We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the most helpful thing someone did for them after they had a baby and the responses were thoughtful, real, and truly touching:
1. "When my son was born my husband was deployed, I had a two-year-old, and I was 3,500 miles away from friends and family. I was lonely and cried all the time. One day while I was in a doctor's waiting room, a lady walked up to me, put her hand on mine, and told me that I was a good mother. I completely lost it and sobbed in her arms."
2. "I didn't have a washer or dryer, so my mom came over every week and picked up my son's laundry, washed, dried and folded it all, and brought it back a few days later."
3. "My baby spent two weeks in the NICU and we live over an hour from the hospital. The long drive was awful, and leaving the hospital without my baby boy every day was the hardest thing I've ever done. So a few days after I was discharged, my husband's sister and mom rented us an AirBnB near the hospital so we could be closer to him."
4. "My friend recognized the signs of postpartum depression in me, and she made sure I wasn't alone. She would text me every morning at 8 a.m. sharp, telling me the coffee was ready and to come on over. She saved my life, and probably my son's, too."
5. "Three days after my daughter was born, my milk still hadn't come in and my baby was ravenous. I was upset because I wanted to exclusively nurse her, when a friend showed up at my house with a plate of oatmeal cookies and four bags of her own frozen breastmilk."
6. "My mom made me a boatload of freezer meals that got me through my first month postpartum. It was the most helpful and thoughtful thing anyone did!"
7. "Being a new mom can be really lonely at times, so I appreciated when people would just come sit on my couch and keep me company."
8. "While everyone was telling me to just enjoy the newborn stage, my dad, on the other hand, said, "Right now, this is a thankless job. There's no 'Mommy', no 'I love you', no cute baby smiles or laughs. There's only crying and guessing what's wrong. It will get easier and it will get more fun. Just give it a few months.'"
9. "I was at the grocery store with my one-month-old when a gift card I was using wouldn't go through. I was out of money and tearing up, when an elderly woman paid for my fifty dollars worth of groceries. I was only able to smile at the woman from distance."
10. "Someone told me it was OK to stop breastfeeding after I had almost driven myself insane trying."
11. "I delivered three weeks early due to complications, and my parents dropped everything and drove 842 miles overnight to see the birth of their grandson. They even cleaned my entire house while we were in the hospital. I don't know what I would have done without them!"
12. "The nurse who helped me sent me a simple text message the night we got home from the hospital that said, 'You've got this!'"
13. "My best friend came over to visit and without asking just started washing my dishes. I get tears in my eyes every time I remember that simple, kind act!"
14. "When my first baby was just a few weeks old, I jokingly sent out a Facebook plea for coffee. Thirty minutes later, my aunt showed up on my doorstep with a latte and a muffin, then sent me off to have a long shower while she cuddled the baby."
15. "A loved one hired me a cleaning service for six months. I cried when I got home from dropping my older son off at school and saw that my kitchen was sparkling."
16. "My mother helped me take a shower after delivery because I was so tired and sore. She was a mother taking care of her baby while also preparing me to take care of my own."
17. "My husband was overseas, we had just moved to a new place where we didn't know anyone, and we were poor. But when I arrived home from the hospital with my new baby, I walked into a surprise baby shower my new neighbor had arranged through her church. I scored a crib, stroller, car seat, clothes, diapers, gift cards, cash, etc...I dissolved into tears and ended up with a room full of new friends."
Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.