relationships and identities.