How hard are the first 3 weeks after giving birth for the mother?

Hi all! New here, our first baby is coming in June, my wife is pretty scared of the postpartum recovery to the point of considering having our baby in her home country of Korea, we live in the States (I am American, our baby will be dual citizen regardless of place birth).

In Korea she would spend the first 3 weeks in a Joriwon, a post partum recovery center for mothers, this is the norm in Korea (If you havent heard about them I recommend doing so, its heaven for moms)

In America we would be in our apartment figuring things out by ourselves and hopefully a Doula to help us out.

Question is how bad is it really those first 3 weeks for moms? Physically, mentally and overall?