There is no way to prepare for the explosion of needs, work, and stress that arrive with your bundle of joy. And there’s also no way to anticipate the intense love you feel for your new baby, and how that affects you and your marriage.

Starting a family is a time of both magic and challenge. Love for your baby may give you more motivation to fix things in your relationship than at any other time in your life. Problems that were minor become exaggerated with the stress of having a new baby. It’s an important time to take charge and design the way you want your family to develop and grow.

Many new mothers experience:

•Mood swings

•Postpartum depression

•Feeling alone, overwhelmed, exhausted

•A loss of sexual desire

Many new fathers feel:

•They cannot do enough

•Overworked and unappreciated

•Pushed out

•Sexually rejected

Many new parents feel unprepared for unexpected changes like:

•Missing how you used to be as a couple

•Roles changing, perhaps becoming more traditional

•Renegotiating relationships with extended family

I offer both couples counseling and Bringing Baby Home, a psycho-educational workshop developed by Dr. John Gottman and his colleagues at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, WA. Learning about the normal changes people experience during the transition to parenthood helps couples regain their sense of equilibrium. The goals are to strengthen the friendship between you, increase intimacy, and regulate conflict, along with learning about child development and co-parenting skills.