Any tips on surviving the first year after having a baby?

Make sure your husband is doing his part. There's way too many lazy men who are barely changing diapers or keeping baby while mom has time to herself. You don't just want to survive, you want to be able to thrive in motherhood. Motherhood doesn't mean giving all to baby and leaving nothing for yourself

I also agree with the above comments. My son is 2 and I’ve never felt like I’ve “lost myself”, that I’m the default parent, that I carry the entire mental load, etc. Because I have an amazing husband. I have watched many women struggle because their partners are not nearly as involved as they should be. And accept the bare minimum.

As for the balance of everything, we’ve just found things to make our life easier, not harder. A routine and tricks to speed things up.

Examples:

Routine:
- Friday my husband washed our sons laundry while we relax in the evening and the weekend he does our laundry
- I vacuum upstairs Saturday morning
- clean kitchen every night
- vacuum main floor every other day

Tricks:
- I clean bathrooms as needed. Every bathroom has cleaning supplies and if I go to pee and have five minutes I wipe it all down
- grocery delivery for 7am on the weekend, I add things throughout the week as it comes up
- meal prep Sunday during nap. Ill make egg cups for