Preparing for Birth or Parenthood

Having a baby is a wonderful and life changing experience however it also puts enormous pressure on a couple. Each couple will experience the change from a two to three-person family (or more) in different ways. Keeping the lines of communication open during this stage is important. There are several challenges that couples/ families might face when a new baby comes along. One of the most significant changes is to the quality and quantity of time spent together. Understandably, both parents can be very focused on the needs of the baby when previously they would have been focused on each other. This can lead to feeling excluded. We know that the primary caregiver for the child can often have feelings of extreme fatigue, completely depleted and oftentimes ‘touched out’. This is common with women in the early stages of parenting as they spend many hours holding the baby, feeding the baby and rocking the baby to sleep. At the end of the day that last thing they may feel like is being touched again which can obviously affect the desire for sex or intimacy.