Relationships When You Have A Baby

Maintaining your relationship with your significant other when you become a new parent is really hard, nothing has ever taken more of a poll on my relationship than the birth of my daughter. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world, but I will say that things were so much easier before she made her arrival. I don't know if it's the fact that you get SOO much less sleep when you become a parent, or that your priorities change. It's probably a combination of both. 

There are few ways that I'm trying to maintain a healthy, positive relationship with my fiance. I think one of the most important things that we are doing is taking turns. When he doesn't have to work early, he takes Lily overnight and I'm able to get a great nights sleep. When he does work the next morning I take her overnight, which luckily only consists of her waking up one or two times. Taking turns is so important so we don't feel like one of us is doing all of the work. 

Another thing that we do is set aside a little time to focus on our relationship. We try to do something together each and every day. Most days it's just watching a movie or more a Netflix series that we managed to get addicted to ( I highly recommend "Arrow"). By taking time to do something while Lily is sleeping it gives us a chance to interact like we did before and remember why we fell in love in the first place. 

Lastly, we remember that the other has needs that we don't. For example, he likes to be social. We try to make sure that he has the chance to go out with friends every so often. Sometimes we'll try to do something as a group, other times he just enjoys a night out by himself. He remembers how important my Mother has become to me throughout the last few months so he doesn't get mad when I head to Omaha to see her. We both need things that the other doesn't, remembering that is so so important. Without being understanding to what the other wants and needs we would have a lot more problems. 

Remember that things aren't just changing for you, but for your significant other. Having a baby is a great, but difficult experience for everyone involved but there are things that make it easier or harder.